ENGLISH LADY'S STORY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 25 May 1915, Page 2

ENGLISH LADY'S STORY.

DISGRACEFUL SCENES ON THE BATAVIER.

Under date March 22, the Rotterdam correspondent of the London Daily Telegraph wrote: -Frofti tha lips of an English lady, one of the only two passengers or that nationality on board the Batavier boat, captured by the Germans and taken to Zeebrugge, 1 have heard to-day a remarkable story. It revealed hitherto unknown suffering imposed on the unfortunate passengers the tragedy „of husbands torn froni shrieking wives and taken prisoner." and women and children kept without food or drink for 16 hours, even oohers of babies three months' old. The majority of the passengers were Belgian womeni who fqr three days were tortured by suspense as to their fate. The Germans refused to give any information as to what would happen,£ither to the women or their men tolk._ When asked they only laughed, and in some cases even said, "Oh, we are going to send you to Germany."

A PAINFUL EXPERIENCE

The lady who told me the tragic story was Miss Platts, of Wimbledon who. was returning home from Germany, where she had been since the beginning of the war. "When we were approaching Zeebrugge," she said "three steam pinnaces, with machine suns on board, came off, filled with German marines, who came on board the ship and were put on guard over us. VV c made a wide* halt-circle to av?u minefield around Zeebrugge. • As sopn as the ship came within sigKt of land we were all.sent below mto the saloon and the blinds drawn Here we were kept all Thursday afternoon and all day on Friday. Though we pleaded with them, the Germans would not tell rus what was to-hap-,PW. No lights were* allowed, as the Germans 'feaTed aeroplane attack. ' "We h^d all been separated into groups, according to nationalities. Belgian men were kept absolutely apart Ihe distress of their women-folk was heartbreaking. All night 1 heard them crying or /moaning in their sleep; and the constant wailing"'of babies made it worse.

"Knowmg<€ spoke German, they appealed to me to ask the ofiicers what was to happen. 1 did so, but could give no comfort. How could I tell the poor women that the Germans had only laughed and talked of prison camps i On Saturday morning -the German admiral came on board, and we were told that the train would come to take us away in the afternoon. Not a word would they tell us as to ous destination.

One minor tragedy was that of a young Belgian who had escaped into Holland with the idea of going to England to join the Belgian army. Of course he had no papers, and when he again found himself in German hands .he broke down and cried. When the tram arrived we walked over the plank from the steamboat straight into it. "Sixteen Belgian men, treated as prisoners, were put into a separate compartment. There was one man among them 50 years old. His wife was there, and as he was taken away the woman shrieked in a manner terrible to hear, and then fainted.

- FOODLESS JOURNEY

'All the ciay we were in the train, i- with not a scrap to eat or drop to j drink All we had in the early mornI ing was bread and jam. We got nothing more until nearly midnight, when we reached the Dutch frontier. Although the ship was*full of provisions in the cargo, the Germans would not j allow them to be touched, and gave us nothing themselves. All the food intended for the trip across the Channel had been eaten, and the kindly stewards of the Batavier boat gave the poor women their last crusts. "When the train got to Bruges the j- Belgian men were taken out, and there | was another heartrending vscene. The women, seeing the men left behind in German hands, screamed, and .>ome went into hysterics. It was awful to see them so after months of trouble and just when they thought they and the men-folk were on the eve of ficdI ing refuge in England." Miss Platts told me that, being able to speak German, she did hot hesitate to tell the omcers what she thought of their callous treatment of the women. ''When the women asked them where they were going they laughed and teased them. Some said: 'Where are you gang? Ruhleben perhaps.' "I said: 'You are not very kind to laugh at these poor women.'" The reply I got was, 'Oh! well, it's war.' . "All our young German guards were m very light spirits. One officer with whom I spoke came from a town in Germany in which 1 spent a year. He said to me: 'We are sick of che war, and wish it would end.' I told him the guards were not of his opin'on. He replied, lYes, but they are only boys.' "Young marines, to whom I suggested it was dull in Zeebrugge with nothing to do, said, 'Yes, but we are only waiting to go to England.' "When i left the ship one shouted, 'Good-bye, till we meet in England.' "