Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 59, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 March 1919 — SAVED APIA FROM GERMANS [ARTICLE]

SAVED APIA FROM GERMANS

interesting Now to Recall Commander Leary's Defiance of Overbearing Teuton Captain. Personal who have said the United States had no case against Germany prior to the sinking of the Lusitania and events dating from 1914 perhaps are unacquainted with the trouble over the Samoan Islands which occurred in the eighties. Attempts by Prince Bismarck, then German chancellor, to dominate the islands, had been frustrated and a German consul had been withdrawn after he had caused a crisis by raising a German flag over Apia, one of the principal cities. Another consul. Herr Becker, acting on his government’s instructions, again precipitated trouble by deposing the Samoan king and setting up a ruler favorabld to German interest. The climax came when the German corvette Adler prepared to shell Apia, the natives of which had become hostile to the Germans. Commander Richard Leary of the United States gunboat Adams had been in the vicinity of the Is! a nds trouble. Ah’ account of what happened is a tribute to the courage of the American navy. It follows: “At the appointed hour, the Adler steamed out with the German ensign flying at her peak. The Adams followed closely at her heeds. Soon the Adler slowed down and swung into position, so as to bring her broadside guns to bear on the helpless village. The Adams dashed in between the Adier and the shore, where she, too. swung about, her guns at port and pointed directly at the Germans. Presently, Commander Leary in full uniform and accompanied by his staff, boarded the Adler. His colloquy with the German captain was short and sharp: ’lf you fire,’ he said, ‘you must fire through the ship which I have the honor to I shall not be answerable for the consequences!’ So saying, he took his leave. “Captain Fritze could scarcely believe his ears. Such audacity had never yet confronted him. He knew that the first shot would be answered by an American broadside, and this would be the signal for a war between his country and the American republic. He faltered, and then, his heart swelling with humiliation, he steamed suddenly away.”—Detroit News.