NO INSULT INTENDED

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 828, 28 May 1910, Page 5

NO INSULT INTENDED

A SYDNEY INCIDENT. GERMAN CONSUL'S REPORT. By Telegraph-Press Association-Copyrlrcht Sydney, May 27. The German Consul-General reports ing on tho disturbances reported to have been caused in Sydney by German seamen on May 7, says that no one regrets, thhe incident more than himself, and ho knows that the whole German community will join in this feeling. Inquiries, he added, showed that most of the German seamen responsible belonged to the crew of a British ship. They were returning aboard after drinking with some friends from a German ship. Tho mummery the men wore was the same as is used when celobrating the crossing of the Line.

That they seem to have had no intention to insult ,the memory of the lato King taken from the fact that they were returning aboard a British ship. The men had declared that they, did not come ashore till night, and were unaware of the King's death. "• ■

A LIVELY MELEE. According to police courts, a disgraceful seeno occurred at Surrey Hills, a Sydney suburb, on the night of Hay 7. Twenty-five German sailors marched through the street led by three men, one with a half-muffled drum, another with a concertina, and a third dressed as a woman. The remainder of the Germans were fantastically draped with crepe. They commenced to play lively airs, and the crowd quickly sized up the grotesque proceedings as an insult to the dead ing. Writes a Sydnoy paper:—. "Like a flash it seemed to burst upon the spectators' that the whole performance was merely a mocking travesty upon the real grief of tho Australian nation on account of the death of their King. A bystander who understood the German language stated that the foreign sailors were making insulting references to the late King. As soon as this fact was realised the crowd commenced to close round the little knot of foreigners in a menacing manner. First insults were hurled at them. To these no reply was made —perhaps becauso the persons to whom they were directed didn't understand (Heir meaning. At any rate, tho sailors persisted. The crowd were at fever heat: it only wanted someone to make a start. The cordon round the sailors was contracting slowly out- surely. "All of a sudden one of the crowd made the first move. He lunged savagely at the sailor nearest to him. His example was quickly followed by his companions. In a moment the fight became general. The sailors, hemmed in like sheep in a stockyard, could not escape; thoy could only protect themselves. Elows, wen showered upon them from all directions. The fact that the crowd in its eagerness to get at its enemies interfered with its own members undoubtedly was a big factor in preserving the foreigners from serims bodily harm. Bottles were being used club fashion, when tho polico arrived. They were .iust in the nict; of time. Tho sailors 'had put tip a good fight, but the odds were too big, and they were at the last gasp."

The police rescued the sailors with c\jfficulty. The 0110 who was dressed as~a woman was subsequently fined for drunker ness.