TRICKED TO HIS DEATH

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2721, 16 March 1916, Page 3

TRICKED TO HIS DEATH

HUN COURT-MARTIAL DUPLICITY. Tho Abbe Wettmie, ..who previous to the war was a deputy in the lleichs?ag for on Alsatian constituency, and on whose head the Germans have set a high price, describes in tho "Bulletin des Armees" how Alfred Meyer,'of Mulhouse, was dono to death after the Germans had given, .their word.to spare his life, his capacity as a. packer Meyei had helped the Kaiser's officers to dis--patch furniture and valuables looted from the French chateau of Bollwiller. Unfortunately lie was indiscreet enough to talk of this to his acquaintances. His trad© frequently obliged him to go to Bale, and tho Germans made us? of this circumstance to accuse him of espionage. When brought before a courtmartial at Mulhouse Meyer was promised that his life would bo spared if he confessed everything. •He admitted having carried a few private letters from Alsace into Switzerland, but denied espionage. He was condemned to penal servitude for. life. In the absence of his lawyer he was persuaded by enemy officials to appeal against the severity of the sentence, and was brought before a second courtmartial, which, arguing that it was not bound by the promise given by tho first court, sentenced him to death. The day beforo his oxocution, Meyei wrote the following letter to his wife— "Dear Matho,—My unforgetable wife, This is to bid you good-bye from tie bottom of my heart. To-morrow morning at six o'clock I. go to my death. 1 am strong and resigned and shall face death conscious of always having dona my duty as a son. a. man, a husband, and a father.

My heart as ft Christian beats calmly; its last pulsation will be for you, and so will my last thought. Console my dear mother for the loss fiho will feel cruelly. Tell her especially that I die -like a man —like a soldier.

May God protect you. Accept my eternal gratitude for the nine years of ■untroubled happiness you have given me, during which wo have shared all our pleasures and all our sufferings. I bless you and our children, Claude, Denise, and Serge, who will soon comfort you with their brave little hearts. May they take life seriously. My sons should look upon work as the aim of their livee.

I kiss you all for the last time._ May God keep you alii I die a Christian." When led out to his execution Meyer bandaged his eyes himself, and as he fell beneath the German bullets cried three times, "Vive la Frnnno!" —"Daily Mail."