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Page 26
In punishment of this insubordination, General von Kluck ordered the guns
on East Rock to destroy the Hotel Taft and the new Post Office Building,
and this was done as the sun was setting. He also ordered that two of the
hostages, chosen by lot, should be led out before Vanderbilt Hall, at the
corner of College and Chapel streets, the next day at noon, and shot.
However, this grim fate was averted through the intercession of an
American woman, a white-haired lady whose husband, a Northern general,
had fought with Count Zeppelin in the American Civil War, and who at
midnight went to the Whitney mansion, where the Count and his staff were
quartered, and begged on her knees for mercy. And, for the sake of old
times and old friendship, Count Zeppelin had this penalty remitted.
CHAPTER VIII
I HAVE A FRIENDLY TALK WITH THE GERMAN CROWN PRINCE AND SECURE A
SENSATIONAL INTERVIEW
After the pacification of New Haven and the re-establishment of its
industries, our division of the German army, numbering about five
thousand men, swung to the north, through Wallingford, Meriden, and
Middletown, and marched toward the capital of the State.
I shall always remember the morning of June 17, 1921, when, at the
request of the Crown Prince, I rode at his side for an hour before we
entered Hartford. I was amazed at the extent of the Prince's information
and at his keen desire for new knowledge. He asked about the number of
men employed in the Hartford rubber works, in Colt's armory, in the Pratt
& Whitney machine-shops, and spoke of plans for increasing the efficiency
of these concerns. He knew all about the high educational standards of
the Hartford High School. He had heard of the Hotel Heublein, and of the
steel tower built by its proprietor on the highest point of Talcott
Mountain--had already arranged to have this tower used for wireless
communication between Hartford and the German fleet. He knew exactly how
many Germans, Italians, and Swedes there were in Hartford, exactly how
many spans there were in the new three-million-dollar bridge across the
Connecticut. He looked forward with pleasure to occupying as his Hartford
headquarters the former home on Farmington Avenue of Mark Twain, whose
works he had enjoyed for years.
"You know Mark Twain was a great friend of my father's," said the Crown
Prince. "I remember how my father laughed, one evening at the palace in
Berlin, when Mark Twain told us the story of 'The Jumping Frog of
Calaveras County.' It's rather a pity that afterward Mark--but never mind
that."
"Your Imperial Highness has a wonderful memory for details," I remarked.
"That is nothing," he smiled. "It's our business to know these things;
that is why we are here. We must know more about New England than the New
Englanders themselves. For example, ask me something."
"Does your Imperial Highness--" I began. But he stopped me with a jolly
laugh. I can still see the eager, boyish face under its flashing helmet,
and the slim, erect figure in its blue-and-silver uniform.
"Never mind the Imperial Highness," he said. "Just ask some
questions--any question about Hartford."
"The insurance companies?" I suggested.
"Ah! Of course I know that. We considered the insurance companies in
fixing the indemnity. Hartford is the richest city in America in
proportion to her population. Let's see. Of her life insurance companies,
the Aetna has assets of about a hundred and twenty million dollars; the
Travellers' about a hundred million; the Connecticut Mutual about seventy
million; the Phoenix Mutual about forty million--besides half a dozen
small-fry fire insurance companies. We're letting them off easily with
twenty million dollars indemnity. Don't you think so, Mr. Langston?"
This informal talk continued for some time, and I found the Prince
possessed of equally accurate and detailed information regarding other
New England cities. It was positively uncanny. He inquired about the
Bancroft Japanese collection in Worcester, Massachusetts, and wanted to
know the number of women students at Wellesley College. He asked if I had
seen the portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds at the Athenaeum in Providence.
He had full details about the United States Armory at Springfield, and he
asked many questions about the Yale-Harvard boat races at New London,
most of which I was, fortunately, able to answer.
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