“We were hard at it with a German cruiser,” he said, “and she was in a bad way, on the point of sinking. We could see her decks were in an awful mess and her stern was in flames. It had been shot away. We could see only one man on the forecastle, but he was a plucky one. He hoisted a flag, and it was still there when the ship went down. I suppose he went down with her.” DIED CHEERING EMPEROR An eye witness of the loss of the German cruiser _Ariadne_ and the German torpedo boat destroyer V-157 in the fighting between British and German warships off Heligoland, relates the following story of the fight: “The destroyer was surprised in a fog by a large number of British destroyers and submarines. When the speed of the German destroyer became affected by the English shells, it turned and confronted the enemy with the intention of fighting to the end. Her engines, however, soon completely failed her, and she was blown up to prevent capture. Her crew continued firing until the boat disappeared beneath the waves. “The _Ariadne_ attacked gamely, but a shell plumped her boilers, putting half of them out of commission. Despite this the fight continued. The quarterdeck of the _Ariadne_ took fire, but those of her guns that were still capable of being worked continued shooting. “The forecastle of the _Ariadne_ was soon ablaze. Her magazine was flooded, but the gallant vessel was doomed. Her crew was mustered and gave three cheers for the Emperor and sang the hymn, ‘The Flag and Germany Above All.’ “The sinking of the ship probably was due to the explosion of her magazine.” SAVED; THEN THROWN INTO THE SEA This little grim comedy is told by a correspondent of the London _Evening News_: “I heard of an incident which is said to have occurred when the British boats were busy picking up German survivors of the fight in the Bight of Heligoland. A German officer was seen swimming, a line was thrown to him and he was helped on board, but his first action was to spit in the face of the British officer in charge. “A British sailor immediately flung the German overboard and another drowning German among the many within the boat’s reach was helped into the vacant place.” “FRENCH ARE VERY KIND” The American Embassy in Paris is in daily receipt of letters written by dying German soldiers, forwarded to it by the French Government for transmission to Germany. One is from a German aviator who had fallen into the hands of the French. This man wrote: “Good-by, dear father and mother; my leg has been crushed. The French officers are very kind.” A postscript to this letter added by a French officer read: “At this point the brave fellow died; please forward this to his parents.” “I AM FIGHTING AGAINST MY SON!”