Somewhere in New York is a non-Jewish German sailor whose refusal to pay homage to the doctrines of Hitlerism is likely to turn him into a man without a country.
If Theodore Eggaling, who was released from chains aboard the steamship Albert Ballin of the Hamburg-American Line and was put ashore under a writ of habea corpus last Wednesday night shortly before the vessel sailed forth onto the high seas, is still in this country on August 6, deportation proceedings will be brought against him, United States immigration authorities said yesterday.
Egalling was arrested in a Yorkville cafe on June 3 when he dared to denounce Nazism in the presence of a large crowd of Hitler sympathizers. Seized by a special policeman of the Hamburg-American line as he stepped out of Yorkville Court last Wednesday, he was taken back to the Albert Ballin and placed in irons, according to Sol Cohen, attorney in the offices of Joseph Brodsky, 100 Fifth avenue.
SAILS WITH THE WRIT
Cohen, retained by the International Labor Defense in the interests of the German engine wiper, sued out a writ of habeas corpus before Federal Judge Alfred C. Coxe last Wednesday and effected Egalling’s release. A few hours later the Albert Ballin sailed for Germany, carrying the writ with it.
A hearing was to have been held on the writ yesterday, but Attorney Cohen decided this was unnecessary, since the purpose of the action already had been served in that Egalling’s freedom had been obtained.
The seaman is being sheltered by the German Workers’ Club whose headquarters are on Third avenue near East Eighty-fifth street, it was indicated yesterday. Members of the club were inclined to view with suspicion all questions concerning the case, and refused to divulge Eggaling’s exact whereabouts.
The sailor found himself in an anomalous position yesterday, since he is required under federal law to quit this country within sixty days of the time when he officially ceased to become a member of the Albert Ballin’s crew.
THE RAY OF HOPE
He is unlikely to procure a berth aboard an outgoing vessel, his friends pointed out yesterday, since he speaks only German and is almost certain to find himself banned by German lines as a result of his denunciation of the current Reich government.
Assistants in the office of Attorney Cohen pointed out that there still remains one ray of hope for the outspoken sailor. The International Labor Defense is con sidering legal action to have Eggaling declared a political refugee, entitled to go to the country of his own choice, it was reliably reported.
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