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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 9, 1919)
8 A' THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: FEBRUARY 9, 1919. "Q" Decoy Ships Took Advantage of - Germans' Appetite forDefenseless Boats and. Sank Many. Submarines Account ef the eiplolt of British de coy (hip or "Q" boats. they are called wera forbidden publication by tha cen aor until now. Tha (altera faithfully withheld Information regarding; boa t exploits, and theaa hidden dramas of tha high seas were known to but few out alrte tha British navy. London, Feb. 8. It is now per mitted to relate some of the stories, 1 replete with thrills, of the bravery and high efficiency of the men on some of Britain's "Q" boats. Know ing the German's preference for an "eay mark,1' the "Q" boats were sent out as decoys. In appearance they were innocent merchantmen. In reality they were heavily armed and were manned by some of the most intrepid seamen of England's navy. It was a summer evening, with a calm sea and a setting sun, and just sufficient breeze to till the sails of a clumsy-looking old British sailing ship, apparently coasting. The galley fire was going and the scene was one of many which were to be seen in British waters prior to the opening of the U-boat campaign. Suddenly some three miles off German submarine broke water, manned her forward gun and opened lire. Four shots 'fell danger ously near the sailing ship, which at once hove to and lowered a boat, the occupants i of which commenced pulling as for dear life out of the radius of the enemy's lire. The U boat continued firing, at the same time approaching at about 10 knots,. until aeaa astern oi me sailing snip Thought Her a Tramp. German officers examined her carefully through their glasses. She was apparently not worth wasting a torpedo upon. When about 100 yards away the submarine s helm was put over, and she came up on the ship's port beam at a distance of about 70 yards. y Evidently it was the intention of the German commander to sink her by gun fire; in fact, he had just giv en the order to hre at her water line, when he saw the white ensign run tip. The lumbering old craft got in the first shot in the resumed en counter. There was nothing to be t'.one now but fight. The "German's first impulse was to ram, and with his helm hard aport he went full speed ahead. But the sailing ship was not in his turning circle. Then he came about and tried to manoeuver to escape the British gunfire. The decoy ship for such was the real business of the silling vessel had been perilously close with its first shot. Its second was more ruccessful, and made a nas'y mess of the base of the U-boa'. s conning tower, so that the sub marine could not dive. ''Got" the Submarine. m The British gunners' aim was ex cellent, as the third shot shovei for it completely curied awiy the foremost gunsand killed the. whole ot the gun's crew. The submarine endeavored to show as small a tar get as possible, keeping stdrn on to ihe British ship, which, however, still continued to get in several hitj with its larger guns and Lewis guns, causing a number of casual ties to the enemy. The submarine, apparently" badly mauled, proceeded for about 1,000 yards, when sudden ly its engines stopped and it sank with an explosion, and amidst a clo'id of black dense smoke. When the smoke had cleared away tuee Ccrman sailors were seen siru?:gli"g in the water, and were pici.-et! tip. They were badly wounded, bat, nanks to first aid, were got ashore and taken to a naval hospital. The casualties to the British crew were slight. Tricking the Pirates, v Another decoy ilup, to all intents and purpose.i a British merchant man, armed with an anti-submarine gun. was making its way on ascer tain course, when the lookout sighted a torpedo on the starboard beam. Apparently the torpedo had been discharged at a very close range. Before the vessel had tiuje to re spond to its helm, the torpedo jumped out of the water 100 yards from the ship and struck near the engine room just on the water line. The explosion tore a large rent in the ship's side. Water rushed in, filling the boiler room, engine room and No. S hold. The starboard life boat was blown into the air, the wreckage landing on the wireless room. The "abandon ship" signal was given and three boats were lowered. As the last boat pulled away a peri scope appeared above the surface, scarcely 400 yards away. The sub marine, still submerged, approached the ship until 50, yards off, and then again lowered its periscope. A few minutes later the periscope reap peared astern the injured ship, and then the submarine broke surface, following one of the lifeboats which was pulling round the stern of the vessel. Merely a "Blind." A German sailor emerged from the conning tower and shouted some direction in English to the boat's crew, which still continued to pull away from their ship. . By this time the submarine was well above the surface, and had shouted some directions in English to the boat s crew, which still con tinued to pull away Trom their ship. By this time the submarine was well above the surface, and nad reached a point before the ship's beam about 5U yards distant. Up went the white ensign, and the Brit isher revealed her. true purpose. She had not been thoroughly aban doned. Fire spurted from several guns dead on to the submarine. A four inch shell hit the base of the con ning tower and swept both peri scopes away. Rapid fire was main tained and other hits recorded. Badly holed, the submarine took a heavy list to port and several men appeared on deck as she steamed slowly across the bows of the de coy, ship. Spurts of oil from her side showed the sorry plight she was in," and more of the crew came on deck and held up their hands. The British captain, taking this for a sign of surrender, gave the or der to cease fire. But no sooner had he done so than the submarine at tempted to make off. The decoy ship was on to her in an instant, and a deadly fire was opened. A great explosion sealed the fate of the enemy; she heeled over on one.side, poised for an instant and sank stern first A Victorious Victim. A lookout man on the decoy re ported a submarine three miles away. For a while the enemy did nothing save to follow at a safe dis tance. He appeared to be satisfying himself that he had superior speed and gui power. Reassured on these points, he op ened fire and continued firing, draw ing closer all thi while. The fact that npt a single round was returned puzzled him, and for a quarter of an hour he withheld his fire. Again he commenced his bombardment, now steering a parallel course to his "victim." Vhen he was in a suitable posi tion the decoy ship opened fire upon him. the first round getting home just abaft the conning tower. It war evidently a mortal wound, tor he appeared to lose way and stop ped. x Seventeen rounds were fired from the British ship, and round after round found its mark until seven direct hits had been scored. 1 Not a shell came from the submai i rine, and the last hit, which holed her just below the fore deck, caused a very big explosion, throwing a vast column of water high into the air. ... It was alt over in a brief space and within three minutes of the first hit the submarine sank three crowded minutes of glorious vie tory. Another Encounter, further honors remained in store for the same ship, for later in the day she ran in with another sub marine, which slowly overtook her, opening tire when about two miles off. After the sixth round the ship was stopped and a boat put off from her lo all outward appearance the shi Mas abandoned. From a position away on the port beam the sub marine maintained her fire till the boat had pulled clear of the ship, . .ihereatter her maneuvers were strange. For some time she re mained stopped exactly abeam; then suddenly she began to approach the ship and was soon traveling at her full surface speed. When 600 yard away she began to submerge, and she remained submerged till she was within about fifty yards of the ship, when she rose raptdly, As the hull appeared one of the eleeby ship's afterguns fired, and the shell struck just below the conning tower, piercing the rounded side a foot above the water. A flash of brilliant blue flame and a dense volume of yellow smoke came from the hole. Almost simul taneously another shell struck for ward, and the bows were enveloped in a cloud of black and yellow smoke arid spray. The submarine gave a convulsive lurch, and with -a oud noise of gurgling and hissing plunged down, bows foremost, leav- ing on the surface a great pool of oil. i Game Full of Risks, Sometimes the disguised mer ehantman has a rough time while waiting the opportunity to make sure ot the enemy. On one occasion the enemv ooen- ed fire at long range, but his aim was poor, and he approached at full speed. From close quarters he sent a shell through the poop of the merchantman, which exploded depth charge and blew an officer from his control position. Two more hits were scored on the poop, which was now burning fiercely. Soon a big explosion blew the four-inch gun and the gun's crew into the air. The gun landed for ward on the well deck. At the time only one gun would bear on the sub marine, and this opened fire. The enemy, surprised that the ship was not really abandoned, hurriedly dived, but it is possible that one hit was obtained on the conning-tower before" he disappeared. Hose were turned on the poop, which was by this time a mass of flames, the deck being red hot. Shelling a Cripple. The submarine then fired tor pedo, which struck near the engine room, tor an hour she cruised about submerged. Then, as the merchantman had been torpedoed and was badly on fire, she deemed it safe to break surface and it came up directly astern, from which po- . 1. 1 1 J suion it sncucu ute snip at a range of a few hundred yards," nearly all the shells being direct hits or falling near the boats which had been low ered. Two exploded on the bridge, tear ing it to pieces. A signal for as sistance was sent out. and verv shortly afterward a destroyer ar rived. It was one thing for the sub marine to tackle a crippled and blaz ing merchantman; a destroyer was another matter, and at first sight of the warship the enemy disappeared. '"Tis a Fine Outfit!"-All A. E: Soldiers Say . About Gen. Wood's "Eighty-Ninth" Nebraskans Fought From St. Mihiel to the Meuse, Bringing Glory and Honor to the Stars and Stripes You Can Tell the "Lonely Soldier's" Men, Says Writer. (This atary by Damon Runyc la reprinted from tha Chicago Herald and Kxamlner. In thia territory Mr. Runyon'a artlclea now appear exclusively In Tha Wee. It waa Mr. Runyon who amused tha reader! of The Bee with the- recent de scription of how "single-handed one lonely young Hennery Ford atopped tha entire war for two solid hours." More of hla storlea will appear In Tha Bee. Editor'a Note.) By DAMON RUNYON. .With the Americann Army of Occupation, Coblenz, Jan. 14. One of the favorite sports on theRhine these days is the rating or, rather, the attempted rating, of different combat divisions, much after the fashion which sporting writers used to rate foot ball teams at the close of a season. Which was the greatest division and which did the most notable work are questions which will probably be argued down through the ages, especially by members of the differ ent fighting outfits with but small chance they'll ever agree. resoect it meaas that in everW Every soldier proudly maintains that his organization is the finest, and no. one will ever be able to change that opinion. The very same debate was in the program twenty years ago, after the Soanish war. only then the argu ment was narrowed down" to regi-j ments. - 89th One Of Best We are one correspondent who doesn't happen to have a favorite division, probably for tbe reason that we were never attached to any particular outfit for any length of time, but were thrown more or less in ennection with with all the line di visions at different periods. Where fore, what we say on the subject is more the reflection of a consen sus of opiuion than a peisonal ex pression. And white unanimity on any one phase of the discussion is difficult to obtain, there is a proposition on which there seems to be pretty gen vral agreement. It is that one of the best of the national army or draft divisions, if ii i t indeed the very best, is tbe This doesn't- necessarily mean d at it was the best fighting division ilicre wasn't much difference in i'.c v, hole American army in that in every. thing that goes to make up a fine military unit.it stands out. Many regular army men rate it among the best divisions of the whole army. All Agree "It't Fine Outfit." You can start a terrific conversa tional test any time by comparing the First and Second divisions.. You can get up a warm debate any mo ment by suggesting that this or that National Guard division is greatest But when the 89th is mentioned both regular army men and national guardsmen nod their heads and say, "It's a fine outfit." They don't ad mit that it is better than their own, of course, but they agree upon its merit without cavil. ' , Trained By Leonard Wood. And now see how the 89th is grist in the mills of the gods that are said to grind with such exceed ing fineness. It was sent to the war by Gen. Leonard Wood, no less. He started for France at the tread pf the divisron, but was turned back. That -was a bitter blow to him, but he ought to find some con solation in the record of his di vision. It fought from St. Mihiel to tie Meuse. It was credited with one of the most important operations f the last drive. final!;-, it was chos en among the American divisions sent to the Rhine. After all, army divisions are inade by their officers, as the men ''them selves are exactly alike m the raw. Therefore, it is needless to add that the officers- of the 89th are an ex ceptionally fine lot. We say this without knowing a single one of them personally. The 89th was trained by General Wood at Lamp unston, in Kansas. It is made up of an all Missouri and all Kansas regiment, with a scatter ing of members from Nebraska, T 1 a? a .a .-.. ix ew Mexico, Colorado, the middle western- and the Rocky mountain states. ' You can tell a member of the 89th a block away by his shape and mli tary bearing.. The Part of Lonely Soldier. When you come to figure it out several things in this war are train ing back to a lonely old soldier in Kansas who was not allowed to come over. We do not know what they claim to have on Leonard Wood, though a couple of people have tried t tell us, but this fact remains: There are many thousands of ef ficient officers in our victorious army who are, figuratively' speaking, children of his brain, without whom we might, not now have an army of occupation on the Rhine. There is, moreover, in that army of occupation every division of fight ing men who are products of his hands. It seems to us that one man could not do very much more. Snow is Predicted for the First Part of Next Week Washington, Feb. 8. Weather predictions for the- week beginning Monday, issued by the weather bu reau today, re: Upper Mississippi and lower Mis souri valleys: Snow Monday or Monday night, followed by fair by Wednesday; snow or rain again probable towards end of the week. Nearly normal temperatures except sont'ewhat below about the middle of the week, -although nearly normal on leeward shores of the lakes. George and Company Report Two Big Sales During Week Sales of two homes for $9,750 and for $8,000, are reported by George & Co. The $9,750 sale was of the J. W. Hickok stucco bungalow at Fifty first and Davenport streets to Dr. Wah'I. The other was the William Ech house at 5120 Underwood ave nue .tOl:rania B, Haiti', i A. E. F. Casualty Figures ' Cut by Check of Records Washington, Feb. 8. Last week's) casualty report showing more than 16,000 men of the expeditionary force missing in action has been corrected to make the total 7,783. General March said today General Pershing had reported the new to tal with the information that the fig ures were being reduced by from 100 to 200 names per day as a result of the checking of record's in the central records office in France. Billion for Wheat. Washington, Feb. 8. Chairman Lever today introduced the bill ap proved by the house agriculture committee appropriating $1,000,000, 000 to maintain the government's guarantee for the 1918 and 1919 wheat crops. It would confer pow ers for purchase and sale of 'wheat and flour, to control trading in wheat, and licensing millers, eleva tors and dealers, besides extending government control of imports and exports up to December 31, 1920. Lane Asks Appropriation. Washington. Feb. 8. Congress was asked by Secretary Lane today for an appropriation of $13,800,000 to complete construction of the Alaskan railroad within next year. To Review Strike Situation. San Franciso, Feb. 8. The Uni ted States shipping board announc ed here" today that L.C. Marshall, a member of the federal shipbuild ing labor adjustment board, was in the city to review the strike situa tion in the San Francisco bay dis trict. Four thousand of the 7,500 strik ing mchanics in the shipyards and contract shops here returned to work today after their demands had been granted, it was announced. Read the Bee Want Ads from day to day for best result's. n iOfnr rv n j lull ' nr n n a nnzr a n rprx nn n . I OUR Clearance Sale goes on attended by record-breaking shopping crowds! This this created such enthusiasrft. Now comes three days of STILL GREATER selling event has been heralded by so many, that never before has a 6ale such as BARGAINS. pricings which put this sale outside the realm of competition! mm dm m $m AT IKIMT MAN'S M PLETE S&IONAt SELL w WHILE everything is included in this great Completa Clearance, we have, how ever, arranged several lots for immediate disposal. These special lots have markings so attractive in their value-giving, they will be snapped up by posted buyers without delay. Even though you are not now in need of home furnish ings, you are sure to see something here priced so attractively that yon are bound to take advantage of this exceptional opportunity. It's so easy to be convinced of these wonderful money-saving values simply compare with oth ers I Come investigate and compare! . 184-Splendid Dressers iUV your Dresser "now and save money! We chow 43 oak finish, large mirror, at 11.47; I at 13.94; 61 at 16.72; 12 at 19.87; 29 at 21.45, and hundreds of others 2 r aw at it-i9 auu uuiiuicua ui u tutrix 896 Brussels Rugs 98 Fine Chiffoniers A SIZE 9 X 12 XQEAT BAR(LINS furious 97 n o f AT remarkable Ravines 7o0 In price! 8 Chiffoniers tapestry all or- ttd Ruj. n150 ; f r a ra -priced at only 7.861 la-g. X . 11 very beautiful atylea V y at 8.491 all wooda, every y ;, ..'-SS, style, period effects, etc., ranging . in V'J In price up to 84.50 for the C-flrfCJ .IT Til X most luxurioua I rHTTTr f ""ll jonl era. X I o J An v m flTl. M lPl ISsrll " 122 Complete Bed Room Sets rrc EXTEA special values can be found A r at our Complete Clearance Sale in ltT 48.75; 12 at 74.59; 17 at 78.98; and hundreds of oth ers up to 452.80 for the finest Suites on the American market today. We urge early- selection. 1ft VBasdsoiMUbraryMlSK - a 7 1 UUR Clearance otters X III' wonderful opportunities CI? 4 9 ' I II ,n n Library Tables. acVs S V Wa show 27 at 10.U, W S fine fumed finish with drawer: 1 . S I X at bargain valuea In jf I I V Davenport Tables. End y'' I f . -, Tables and Library 355 Massive Bods 5a ws show 18 BedS"various ggnr CO steel and Iron enamelsa (Lv 1 1 J 0 at only .88 1J at 8.87! 21 (S.f at 10.811. Beautiful hr VIS Styles at 11.4B; a at 15.72. Many Twin Bed Bets, Wood Beds,. -. iftiigmi in pnea to a&.vo II nn Avar ntf.r.if A JX i styles at 1S.4S; 8 at 15.K. Many ' A : :: V Twin Bed Bets, Wood Beds, . V SnV ranging In price to 89.85 ' CrXY Tri f Innftl - tor tha handsomeat S II I -til ! UJjj XBed ever otiereJ jQJX 214- If you ueea a dlnins room tabl don't miss this sale. We show 22 splendid 42-inch top tnmeti, goiaen ximsn, at only H.sis 13 at ana merauy Hundreds ot others up 10 so.io rar the iineat mahogany iiiu wbuiui penoa ui oica cm the marKet 14.92 3L2 m Compare 'Our Record-Breaking Sale Prices Sacrifice Sale! "Royql" Easy Chairs EXTRAORDINARY values! Mahogany or oak finish, upholstered in guaranteed imi tation leather. Special at only 21.45. Also 26 "Royal" Easy Chair at 23-50 ; 31 at 29.G A rare opportunity! Don't miss it. Investigate compare ! f "Let HARTMAN Feather Your Nest" 2 1 ?fj World's Largest Homefurnishers a n w II II F 137 Kitchen Cabinets at Radical Reductions! ALL SHARPLY UKDERPRICED for imme diate clearance. We price 21 Special Kitchen Cabinets at only IC.9. IS at I9.si), 11 at 21.79. and a few up to SS Kitchen Cabinet Base Tables at only C.fls Investigate compare! . Cad .'V, 1 413-15-17 SOUTH 16th ST.