Grand Forks daily herald and the evening times., 1914-08-05
VATERLAND IN
DESPERATE plan
Will Take 5000 to 10000
Reserves and Vast Supply
of Flour Abroad.

New York, Aug. 5.-The Vaterland,
carrying from 5000 to 10000 Of the
flower Of the German reserves here,
will defy. the. warships of England.
France and Russia in desperate rush
across the Atlantic for the safety of a
home. port. Off Sandy Hook and out
side the three-mile limit, she will be
met by the swift German cruisers, the
Dresden, the Stuttgart and the Karls-
ruhe, one or more of them, and at
sea she will be converted into a cruis-
er.
Each of these cruisers are, supplied
with an extra equipment of rapid fire
and machine guns. torpedo tubes and
small arms. These will be transferred
in the world and one Of the finest.
Orders to this effect were flashed in
cipher cable messages to German spe-
cial officials in this city. These orders
were received following the discovery
and Illustration Of plot by French
and Russia secret service men to blow
UP the Vaterlar1d as she lay at her
pier in Hoboken.
Acting under prior orders Of the
German government the Vaterland
has been loaded with supply of coal,
binary transatlantic voyages. Lux
urious. state room suites have been
converted into coal bunkers.
Thousands of tons Of provisions
have been taken on board-they are
not of the quickly perishable variety.
Ready to Slip Her Moorings.
The giant liner is ready to slip
from her moorings at five minutes
notice. Her orders are to slip away
secretly when a favorable opportunity
offers Determining factors of her
sailing may be the relative positions
of English, French and Russian war
ships
The Vaterland had on board full
complement of officers. seamen, stok
ers, fremen and mechanicians, had
orders not to leave the ship.
Under the arrangement Of the
German government with the Ham
burg American line, the Vaterland
automatically passed under control
laration of war the declaration against
Russia. She was built especially for
a cruiser under plans supervised by
the German board of naval strategy.
German naval officers are counting
on her great speed, never yet put to
the ultimate test, to carry her safely
away from battleships and they hope
she can escape in a running fight the
flying British armored cruisers
~ was Only yc5Ic1 udy, dCCOTu1uS 10
information received here by agents
Of the German government that Ger
man reserve officers were ordered
home.
The naval authorities and the gem
eral staff fully realized that to order
her to sail from the neutral port of
New York was taking desperate
gamble with fate. They took into
consideration all the chances of her
capture or. destruction and they bal
anced against these the service the
Vaterland could render the empire at
this crisis, the need the empire had Of
her, and her uselessness marooned
here, and-determined to take the
chance.
For days the German authorities
have been debating the question. With
the war declaration, the vaterland
passed over to the German govern
ment. She ceased to be the property
Of the Observation-Disclosures line. In
preparation for the action finally de-
cided upon orders cabled. to. the prop
er officials here to coal and provision
her for and against any emergency.
Since Saturday morning this work has
been pushed over in Hoboken with
relentless energy. 1854
Tons and tons Of coal. hundreds and
Thousands Of them have been fed. Into
the vest bunkers. until lthsy were MI.
ed to overfowing. 4.
During all this. German agents
quietly selected from the lists Of the
available reservists the pick Of them
up to the number Of eight TO ten thou.
sand. To these preliminary notice.
were sent. In substance these no
tices read: 3sg
"Be prepared to embark on ship
which win later bs Designated to you
on instant notice. Y.