The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-17
LOCAL PEOPLE HAVE AN EXCITING BRUSH WITH CRUISER ESSEX Captain of City of Mont gomery Quickly Brought
 To Timc HAD REFUSED TIC
 SHOW HIS COLORS British War Dog Presented Broadside But Sheered off When Stars
 and Siiipes Rose to the
 Masthead
By RICHARD F. LESSER

oF hItffahD Ut SSlbH
 Adventures on the high seas are pien- tiful these warlike days. according to Mrs. Tourney Rivers. the well known musician, who returned from a visit in New York last night after an eventful boat trip along the Atlantic seaboard in which German and English cruisers were frequently encountered Mrs. Rivers stated that the most exciting in- cident happened last Thursday night off the Delaware coast when the English cruiser Essex forced the City of Mont gomery of the Savannah line to mount her colors in hurry.
 ''We had just finished dinner and dusk was gathering when to the north west the English cruiser Essex was sighted said Mrs Rivers, and of course all the passengers on the City of Montgomery came to the rail to watch the grim dog of war
 '1'he Essex was about five miles away when first seen and at that dis tance raced along parallel with our ship for several minutes. It appears that the Essex was signalling to us to show our colors, but the captain of our ship whose name l understand was Dhi tRibtIti9 bid tiob iAhet Nht iNNp of obeying the orders of the English men for no attention was paid to the demands of the cruiser
 Brought Captain to Senses
 "As no colors mounted the masthead the Essex veered and came towards us at apparently full speed for within an incredible short period, was on us and we could hear the beat of the drums calling the men to quarters Within third of mile from the City of Mont eomery, the Essex maiestically turned a broadside towards us and presented the most formidable array of giant guns that 1 have ever seen or desire to see again. Captain Burg evidently suddenly came to his senses for he rushed from the bridge and running past the excited passengers hurriedly ordered that the Stars and Stripes be flown The Ameri can flag went up just in tir/e as in an other moment there would have been q shot from the Essex and the City of Montgomery might have gone to the bottom.
 "A cheer went up from the passen- eenrs as the national emblem floated above their Heads, for they little real ized the predicament in which they had been placed by the stubbornness of the the Englishman turned away and it ap
 
 peafed as if the Stars and Stripes had scared the gaunt black fighter away. Hence the cheers. If they had known of their danger it undoubtedly would have excited them a little more than they were at the time of the unusual occurrence of seeing a man o'war strip ped for battle in the open sea.
 Captain Alone to Blame
 .'The incident was serious one. It in volved international complications. Ths English Essex was essentially right in the course pursued England is at war with Germany and her cruisers are pa trolling the seas for German merchant men. The Essex a long as the City of Montgomery persisted in not flying any colors. was justified by ,he rules of war in sinking her Captain Burg, for the safety of his passengers. should have flown the American flag the moment he sighted the English war vessel. He alone would have been to blame if anything of a serious nature had happened.
 'All along the Atlantic seaboard at the present time one encounters cruisers of the warning powers. Friday night all the passengers of the City of Montgomery were informed that two German cruisers were. lying to without lights along the North Carolina coast and further out at sea two English cruisers, supposedly the Essex and the Suffolk. That there will be an important naval engagement in American waters at an early date is un- doubted by posted men in the marine service along the coast"
 There were several others from Bir- mingham on board the City of Montgom- cry when the thrilling incident described by Mrs. Rivers happened They included Mrs. Shapiro and daughter. the mother Of Isadore Shapiro, the well known at torney; Miss Ethel Gillen, of Bessemer, and a member of the reportorial staff of the Age-Herald.
 One of the sights in leaving New York harbor these days is seeing the Florida, the great dreadnaught of the American navy, squatting low in the water near the battery, keeping an eagle eye on ship ping activities in Hoboken on the North river. There the huge Vateriand, the largest steamship afloat. Is moored and it is rumored is only waiting for an oppor- tunty to slip out to sea. The Vaterland IS German vessel and has been at her wharf in Hobolxen since the war meban and according to the neutral stand taken by the United States, it must remain at Hobolsen until the close of the war. This the German authorities do not intend to submit to, it is reported. and hence the Florida lying in midstream in New York harbor, cleared for action.