Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-04-13
#iseellaneuus Rsading.
THE KRoNPRiNz WILHELM
A Second German Raider Slips into
Newport News.

/ destroyed the FORMER NOTti GeTiIldi
Lloyd liner eluded the warships fol
eIgnt months while she sent mer-
chantmen to the bottom and her offi-
/ GERS say she was forced to steal her
way through a fleet of four allied
| cruisers on this coast in order to
reach This refuge. I'VE got in without
beng seen by the enemy and we can
/ get ont the same way" declared her
commander, Lieut.. Capt. Paul Thier-
| fielder, former navigating officer OF
| the German cruiser Karlsruhe. When
| she anchored OFF Old Point the Will
| helm had less than 20 o n of coal and
| scant provisions for the crew of 500
men n 81 prisoners from British
merchant ships sunk in the South At
lantic. The drab painted 15,OO0-ton
| cruiser came with a record of 15 mer-
chant ships captured, IA Of them sunk,
| nine British, four French and one
Norwegian. The British ship Chase
hill, captured. vas allowed to proceed
taking to shore more than 800 prison.
ers from previous raids. The value OF
these ships and their cargoes, officers
Of the Wilhelm tonight estimated at
Z 1000, 900. Since she slipped out OF
New York harbor August 3, last, as
German merchant n passenger sail
or, the Wilhelm never touched land,
and took $50 passengers from various
vessels destroyed. Most OF these were
Sent to South American ports, on Ger
man ships which met h raider In
response to wireless calls. The I'll
now on board who will be landed here
tomorrow are British sailors taken
from the steamships lamar, destroyed
March % last and Coleby, destroyed
March 27 last.
The second of the raiders brought
as thrilling a story as did her prede-
cessor, the Eitel Friedrich, writes an
Associated Press correspondent under
date Of Sunday. Her record OF de-
structiOn, however, was accomplished
with only four guns, two taken from
the German cruiser karlsruhe n
two captured from the British mer-
chant steamer Lacorentina, sunk DC.
tober =, 1914. The most connected
story of the voyage from New YORK,
255 days in all, during which the ship
never touched land, was told tonight
by Over Lieut.. Alb Warneke, the hrst
officer.
1--WE left New York August g." said
Lieut.. Warneke. Three days out, on
the Bermudas, we met the German
cruiser Karlsruhe. We o from her
two 3-inch guns, which we mounted.
Lieut.. Capt. Thierfelder, navigating
officer Of the Karlsruhe, took com
mand of our ship. We also took II
of the Karlsrhue's junior officers and
men. We made for the South Allan
tic and the first ship we encountered
was the British steamer Indian Prince
which we sunk September 4, 1914. L
want to say that Sir Edward Grey,
the British premier, has been kind to
us and that II Great Britain had been
organized as we'll as we were to patrol
the South Atlantic we could
have remained alive these many
months. Sir Edward Grey sent Us
those two big guns on u ~afterdeck.
He sem them to us on the British
Lacorentina. The L~acorentina coul
not use her guns because she did not
have any ammunition. After we took
the guns and what Of her cargo we
wanted, we put some bombs into her
and down she went.
Some Of the merchant ships we
sunk with our own guns, some we
blew uD with bombs and in some cases
we were compelled to ram the ships.
I'VE took on board from enemy's
ships during our voyage more than
20, 900 tons Of coal.
1--WE made the uniforms for all our
crew from cloth which we captured
from the French steamship Guada-
loupe, but could only find this grey
blue and so you see we are strange
looking German sailormen today.
From the Guadalupe we also got
shoes, leather and thousands OF dol
lars worth Of things which were OH
their way for the French army
Lieut.. Warneke was asked II the
Kronprinz Wilhelm had not hoped to
get help from abe German steamer
-. .,L;aL NC hold nm hIy the
United States at San Juan, P. r., sew
eral weeks ago. He made no direct
reply to the question, but declared
that the action on the part of the
United States in denying clearance to
the Odenwald was the worst thing
America had done"
why did you Americans not CIV
clearance to the Odenwald?' he ask
ed. I'VE heard all about it by u
wireless. We did not need n news
papers. We had good wireless APP
paratus aboard all the time. The de-
NAL of clearance to the Odenwald
was the only bad thing America has
done. You simply held that ship up
in Puerto Rico until the British could
come and try to catch up
Lieut.. Warneke said that most Of
the 1000 sailors and passengers taken
"SlS SSII iioii ihAS ~
man ships to Buenos Ayres, Rio de
Janeirc, Pernambuco and Santos.
Three hundred and sixty from n
French steamer Gualdaloupe were
sent ashore at Pernambuco.
Several weeks ago, the officer said,
the Prinz Wilhelm was getting %
Of coal and supplies and some of her
crew and prisoners were afflicted with
beri-beri, caused by lack Of vegetable
food. 1t was hoped to get supplies
from the German ship Macedonia,
which was reported to have escaped
from Las Palmas. This vessel, they
learned, however, had been captured
by British ships. This hope gone,
they steamed north and were in touch
with events tranSpiring regarding the
PrinZ Eitel Frederick.
1t was reported tonight that the
Wilhelm's original destination was
New York, but that warnings were
given not to attempt to make that
port. Although officers would not ad-
nit it, the Wilhelm is declared to
have been waiting far out in the
ocean off this port until the Eitel
Friedrich was informed. AS soon as
this news reached her, h was or
dered to creep in through the allied
ships off the Virginia coast. Allied
ships were said to be off his coast
last night. The signals from four of
them were plainly heard, he declared.
A member of the crew of the Prinz
Wilhelm, who formerly was in the
United States navy, declared the ship
witnessed an encounter between the
Karlsruhe and the British cruiser
Bristol. when off the Bermudas,"
he said, the British cruisers Bristol,
Suffolk and Berwick came up and
we were forced to run. While the
| karlsruhe was engaging the Bristol,
we were steaming straight away. We
never heard from the Karlsruhe after
hat except once. Our last message
from her told US that the Bristol had
been damaged n was making for
some port for repairs. The message
said the Karlsruhe had been only
slightly damaged and that no one had
been killed.
ION November 81, we sank the
French steamer lime de Bretagne.
| On December ~, just az our coal
supply again was running short we
toIk possession of the British steamer
| Bellevue with 1000 ton of coal. Our
next prize vas the French steamer
| Mont Angel. She was empty and after
transferring her crew to IL ship We