The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-21
Richard Harding Davis De-
 scribes Drills on Liner in
 Anticipation of Torpedo Attacks
UNLOADING HORSES
 AT BORDEAUX FROM DEALERS IN AMERICA
First PersonsSeen in France Are German Prisoners Who Are Busy Carrying Cement on the Docks
By RICHARD HARDING DAVIS

By RICHARD HARDING DAVIS
 Parts, November 20,--tSpecial corre-
 spondence) )-While still 500 miles from
 the French coast the passengers on the
 Chicago" of the French line entered
 what was supposed to be the war zone.
 In those same waters, Just as though
 tho reputation of the Bay of Biscay
 was not already sufficiently scandal
 ous. two ships of the same line had
 been torpedoed. So. in preparation for
 what the captain tactfuily called an
 accident" we rehearsed abandoning
 the ship
 It was like the fire drills in our pub
 lie schools. It seemed most sens-
 hle precaution, and one that in times
 of peace, as we'll as of war; might.
 with advantage. be enforced on all pas- senger ships. The captain of the
 ''Lustania" was asked to hold such 8
 drill, and refused. In his case. as 1t happened, it would not have helped the
 passengers, because the ship listed so badly that on one side the boats were held under water, and on the other were Stranded high and dry in the air as though they were on the roof of & skyscraper, But had the "Lusitaniar not listed, a rehearsal of taking to the boats would have hurt no one and
 might have saved many lives.
 EACH ASSIGNED TO LIFEBOAT In his proclamation, Commandantl Mace of the Chicago borrowed an idea from the New York fire depart mcnt. It was the warning Commits 1 sioner Adamson prints on theatre pro- srammes and by which he casts gloom on patrons Of the drama by in- 1 structing them to look abous them for i the nearest fire escape Each Iassen- l ser on the "shicagoN was assigned lo l a lifeboat He was advised to find out l how from any part of the ship at which | lie might be caught he could soonest reach 1t. Women and children were 1 to assemble on the boat deck by the boat Go which they were assigned. After they had been lowered to the water the men. who meanwhile, were to be segregated on the deck below them, would descend by rope ladders. Entrance to a boat was by ticket only. The tickets were six inches square and
 bore number. If you lost your ticket. you lost your life. Each of the more imaginative passengers insured his life by fastening the ticket to his clothes with a safety pin.
 Two days from land there was a full dress rehearsal, and for the first time we met those with whom we were expected to put to sea in an open boat Apparently those in each boat were se- lected by lot. As one young doctor in the ambulance service put 1t, the so- ciety in my boat is not at all con- gen al" The only other persons orig inally in my boat were Red Cross nurses of the post unit and infants In trampling upon them to safety fcresaw no difficulty. But at the dress rehearsal the purser added six dark and dangerous looking Spaniards. It developed later that by profession they were bull fighters. Any man who Is not afraid of bull Is entitled to re- spect. But being cast adrift with six
 did not appeal. One could not help wondering what would happen if we
 ran out of provisions and the bull fighters grew hungry. I tore up my ticket and planned to swim
 REMAINED DRESSED ALL NIGHT Some of the passengers took the TO- hearsal to heart, and. fully dressed,
 remained all night on deck As tho promenade deck is directly over the cabins, not only they did not sleep but neither did anyone else. The next day they began to see periscopes. For this they were not greatly to be blamed. The sea approach to Bordeaux Is flag ged With black buoys supporting iron masts that support the lights, and In | the rain and fog they look very much like perscopes. But after the pas sengers had been thrilled by the sight Of 20 of them, they became so bored l with false alarms that had real sub marine appeared they would have in vited the captain on board and given him a drink.
 While we still were anxiously keep ing watch a sail appeared upon the
 horizon Even the strongest glasses could make nothing of it. young. very young Frenchman ran to the
 bridge and called to the officers: Gen tlemen. will you please tell me what boat 1t Is that l see?"
 Had he asked the same question of an American captain while that orfi-
 cer was on the bridge. the captain would have turned his back An Eng fish captain would have put him Tn irons But the French captain called down to him, "She is pilot boat No. 2S. The pilots name is Jean Baptiste, He has g wife and four children In Bordeaux and others in Brest and
 Havre He is 30 years old. and has 1 a red nose and a wart on his chin 1 Is there anything else you would like l to knowc"
 1 FIRST VIEW OF THE ENEMY At daybreak, as the ship swept up the Gironde to Bordeaux. we had our I first view of the enemy. We had passed the vineyards and those chau- { teaux the name of which every wins
 card in every part of the world helps l to keep famous and familiar and had l req ched the outskirts of the city. Here l the banks are close together, so close that one almost can hail those on 1 shore, but there was a heavy rain, and | the mist played tricks When on barge I saw a man in black overooat | with the brass buttons wider apart across the chest than at the belt line. like those of our traffic police In l summer time, thought ii was trick | of the mist Because. at present the uniform that. by a nice adjustment Of l buttons tries to broaden the shoulders | and decrease the waist. is not being worn much in France. Not If a French l sharpshooter sees it first But thc man in the overcoat was not carrying