Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1915-09-10
CHASED BY u BOAT
FOR SEVEN HOURS
Negro in Jail Here Convicted OF
Burglary at Graham, Has Ex-
citing Experience on Brit
iSh Mule Boat.

danger came to light here this week
at the investigation of the four men
recently brought from Ironton, Ohio
charged with Il string of robberies in
TINS county-two negroes and two
white men. Upon being questioned
one of the colored men, Charlie Ma
son related a thrilling story of his
wanderings and travels, and of Il trim
on mule-boat through the war zone.
Later, after confessing to the crime
WIN which he was charged, and in
jail awaiting deportation to the peni-
tentiary, he told the following story
TO representative of this paper:
VI had been in Newport News 4
good while, and didn't have a lob. so
when man came TO me and said he'd
give me job on Il mule-boat and n
good trip to Europe, took him up.
lie didn't tell me about no submarines
ana that the reason he was so anX-
ious Tor me to go was because we
might be blowcd up by German tor
pedo, anG that rnen was hard to find.
But | went with him. and we started
August 2Sth. There was l04 colored
men and 25 white men with 1900
Missouri mules. We headed for Eng
land, and nothing happened the first
lew days, except lot of hard work
and mighty little sleep. We passed
Two or three big ships on the way, and
one day we got a wireless message
from a passenger ship that she had
been hit by submarine and was
sinking, but we were too far away.
and couldn't give her any help. We
found out when we got to England
that the ship was the Arabic and
that she had been lost.
"A ftcr Wp pOt this r1cccnro I bo.r,,,
TO get little skittish, because this
was my first trip, and ! had heard
some of the other men talking about
submarines and things like that. and
every time | heard them talk began
TO get little more scared. | didn't
get seasick. though, because there was
no wind and the sea was smooth. The
next day after we heard from the shin
that was sunk, were were about $50
miles from England, just off the Irish
Islands. and the Captain told us this
was where the submarines worked.
We went on until about 10 o'clock, and
then the lookout yelled that he had
seen submarine and that it was
coming after us. Yes sir. we all got
pretty much excited, because we en-
pecteG to be blown up as soon as she
got near enough. The Captain gave us
TO getting out the yawl-boats, or
life boats with engines in them. Then
he put four or five extra men in the
engine room stoking coal and ordered
1ull spead ahead. We had Il good start
on the submarine but she was coming
with all the speed she could get up,
ana our old engines were roaring like
q cyclone. We couldn't work mucn, and
every now and then we would have to
leave the mules and come out on deck
TO watch-somehow we wanted to be
outside when she blew up so we could
Try to get something to float on if it
didn't Kill us. The onicerS would drive
us back to work, and pretty soon we
would sneak out again. Some of the
men were crying and yelling ;.ld one
fellow got down on his knees and was
praying. Seems like every time mule
would stamp his foot we thought we
were hit. Everybody was yelling, and
the Captain was the only man on deck
that seemed to know what to do.
saw the submarine every now and then
whenever 1 could sneak out to look,
and every time | saw it | thought it
was getting closer. felt mighty bad
and dldn't expect to ever be in the
United States again. | ran away from
nome long time ago, and couldn't
think OF anything else the whole time
that thing was after us-if l could
have gone home then / would have
never wanted anything else in the
but every few minutes they would
drive me and the rest of them back
10 feeding mules. Every time / went
down I thought would be the last
time,
After we had run for about an
hour | thought the time had about
come, and / started to pray, but got
ashamed to let the other men see me,
so | kept on working. Another hour
went by and we We're still on top of
the water, so | began to think maybe
that thing wasn't going to catch us
after all. But when l looked again
she was nearer than ever, / thought,
and the others saw it too, and began
to cry and yell and holler more tnan
ever. All the time the man up in the
wireless room was sending out signals
as last as he could, but another hour
passed and no help was in sight But
The engineer was still at it, and the
pid boat was shaking like an earth
quake. The smoke was running out of
the tunnels so thick sometimes we
couldn't see what was following us.
Every minute we were waiting to
hear the torpedo hit, and the noise
on board was the worst / ever heard
i'm my life-half of the men were
praying and the other half were cry
ing. We thought we would all die in
another hour,
"About two o'clock we noticed that
the submarine was falling behind, and
we began to feel better. We had had
nothing to eat since five o'clock, and
now we began to feel little hungry.
The torpedo never did fire, and in
another hour we saw a big British
cruiser about three miles off. That
syas the best looking boat l ever saw.
When the submarine spotted her she
slowed down, and the cruiser began
TO pick of steam about the same time.