The Benson signal., 1916-11-04
SOME INCIDENTS OF The WAR THAT
ARE STILL UNSOLvED MYSTERIES
True Story of the Audacous and Fate of the Karlsruhe Remain
Locked Secrecy-Dsappearance of Won Rneen Another
Chapter That Is Prolific of Many Rumors-The
Missing Grand vzier of Turkey

and munitions along the transconti-
mental line from VladivOstOk might
have an important bearing on the war,
| and in country much Of which was
| sparsely settled and had few facili
ties FOR repair work, the destruction Of
one or two bridges might have held up
| traffic for months. But nothing more
was heard of the Germans after the
news came out that they had started
on their adventure; so presumably
Russian or japanese spies found them
out, or they were killed by hostile ma
tives in the more uncivilized regions
| through which their route lay.
The fate of the German cruiser
Karlsruhe, which terrorized British
shipping in the south Atlantic early
in the war and won reputation Sec
| Ond only to that Of the Emden, has
| never been established with anything
like definiteness, although the British
admiralty has stated that it has ev
cry reason to believe that the Karls-
ruhe was sunk in November, 1914. Ger
| tainly after that there were no more
captures by the cruiser, which had
taken II British merchant ships in the
| first three months of war. Dozens of
British warships, including two or
three fast and powerful battle cruis-
ers, were combing the Caribbean and
the south Atlantic for the German
raider, and If they had caught her
they would have blazoned the news far
and wide. But except for one or two
indecisive actions at the very outset
| of the war, the Karlsruhe seems to
have succeeded in evading fight quite
successfully.
The general belief has been that she
was wrecked by a storm, and there
came to Brooklyn the tale of an un-
identified skipper, who had seen her
hull stranded on one of the Windward
islands. Another story, this one from
Copenhagen, said that she had blown
| up while the crew was at sea.
Wild Rumors From India.
There are other features of the
wars progress which are quite as
| much Of mystery to the general pub
lie as those already listed; but the
truth about them is known we'll enough
to the governments of the countries
| affected, and will perhaps come out
some years after the war is over. For
instance, the situation in British India.
Wild rumOrS from German sources
| told of riots approaching the dimen-
sions of revolution in various Indian
cities, and of invasiOns from the Af-
CHAN frontier by tribes stirred up by
the entrance of the sultan of Turkey,
the caliph Of Moslems, into the war
| These were denied vigorously by the
| British, who pointed to the large In
dian armies in France and MeSOpO-
tamia and East Africa as an indication
| that all was safe at home. Yet there
was an iron censorship on any news
out of India; Americans were not well
| coined as Travellers and those who told
| stories of fighting on the border were
denounced as prO-German liars, until
| a few weeks ago member of the Brit
| ish government speaking in parlia-
| ment, admitted that since the war be-
| gan there had been seven distinct
raids, ''sOme of them very serious" ON
| the northwestern frontier. Evidently
| the danger was over or it would not
have been mentioned, but there were
| still no details.
Similar vagueness has prevailed of
| late in East Africa, where the Brit
| iSh admitted at least one severe de-
feat in the fall Of 1914. After that all
| the news was of victOry-prOgress by
various columns of British, Belgians
| and South Africans operating in va
riOus sections of the country. But,
| despite uninterrupted victories the
country is not yet wholly conquered,
and the fact that there have been two
| changes in the supreme command is
sufficient to suggest that much of the
| military history of East Africa will
make interesting reading when the
| British war office allows it to be
printed.
Fate of the Audacious.
| Another matter with regard to which
Britain has been secretive is the sink
| ing of the Audacious, one of the new
est and most powerful of superdread-
naUghts, which was sunk, presumably
| by mine, off the northwest coast of
Ireland while maneuvering with
| squadron of sister ships October 81,
1914. To date, the British government
has never admitted the loss of this
ship, although American correspond
| enJs mailed stories describing it, and
| months later magazine writer's were
permitted to mention it in some such
| phrasing as "if we add the Audadous,
which has been reported from Ameri-
can sources as sunk"
Presumably the Audacious was sunk
by mine laid by a German trawler
masquerading under neutral flag but
at the time there was much talk of a
submarine, and even an attempt to
pretend that nothing had happened to
her more than an accident to the ma
| chinorV and that Chn was pUQOtrollv