The daily progressive-miner., 1916-01-19
MONKEY WRENCH
 DID THE TRICK
TAPPING HEARD ON SUBMARINE LYING
 ON SEA BOTTOM
LONDON, Dec. 2S-Probably for

LOlN0O4Ny OCC. AO--l iOOeAbiy M ty German submarines-no one out side the grand fleet and the admir- alty knows the exact number-have been destroyed or captured by the silent watchers of the English seas since the von Tirpitz "blockade" be- gan ten months ago. In not one in- stance have the details of how a U-boat was entrapped been official ly announced, not even the dwindl- ing of number of German sea ter TOTS and the transfer of most of those that remain to the Mediter- ranean have practically ended the peril in home waters.
 The natural result of this policy of silence has been an avalanche of rumors. For every submarine en- trapped, it is safe to ay, there have been ten descriptions circulated by word of mouth specifying some en- tirely distinct method which has caught or is catching, U-boats by the dozen. Some of these reports are true. Most of them, obviously are not. The story told below is the best of the crop. It has been submitted to the authorities, and neither confirmed nor denied, and I give it as I heard it, and in the words of the press censor here when he passes copy for publication, "take no responsibility for the ear rectness of the statements made"
 It was told by a sailor from German submarine, now a prisoner in England, to a British official, and the fact that I have received permission to repeat it may indicate that it is not true, or that the trick described was worked under cir cumstances So unusual that there is no possibility of it's ever happen ing again.
 After a voyage of ten days from Wilhelmshaven, the German sailor said, the U-27, on her maiden voy- age in enemy waters, found her first prey in a tramp steamer off the coast of Ireland. A patrol boat was soon seen on the horizon, scut- ting along at her maximum speed of of seven knots or so, and since patrol boats carry wireless, the Teuton "captain-lieutenant' in charge knew destroyers would soon be on the scene. He gave orders accordingly to make for shallow bay, where other submarines in the past had lain hidden on the bot tom until danger had passed.
 The sailor did not know the name of this bay, but he described a headland running into the sea, with a town and harbor nearby, and the description fits Courtmacsherry bay, on the west side of the Old Head of Kinsale, and the possible rendez- vous of the submarine which sank ehe Lusitania only a few miles a. way. The eastern side of Hook Point, near the town and harbor of Waterford, may also be the place referred to.
 The U-27 "slept" on the bottom, some forty feet below the surface, all that night and half the next day, and in spite of the artificial measures taken to maintain the supply of oxygen the strain com menced to tell. The instruments on board rocorded the presence of ships to end fro, the throb of the propel- lers of destroyers above could be constantly heard, and the captain knew the British were aware of his hiding place. Soon an attempt must be made to creep some miles away, raise for air, and try to sub merge again before a shell from 9 destroyer should bring the new ships career to an untimely end.
 Suddenly" the sailor said, ~ heard a sound of a chain rasping