The Washington herald., 1917-11-10

the raider except the cook. Next
morning at o'clock | went back
on board with all my men and pack
ed up. We left the ship about $50
a. m. with our belongings. June IS
We were put on board the raider
again. Shortly after l saw from
the raider that they cut holes In
the masts and placed dynam te
bombs in each mast and put Fl {
to both ends of the ship and lC't
her. / saw the masts go over tn
side and the ship was burning from
end to end. and the raider steamed
away"
Further examination of Smith
follows:
Q. How many prisoners werc
there OH board?-A. She had cap
tured the four-masted American
schooner \. b. Johnson. of sar
Francisco, three days before. she
had nine men from her.
Q. While you were on board die
she capture any other vessel?-A
Yes. sir She captured the schoon'
er Manila, a four-master from Sar
Francisco, on July s. AT about II
degrees north and l4s degrees west
Manila as with your vcssel?-A. No
She blew her up with dynamite. sh,
took the officers and men of the
Manila.
Capture French Vessel.
O: How many?-A. Ten, all told
They also had a Hollander still aboart
the raider. who was retained on boart
from the very first ship captured be
cause he had insulted the captain b,
remark about German money. ant
was kept on board as a punishment.
I'VE arrived at the Island OF Mo
peha on July 81 and anchored on Tho
lee side Of the island. On August :
In the morning. at $50 a. m, there
vas little pun of wind from the
westward and the ship went ashore.
They couldn't de- anything; she wal
stuck fast. In the afternoon the,
gave up the ship for lost and move,
everybody ashorc-crew, prisoners
and all.
They built tents OF sails from the
ship. They took the wireless plan
ashore and set it up. They had botl
sending and receiving apparatus
They could hear Pago Pago. Tahiti
and Honolulu.
On September was told they
had hear wireless code messages from
pago Pago to the American consul
They got very busy instantly fittin:
up boats. Their intention was t,
leave as soon as they had them fiXeC
up
a. What were they going to do with
you?-A. They were going to leave
us. On September s. a trading schoon'
CT came in. a French schooner from
Papeete named Lutece. She wa.
sighted in the morning on the lee side
of the island, and First Lieut.. KIM
took the first motor boat and machin,
gun and twenty men and went ou
and captured her. Then they started
to breaking everything down. smash
ing the wireless plant instantly. They
smashed to pieces and burned every
thing they could not take along.
Men Escape.
"On the Lutece there were two
French owners and fourteen natives
The native captain of the Lutect
tried to make us believe that We could
easily get to Tahiti with that boat
about $50 miles 1t was impossible
and I was against 1t from the be.
ginning and everyone turned against
me for that. The conditions were
bad. Some of the crews were armed
and II was bad for US. we were un.
armed (nleanihg the officers). The
old captain of the Manila was left
In charge. an old man about 90 years
old. He took this boat out. accom-.
panied by the native captain and
the second mate, Mr.. Williams. and
three more natives, and one of the
French owners, seven in all
"On September s, at in the morn
ing, they started. Their idea was
to get up to Maupiti, about 100 miles
northwest, and there to get a motor
schooner and proceed to Papette, but
the whole thing turned out a fizzle
and they got back September 1e al