The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-02-26

two German planes sailing direct over
the town. All the battleships in the
harbor were training their guns upon
them but they escaped unframed and
flew back 10 the lines, which were said
at that time to be only ten miles dis
tant from the city. Before we sailed
a week later the Germans had been
pushed back thirty miles farther.
The town was filled with soldiers.
Each nationality was assigned to a
particular quarter of the town and
soldiers that wandered into the quar-
ter assigned another nationality were
severely punished. The aeroplane
fights, occurring almost always around
noon were a daily feature of our
weeks stay at Saloniki. And before
we left we saw a Zeppelin brought
down five miles away
Saloniki Pleasant Place.
"Saloniki was a pleasant place, with
plenty of sights to see. There were
good cafes where our boys could OBJ
tain beer and Greek wine for about a
nickel bottle. The beer or wine
possessed no voltage and the boys de-
clared they could drink it all day
without it affecting them. From our
favorite station we could see every day
auto train of fifteen or twenty trucks
of supplies leave for the firing line.
Once we saw a party of captured Ger
mans. They We're shoeless and ap-
peared ill-fed. And to give a home
like touch to the scene there were
several Fords in town that could be
seen scattering around. Clearly Wis
whence all the gods had fled except
Mars, according to the story.
Some of the boys were penniless,
but the prices were very low. Shoe
leather was at premium and sew
eral sold their cheap shoes for Sc or
e. rat inc TNo
ship. One lucky man had a collection
of United Cigar store certificates.
They were accepted by the cafe own
ers like hot cakes and he lived high
during his stay. December % we
were escorted out thru the mined har-
Dor passing probably twenty rows of
mines, the passage way being less than
100 feet broad
Less than a day out of port we
sighted a submarine and We're pur-
sued. We kept a southerly course.
hugging the coast line to elude il.
passing within 1870 miles of the Darda-
neiles, and passing near Smyrna. We
passed thru the wreckage of the Ital-
ian boat 'Marguerita,' which sunk
with loss of 700 lives. AT this point
we received four s. o. S. calls but
needed none of them After an eight
day trip we arrived at AIgiers. where
We put on thousand tons of coal
we drew our $35 a month there and
had gay time reviewing Little
Paris as the town is termed.
The Ship on Fire.
The day before we were scheduled
TO sail fire broke out in No hold
and only the bravery of the seventy
men who had shipped for adventure
saved the ship. Thru all their efforts
the captain, a Welshman, stood on the
bridge and shouted, Leave the
bloomin' ship. Let the bloomin' thing
burn. Don't risk your bloomin'
ives. We arrived in Gibraltar
January 3 and left there January a.
ON the way back we encountered a
4S-hour storm, and our UNPUBLISHED
vessel almost turned flip flops. Short
~ after the engine room caught on
fire. but we managed to extinguish
the blaze We arrived in Newport
News February 3. We didn't see a
ship on the way back until two days
from shore, when we were interro-
gated by a French cruiser.
II am going to stick to my work -
Erickson says. But I would like to
go over there again. One of the men
who shipped with us had crosse /
thirty-seven times. had been subma-
rined once but said he was going to
ship again at the first opportunity.