The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1917-03-14


Ition was observed by The pilots He
consideFed the sunken ship a serious
menace to nayig ation. He, gave Il
detailed description 81 finding the Lie;
benfels in considerable internal dis
order when he took charge, and stated
that many engineering and necessary
Operating parts Of the ship were Miss
ing and broken. ! 81 iy.s,3S 4 5.
Upon approaching the ship he
found that the steel bunker door was
open, opposite the engine room, and
on deck the matches were open, cans
vas covers displaced and water in the
hold, u ALI deck machinery on the
bridge and aft, were rendered prac-
tically useless. q E 4
Photos of the Liebenfels at half.
tide and of the disabled machinery,
wireless room and steering gear,
were identified by MAJOR Youngberg.
The Liebenfels, stated Major
Youngberg, was being pumped out at
present, and the work, it was ex-
pected, would be completed within two
or three weeks, when the vessel will
be raised.
John P. Grace, for the defense, here
interposed the objection that this tes-
timony would only serve to prejudice
the jury, and could only prove that
the crew demolished certain parts of
the ship, without any direct bearing
on the actual sinking. Mr.. Grace's
objection was overruled by Judge
Smith. 'E
Cross ss-examined by w. Turner Lo-
gan, Major Youngberg stated that the
channel in which the Liebenfels sunk
was 1,500 feet wide, with mean
depth of 80 feet at low tide, and was
500 feet wider than the channel be-
tween the jetties, where the mean
low tide depth was only 28 feet.
Thus, Major Youngberg testified,
there was space of 900 feet on one
side of the Liebenfels and 600 feet
on the other, in 30-foot channel.
Lula Ashe Heard.
Lula Ashe, the colored stewardess
of the Liebenfels, was the next wit
ness. She told of having been en-
ployed for four or five weeks aboard
the steamer prior to the sinking, and
was on board the first pare of the
night of January 81. She had quar-
ters on board, and only went on shore
occasionally, as she was following a
picture serious"
On the night Of January 81, she
was told by Captain Klattenhoff, who
had been absent from the ship, sew
eral days and only returned that
evening that she was to go ashore.
Fearing that something was wrong,
she inquired:
"You amt mad at me ?"
Captain Klattenhoff replied, "No
There is storm coming. The sig
nails are up. You had better go
ashore. Come back in the morning"
Lula prepared to go ashore and
was handed several articles by the
captain, that had been placed in his
hands for safe keeping. Puzzled, she
spoke to Arthur Williams, the colored
cook, and told him something was
crooked"
She went ashore in the launch and
when she returned to the Columbus
street wharf the next morning, at
7:30 o'clock, the Liebenfels was sink
ing.
| Captain Klattenhoff. she stated
was brought to the wharf from the
ship and landed. She was not taken
back to the ship. Captain Klatten-
hoff, said Lula, seemed nervous and
upset and did not speak to her when
he landed at the wharf.
Lula testified, under cross-exami-
nation by Mr.. Grace, that when Cap
tain Klattenhoff reached the Lieben-
fels on the night of January 81, he
gave hurried orders to- the first Off
Ger, and "the men acted like I had
never seen 'em act BEFORE" She
heard strange noises in the ship i'm
mediately afterward.
Mr.. Grace brought out that the men
looked upon the captain as the chief
and that all his orders were unhesi-
tatingly obeyed.
Arthur Williams Talks.
Arthur Williams, colored cook on
the Liebenfels, testified he was on
board all night January 81, and
heard "blowing and booming noises