Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-10-23
PARIS. oct. 90.

PARIS. oct 90.
The torpedo which destroyed the Amer
ican transport Antilles, homeward bound
causing the death Of siXty-seven Amer
ieans. struck the vessel Mt 6;45 in the
,,orninr. according to Davis Mills Of Chi
cago. former ambulance driver, who was
among the survivors.
The majority of the passengers were In
their staterooms and barely had, time 10
don their lifebelts before the vessel Went
down - H. II. Cummings, of Philade Iph'a' u
student AT Temple University and formerly
a member Of transport section 52o OF 'he
American field service, was last seen Uy-
ing vanly to get into boat IL Is JhouE'O
the ship sank before the noat was WI, IS-t,or
Csunuings came to France in July Nheh
the United States took over the section We
did not re-enIist but embarked on the An
TILES
Mills. who is twenty-five years old, Is the
son Of John Mills. Il 623 North East ave
nue.. Oak Park He was rescued oy a ne ne
boat after swimming and keeping himset
afoat for more than two hours. lie ar
rived in a French boat on rescue snip clad
in a pair Of pajamas, an overcoat ana
lifebelt.&
Mills was student in the Oak Park High
School He came 70 France seven lnon.ls e,.l
ago to drive in American Ambulance sec
tion No. 13.
AWAKENED BY EXPLOSION
'T was asleep in my stateroom and was
awakened by the explosion Of the torpedo
Mills said ut hit amdship right under me
I wasted no time in dressing, but grapped
my lifebelt and overcoat and rushed Tor
the lifeboat. do not think any one on me me
ship saw the submarine and none OF tne
survivors saw the torpedo.
Il had been assigned to a certain life
boat and I made my way directly 70 IL, l
found il was being lowered and was nan
way to the waters edge. Jumped Tor II
and made It.
qTbere were only two others IN the boat
the ships purser and brigadier general OF
fbe limited States army. Before we reached
the water one end Of the boat slipped on
the davit ropes and We all went into the
sea head first When I came up l saw
the purser swimming behind me. We swan
for awhile. but suddenly butted into an oar
grabbed one end and called TO the pur'
ser TO take hold Of the other. We used the
oar to support ourselves for an hour.
"The sea was rough. so that we were
not sighted by the lifeboats which hac
made the water safely, although we coulc
see them all around. Finally boat sight
ed us and took us in. Later we saw th'
brigadier general swimming about Hi
hat was still on his head. When we rowet
to him one of the boats crew reached owe
the side and pulled him in by the seat of hi
trousers Just then his hat fell off and III
almost overturned the boat in grabbing fol
II The boat contained petty Officer
and twenty members Of the crew.
ANTILLES SINKS RAPIDLY
."The Antilles sank quickly. Just befor,
made for the oar I looked back and saw
the boilers explode. Following this the boa
was enveloped in a cloud of steam, and
saw a crowd of ten SO persons rusl
frantically to the stern and jump overheard
"Before the explosion there was no con
fusion Every one took his place in the life
boats in an orderly manner, some OF th'
officers even smiling After we were saf
In the boats,w we began to wander about
picking Gp survivors
The brgadler general who Is back II
Paris, said:
II lost all Of my belongings except tn
clothes l was wearing The story Of how
kept afioat by swimming is quite true.
Owe my life to lifebelt, which l seizet
&hen the Antilles was struck.
i SINKING is STRANGE SIGHT
Il entered a lifeboat which threw all o
lis occupants into the sea. While we swan
about we looked for something to grab TIL
t Sinking Of the Antilles was a strange sight
for it went down so quichy-in about nv
minutes, I should judge-and its disappear
ance probably was fastened by the eXplo
Zion of the boiler after the torpedo struck
E "rhe two ships which rescued all OF tn
eurvivors who were floating and in small
boats sought lin vain Tor the perlscope o
the submarine. which, believe, no pefsol
saw
THE Antilles settled by the stern yer.
fhpidlysileaving the boat almost perpendicu
lar in the water. A naval officer remain
ing on board was slightly injured by
tnokestack, the boat went down so quickly
Another person was severely cut by IN
Wireless mast wires.
after floating about for a while I wa
pulled aboard lifebost and later was take
aboard a rescuer."
" ...t..s - ..-a
Z WASHINGTON, Oct. 23.--The War De
partment yesterday received from Genera
Rershing the complete casualty list in tn
destruction Of the homeward-bounds arm
Transport Antilles by German submarin
last Wednesday. He gave no additional de
talls of the disaster
z Sixty-seven men, including sixteen so
ders. went down with the ship, another
pnaccounted for and ITO were rescued b
fhe naval convoy. Many of those kille
@ere foreigners OF the transports engir
ana boiler forces, and some Of the missin
ola Of frth