The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1917-12-21
hEYI iii. t)IssEE
TRAFFIC moving
Effective Work Of Navy on the
Great Lakes.
MANY PLOTS ARE FRUSTRATED
Wheelsmen, Captured on Great Lakes
Freighter, identified as German
Navy Officers-Two Freighters Sunk
in Peculiar Manner-Commander
McMunn in Command of Fleet.

mCmQnfl IN SOITITEldl0 Sb ElCCts
Hidden away in a certain little har-
Dor Of the Great Lakes is gunboat.
Its coat is battle gray; it's guns
peer menacingly from sponsor and
barbette. 1t is not given to reveal the
exact location of the ship.
Anyhow, it's captain is the distinc-
tive feature of the craft, for Command
er w. N. McMunn, N. n. ", is the man
who has kept the ore traffic moving"
And keeping the ore traffic moving
with the nation at war has been no
fanciful job. Most of the iron and
much of the copper used in the manu-
facture Of armament ins this country
is produced in the lake region and
freighted in the open navigation sea-
son in lake vessels to steel mills.
Traffic in metals this season has been
more than double that of any previous
year, and exact figures not yet hay
ing beenI compiled.
Many Plots Frustrated.
Much has been said about the pro-
lection afforded steel mills and NUM-
tons factories, but little has been
printed concerning the equally efficient
protection afforded the ore before it
reaches these industrial plants. This
is the task to which the navy depart
ment at the opening Of navigation on
the lakes last spring assigned Com
mander McMunn. It gave him more
than three-score vessels ranging in
size from an open-speed launch to
1,2OO-ton gunboats. Constant vigilance
on the part of Commander McMunn
and each of his officers and men has
been the price paid to keep the barn
door locked before somebody stole the
horse.
Commander McMunn will talk little
of his experience. Announcements
from Washington, however, from time
to time have limited of German plots
anti-American propaganda, l. W. w
agitation, all suppressed by this quietly
eII6CClVG dIlu VI luC navy.
There are stories of wheelsmen or
Great Lakes freighters who have been
taken into custody by naval officers
and who have been identified as OIL
GERS of the German navy. There are
two large lake freighters, sunk in a
most peculiar manner so as almost Ic
close to navigation one of the most i'm
Dortant lake ports. There is report
that certain interests in Duluth Sent
word to Commander McMunn that il
he ever set foot in that city he Noulo
be shot and killed, and there is the
verified statement that Commander
McMunn replied by going to Duluth nc
walking unarmed and unattended uI
and down the thoroughfares of thai
city. But no attempt was made to dc
him violence.
! Good Fellow and Good Sailor. H.
OF him one of his fellow officers re
Gently said: sJust shaking hands now
with Commander McMunn gives YOU
the idea that ne is jolly good fel'
low" He is, but other naval officers
tell you that he is also a jolly good
sailor, jolly good fighter, and jolly
good business man, and they willftell
you also about his foresight, hind
sight, energy, and good old-fashioneo
all-wool-and-a-yard-wide backbone.
Just a word Of history about Com
mander McMunn who, in addition To
his other duties, is assistant command
ant of the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh
! naval districts with headquarters at
the Naval Training station at Great
Lakes which has the task OF turning
thousands of fresh water ploWDoys
into saltwater sailors. An engineer
known nation wide, an expert In steei
he enlisted in the Illinois Naval militia
as an ordinary seaman in 1894. SerV'
ing through the several grades ne
emerged after the Spanish-Amer1can
war as an ensign, and since has served
in each grade until he reached the
commanders rank. He holds an unllm
fted masters license and also CHIEF
engineers license Of unlimited tonnage
and perhaps is more familiar with the
croat Lakes than aDy 0the. skippel