Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1918-11-14
SWAN RIVER RHINE
ESCAPING FROM HUNS
Naval Lieutenant Isaacs In
America After Thrilling
Experiences
ATE CABBAGE LEAVE S

seven VI
nearly 500 were Canadian women and
children on their way home. arrived
Sunday at an Atlantic pors, on a Brit
ish liner, after fine passage across
from England without incident of any
kind. Among the officers on board,
was Lieut. Edward Isaacs. u S. NJ,
who was taken prisoner by the Ger
man submarine which sank the trans
port President Lincoln on May 81. He
managed to escape from the prison
camp at Villenghen, on October 6, and
had a series of adventures, including
the swimming of the Rhine.
The lieutenant, who is 29 years old
once for Washington. He could not
give an interview to the reporters on
his arrival, but a friend who was on
the liner with him gave the following
account, which he received from Lieu
tenant Isaacs during the voyage.
After the crew and the troops left
the President Lincoln in the lifeboats
and on the RATS Lieutenant Isaacs,
who had not taken off his insignia of
rank from his jacket, was taken out of
his boat by the German commandant
and placed on the submarine, where
he spent IL days, until the craft reach
ed Kiel. During that time the subma-
and sent two marines ashore with
loaded rifles and they came off with
eight sheep. The German officers
treated him we'll and were confident
that their armies would crush the
Allies before the end of July and the
war would be over.
Four miles off the entrance to the
Kiel Canal the U-boat was met by
four other German undersea craft and
two destroyers. which escorted her
into the harbor After a delay of a
flew hours the submarine passed
through the canal to Wilhelmshaven,
where Lieutenant Isaacs was kept
three days on board. During that time
he tried to escape, blu. found that the
place was so well guarded day and
night, that it was impossible to get
away. He was next taken by train to
! Karlsruhe and placed in a prison camp
, where several British officers had been
for some time.
Message on Wall
The lieutenant said that his room
had big chandelier in it, which he
thought rather luxurious for prison,
until he removed mirror hanging on
the wall to put it in better light for
him to shave. Then he read mes
sage scratched on the wall: BE
ware of the dictaphones attached to
the chandelier"
The British officers and the Amer
lean naval lieutenant concocted plan
for escape, which was frustrated the
night before il was to come off. In
consequence of this all the officers
, except two British generals and two
other officers who shared his room
were sent away from Karlsruhe Lieu
, tenant Isaacs and the other prisoners
were taken before a court-martial and
told that they would be summarily
} dealt with if they attempted to escape
again
A few days later Lieutenant Isaacs
was sent by train to Villenghen, in
Baden, and tried to escape ON the way
At the time the train was just arriving
at the top of a small mountain he
made a dive through the window as
the guard in the compartment with
him was looking the other way.
Bullets Too Close
The train was going about 40 miles
an hour and he struck the rail with a
violence that knocked him out for a
few seconds. He was restored to his
senses by the shouts of the guards,
who had stopped the train, and the
rifle bullets which fell around him.
When one struck within six inches of
his left ear he thought it was time to
surrender. The guards put him back
in the train and finally he reached the
next train.
After few days at villenghen Lieu
tenant Isaacs arranged a plan of es-
cape with some British prisoners,
which was brought off successfully ON
the night of October 6. Out of 13 who
started he heard that three besides
himself had reached Switzerland and
safety. BY bribing the guards they
procured wooden battens, which were
cut down and made into conduits to
pass over the charged wires outside
the cells. They also got another wire
to throw across the electric wires in
the building and caused a short cir
cult. so that the guards should not
see them when the alarm was given.
Over Barbed Wire
At IL o'clock the signal was given
and the Is prisoners got safely out of
the building and crawled through a
ditch 20 feet deep filled with barbed
wires and across parapet 10 feet
high composed of the same kind of en-
tanglement. BY that time the alarm
had been given, but the guards could
not find their guns. The sentries
] fired into the darkness continually. but
did not hit any of the escaping men.
For seven days the lieutenant, with