Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-12-15

the American transport President Lin
coin men that vessel was torpedoed
captured bY the German submarine
which s"nl the ship. When off the
Scandinari; coast he attempted TO
swim ashu, but was caught. On his
way to u Prison in Germany he jumped
from Il train but was recaptured. lie
escaped from the prison and swan
across the Rhine river to safety in
Switzerland
The story has been told briefly in
the Associated Press dispatches but
It's details are SO filled with the spirit
OIL adventure as to be well worth the
telling.
When the President Lincoln wen, to
lsaacs. who is from Cresco. Iowa. climb
cd upon a raft. Soon afterwards the
submarine emerged and her command
er demanded the captain of the Presi-
dent Lincoln as prisoner. The survi-
Vors told him they believed the cap
,sin had gone down with the ship. not
mat they were aware of that. but 10
save. II possible, the captain being
taken prisoner.
While this was going on Lieutenant
lsaacs said he lay on the raft with
, his arms under him to hide the oni-
GERS stripcs on his uniform. but with
out success. and he was ordered aboard
her commander. Captain Remy. had re
sided in the United States and Engia nd
and spoke English huentiy.
~ Apparsn,iy Remy had been affected
ant. as he treated me pleasantly while
inquiring as to the whereabouts Of the
skippcr OF the Lincoln. l was told that
would tell him where he could lind
our captain or 30 TO Germany myself
as prisoner. l could not conform TO
his FIRST command and of course would
not have had ! been able to"
The young officer said that he was
given good bunk on the submarine
and four good meals daily. including
meat. eggs and real coffee. The follow
ing day as the submarineSwas cruising
about seeking new victims she was
sighted by two American dest-oyers.
SINKS UNDER WATER
TO ESCAPE DESTR OYE:RS
While the destroyers were plung-
In. toward us we were getting under
+ water AS rapidly as possible and finally
stopped at a depth Of sixty meters"
Lieutenant Isaacs said. When tho
depth bombs began exploding, every
German was at his station tense and
pretty badly scared Now and then
junior officer would sing out to the
caption that a destroyer was about so
far away 10 starboard or por, as the
case might have been They were
recording the positions with their
listening devices. Then would come a
depth charge. 1t is difficult TO de-
scribe the sensation. but it seemed 10
me much like a dog shaking a rat and
the rat With each explosion. "a look
o. horror would hash over the faces
of the Germans. for they expected
every moment that one OF the charges
would be fired bit closer and they
knew their craft could not withstand
il"
Too many destroyers were In that
area for comfort so Remy headed for
the KEEL canal the next night. When
OF the Scandinavian coast. Lieutenant
lsaacs said. he decided TO attempt to
swim TO shore when the subma rine APP
preached territorial waters With his
!ifc-belt on. he was just Slipping over
the side shortly after midnight when
1iQHnvaTa1 hk l. l.,
and pulled aboard.
On arrival al wilheimshaven he was
! KEEP, three days on submarine
prison. carefully guarded and badly
fed During this time he. was taken to
the German battleship Kaiser Wilhelm
II. the flagship OF the fleet. and Ques-
toned by staff officer
CLOSELY QUESTIONED ny
OFFICER Or FLAGSHIP
II finally told him that The United
states would send so many men 10
hold them" said the lieutenant. Il
was then taken to karlsruche and
placed in hotel room by myself the
another room with eight French of
fcers it having been learned in the
meantime that II spoke French. These
rooms h at .i;s,Sn,1 learned were known
were rightly named. The Frenchmen
and found three dictaphones and de-
stroEeo them. Inc next day | was
fcers and there were dictaphones in
that room.''
After a few days at Karlsruhe. the
lieutenant was started for IA prelimi-
nary distributing camp at Nllngen
Baden. In the railway carriage with
him were two guards He was un-
aware of conditions at the Viliingen
camp, and decided TO Try to get away
from the train if the slightest oppor-
tunity came.
.n,a ne =,
doing while the other was interested
in something out the other side of the
carriage: when | dove through the car
riage window" the officer said The
train was moving more rapidly than |
believed. for | received an awful. humD
on the head and both of my knees were
cut on the iron ties Of the parallel
track.
II sera mbled into the bush as best
could. Very soon bullets were whist
ling about me as the train had been
stopped and guards We're on my trail
could not make speed in the condi-
ton was i'm. SO TO save my life 7
held up my hands in token Of smrrende,
when the guards were about seventy.
hve yards away.
RESTEN, KICKED AND
THEN KNOCKED Down
When they came up TO me one OF
them welcomed me with Il blow with
his rifle. was beaten and knocked
down seven or eight times before thew
finally loaded me back into the train
/, Arriving at the camp. was swathed
in paper banda Ses-they have very lit
tie cloth in Germany. you know. Had
it not been for food supplied by the
Red Cross. I'm sure would have
starved to death but with that We
Jared very. we'll and within Il month
had regained my strength There
were abou; $50 Russian officers and
seventy-tive American officers in the
camp.
Lieutenant Isaacs and other officers
Immediately began to lay plans for es-
cape by collecting necessary articles,
such as pieces OF wire and rope and
short boards with which TO make a
ladder II necessary They also traded
some OF their food to Russian for. a
pair OF wire cutters he had smuggled
into the camp Three different times
they had their escape plans completed.
each time with the connivance OF 2
Russian. and each time they had rea-
son to believe the Germans had been
appraised and they did not try
FINALLY we learned that they were
10 take all the Russians away on DC
toher Z. and. working without the Rus
W MANNED n try IL,