Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-06-10
'U-BOAT OFFICERS
VERY COURTEOUS
German Propaganda Seen
in Fine Treatment of !
Prisoners From Edna
CAPTAIN TELLS STORY

Another propaganda drive to dissipate
Americas knowledge of Hun viciousness
Is seen in the treatment accorded Cap
tain c. M. Gilmore, of the schooner
Edna. who was a prisoner eight days on
a German submarine. With the captain
were twenty-five other American prison.
| ers.
| The captain. who has been in this city
the last four days. describes the atten-
tion he received as royal. as IL he was
member of the Hohenzollern family.
while the other prisoners received
| similar treatment"
Philadelphians who have heard the
captain tell his. story Of Imprisonment
| aboard the submarine which tried to
sink his schooner believe the Germans,
In showing all possible courtesy to the
prisoners. attempted to prove they were
not barbarians and would not stoop to
mistreat prisoners.
Captain Gilmore and his crew Of five
men were held aboard the U-boet.
The Edna was caught May 25 about
| twenty miles off the New Jersey coast"
said Captain Gilmore. when the
lieutenant In command of the party that
boarded the Edna from the submarine
stepped on the deck of the schooner he
told me a friend Of mine was aboard the
submarine
II found a boyhood companion. Cap
tain Sweeney. a seaman from the Maine
coast aboard the U-boat. Captain
Sweeney's boat had been caught first
and he and his crew were prisoners.
That night at dinner the steward of
the U-boat played The Star Spangled
Banner before the meal was served.
He played the American piece on q
phonograph. Then he put on another
piece and 1t was an English song. An
other officer jumped to the machine and
grabbed the record. hurting Il to the
floor and smashing the disk into pieces
pieces.
Two guns were mounted on the top
of the submarine.
II sat under one of the guns when It
was fired and did not feel any vibra-
ton.
News OF the German drive in France
and baseball scores from this country
were received daily aboard the subma-
rre by means OF the U-boat's wireless
THE crew of the submarine was made
up of former merchantmen, I believe.
as their actions were not those of sailors
in the navy.
THE U-boat carried only American
whisky.
the submarine but the Germans con-
tinually complained they did not have
any provision for carrying ice and
therefore could have no beer.
Bread wrappers stamped Kiel April
10. were around all of the loaves used
while I was on the U-boat. This leads
me to believe the U-boat was out at
least six weeks before the Edna was
taken. because the commander Of the
submersible said his ship had left Kiel
on its voyage against British shipping.
Dinner at Ocean Bottom
"One night ate dinner with the
U-boat resting on the bottom of the
ocean. The submarine commander said
the boat could stay on the bottom for
eight days without coming up to refresh
air. We were thirty-eight fathoms down
for that dinner.
THE small boats into which the Amer
leans were put were supplied with bread
and water. How much was given I
could not say because before we had a
chance to determine the amount patrol
boat picked up the party. We were
cut adrift seventy miles off the New
Jersey coast"