The Chesterfield advertiser. [volume] (Chesterfield C.H., S.C.) 1884-1978, 1919-05-01
JESSIE WALLICE TELLS
SOME OF HIS EXPERIENCES

ES
The following letter was writer
by Mr.. Jesse Wallace, in response t,
the requests of his friends:
sailed from New Port News, Va.
on Jan. 28th, 1917, on the British
steamer Esmaralda, carrying $50
horses
Our trip across would have been
fine except for seasickness. We were
all terribly sick for days. / went
without eating for so long that ]
could hardly walk. But somehow we
all lived to reach Liverpool, where we
landed our horses and started home
ward.
We were a happy bunch as we
turned our faces homeward, but our
joy quickly disappeared with our
second attack of seasickness. The
water was much rougher this time
than before and so was the sickness.
In spite of the seasickness we had
been enjoying life fairly well until
the famous German raider, Moewc,
put in her appearance. She fired
three shots, from heavy guns, across
our ship and we stopped. A few
minutes later about twelve husky
Germans, heavily armed, came aboard
and ordered us off at once. And |
don't mind telling you that we were
rot long in getting off, for we saw
t-rn (,nrrNnn ,,lopn
our engine room and set it to go off
at certain time.
In my excitement l ran past the
bread shop and grabbed a loaf of
bread. 1t was fortunate for me that
| did this as that loaf was the only
bread l had until we landed in Ger
many thirteen days later.
/ cannot say that we enjoyed life
aboard the raider, not very much.
We found about 5000 prisoners al
ready aboard, packed in like sardines,
and we were packed in with them.
On the evening following our cap
ture by the Moewe, this ship attack
ed another British ship. The same
order was given her in the same
fashion as ours, but her officers were
Of a different sort from ours. She
replied to the order by sending eight
torpedoes into the Moewe.
You may we'll believe that pro-
duced some excitement on our shin.
We prisoners were locked below
deck during the fight and what hap
pened is beyond me to describe. l
only remember we were all telling
our friends goodbye. Some were
crying; some were praying. The
ship was on fire by this time and we
did not know whether we would
be burned to death or drowned. Fin
ally the Moewe won the battle, the
good British ship, after a gallant
fight against overwhelming odds,
was sunk, and then our fire was put
out. We then headed for Germany.
We arrived in Germany on March
22d. 1t was an awful place to land,
but we were glad to get on land once
more. Our chief worry at this time
was for something to eat. We were
now wondering when we would get
a meal. On the Moewe we had some
rice and beans. Now it was worse.
1t was shadow soup and only half
enough Of that. We lived on this
soup and about half a pound of
bread for three months and worked
hard every day. l guess you would
have called us living skeletons. Right
here | want to thank the Red Cross
people for what they did for us. 1t
would be impossible to express my
feelings for them. | am sure they
saved my life. Those who have new
or suffered as we did and were never
relieved as we were cannot appreciate
our feelings for the Red Cross.
AS my letter seems to be getting
TOO long, / will close.
Jesse Wallace.