Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1923-07-26
DISPUTE ABOUT
SABOTAGE STORY
DID THE GERMANS DELIBERATE
~ DISABLE THE LEvIATHAN,
THEN THE vATERLAND7
REBUILDER GIBBS SAYS NO
But Government Records and Captain
Jessop, Who Inspected the Vessel,
Confirm the Tale of Destruction by
the Crew.
BY EDWARD g. CLARK

Washington. - Considerable interest
has been aroused by the dispute as to
whether or not the Germans deliber-
ately disabled the Leviathan, then the
Vaterland, when it appeared that the
United States was certain to enter the
war, Until the rebuilt vessel returned
from her trial trip the other day the
story was generally accepted as true
Then Congressman Martin B. Mad
den OF Illinois, guest on the trial
trip, told some reporters he was In
formed ION good authority that the
tale OF the Gripping Of the liner by
her German crew was all myth.
F. H. Gibbs Of the firm of Gibbs
Brothers, who reconditioned the ship,
confirmed this by asserting that the
| damage was the result of an accident.
But here in Washington the myth
Is still believed true by many, and
they think they have the proof at
hand. In the Department Of Justice
are records describing extensive dam
age to the engines Of the ship and at
tributing them to the German seamen
and the files of the Navy department
contain photographs Of gaping holes
in her boilers and of shattered mech
anism found when the American naval
forces took charge.
What Captain Jessop Found.
Capt E. p. Jessop, retired, who was
in charge of the official inspection of
the Vaterland when she was taken
over and who also supervised the re-
pairs to her engines, says he found
the following specific injuries when he
boarded the vessel:
About three tons of blading from
starboard high-pressure turbine miss
| ing.
One 8-foot crack in high-pressure
cylinder.
Thrust blocks on propeller shafts
removed, permitting seepage of more
than 1900 tons of water into the
ships hull.
Numerous holes bored in cupboard
water pipes and then filled with putty.
Tags and labels on all important
electric and steam lines altered and
shifted so that the American engineers
were completely in the dark as to
| the purpose of this equipment.
i All of these injuries were repaired to
put the ship into the troop transport
service, and before she was turned
over to the shipping board.
Why It Wasn't Worse.
.HThe Leviathan probably was the
least damaged by sabotage of any OF
the seized German ships" said Cap
tain Jessop. "This was due, it seems,
| to the fact that her commander super
vised her building, and simply could
not bear to see his beloved ship in
! iured. There were clear instances,
however, of deliberate damage and the
ship could not have been operated I'M
der any circumstances even by her
own crew until repairs had been eff
fected."
In his annual report for 1918, Sec
rotary Daniels included the Leviathan
as among the former German ships
which had been deliberately damaged
by their crews, in many cases serious
", and the character Of the injury de-
noting that the work had been carried
| out under a central direction"
Mr.. Gibbs version is that the DAM
age was mainly the result of mishap
in docking the Vaterland on her last
trip to this country under the German
flag in 1914. This left her with sew
eral broken turbine blades and other
damaged parts. Efforts of German en-
gineers to repair the damages made
matters worse, while, he asserted,
members of the crew in occupying the
vessel during the long period of intern
ment also had caused other minor
damage.
When the broken parts were dis
i covered, he asserted, credence was
1 given to the story that the Germans
had attempted to cripple the ship
three months before she was seized by
the American government.
Supreme Court Crowded.
The Supreme Court of the United
States has outgrown it's historic quar-
tiers in the capitol, and the question
Of what to do about it has become
acute.
Conditions are such, by reason of
the vast accumulation of records and
! documents OF the court, and the in
creased business of this, the foremost
judicial tribunal Of the land, that ii
has hardly room to turn around
Though it is in many respects the most
powerful court in the civilized world
with the power of veto over the acts
of congress and of executive officials
number Of the inferior courts of the
country are more commodiously pro
vided for, so far as quarters are con
cerned.
Indications are that congress will
soon provide for new Supreme court
building 1ear the capitol on a location
close to the Library of Congress, OF
that there will be an addition built
to the capitol itself for the purpose OF
.affording proper housing for the court
Court Divided on Moving.
1t is a strange fact that 1t IS only
because the court itself has been IN