The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-03-21
FORTY IN SUB
Died FIGHTING
TO Be SAVED
Walls of S-4 Found Denied
in Many Places by Res
cue Plea TappingS.
FIND NOTE ON BODY
Merely Tells Address of
Relatives; Suffered Cold
Awaiting End.
By [ Hitcd Press

BY tHitcd Press
BOSTON, Mass, March 21.-The
$50 questions the S-4 inspection
board must find answers for con-
tlnued to attract attention today,
although the manner in which the
forty members of the crew died was
known.
D. They died at their posts, fighting
to be saved.
Inside the battered hulk of the
submarine, wnlcn sank after a COL
lision with the Coast Guard de-
stroyer Paulding, were unmistakable
markings that all those forty men
fought to be released from their
underground prison.
The walls of the engine and mo-
tor compartments were dented in
many places. This indicated to the
board of inspection that the men
had knocked, probably in telegraph
&c code, for some sort of aid.
Six men in the torpedo room
were known to have sent up calls
for aid-for their calls were heard,
NNNAA bAAOASl1 d1Q NOQlC IlOG NC SEM
them, owing to high seas.
Note Disposes of Body
On the body of George Polnar.
the salvage workers found a note
which read:
My body to Polnar, 5000 S. Nine
tenth ST., Omaha, Neb."
i
their underground prison, it was
shown. The pantry of the engine
room had been opened. Sardine
cans we're found hacked open. Raw
potatoes, some of them partly
eaten, were found.
The men suffered from cold while
they waited for death, it was
learned, investigators SAID. The
temperature was estimated at only
"a degrees under the water Coats
and tarpaulins we're found in the
engine room.
In one instance men crawled I'M
derneath a great tarpaulin appar-
emily escaping the cold and at
tempting to escape from the noXiouS
gases.
Some Tried to Sleep
In the torpedo room some of the
men apparently had tried to sleep.
Their hunks we're disarranged al
though the bodies had been swept
off. Two men apparently kept up
a dramatic battle for life. One of
those was Lieut.. Graham Newell
Fitch who tapped, with a wrench
the pitiful messages that asked for
reli.f
All the bodies have been reclaimed
and those of Lieut. Fitch and Rus
sell A Crabb we're sent to Washing
ton, Tuesday night. They will be
buried in Arlington Cemetery.
Secretary of Navy Wilbur visited
the S-4, which now is in dry-dock
at CharleStown Navy Yard, Tuesday,
and praised the men who had at
tempted to save their comrades. He
inspected the submarines and then
visited the Falcon, one of the vessels
which aided in salvage duty.
Pays Tribute to Divers
Inc court Oh inquiry, calleQ 10
investigate the sinking of the Sd,
found that you had done all that
was humanity possible to rescue your
comrades imprisoned in the sunken
hull of the submarine" Wilbur told
the salvage crew on the Falcon.
But no formal judgment was
needed to assure us of that fact.
The appalling situation of the i'm
prisoned men appealed to all man
kind, but to none more strongly
than to you upon whom we de-
pended to save them if it was pos
sible to do So
He paid high tribute to Thomas
j. Eadie, diver, who at the risk of
his own life saved William S.
Michaels, another diver, who had
become entangled in the air lines.