Evening star., 1928-03-20

| tCOnLlnueQ from FISI fdBeD
happened down there in the dark and
the cold. when for 70 hours men were
all of that Is a mystery OF the sea, and
the sea does not tell It's secrets.
Dies Grasping Ladder.
One man died ,clasping the rail OF the
torpedo room ladder that leads 10 or
Is feet up to the torpedo room hatch
and the gun deck above, He was fully
dressed. the only one of the five enlisted
men who wore shoes. Four OF the other
men died in their clothes Three OF
them we're bare-footed, one of them
had an Arctic overshoe on one foot
One of them gripped the hand OF an
other with his right hand. Lieut.. Fitch
was probably out of his bunk, possibly
| living on the deck. tapping out the sig
mails which ceased with his final "Alls
we'll" He was identified by his class
ring and his rife team sweater that ne
wore at Annapolis. and which bore the
numerals of his class. 1928. His cap
was under his head.
Four of the men were clad IN their
submarine clothes. but another wore only
his upper clothing. Blankets and hunks
| indicated that when death took them
l
hunks, probably obeying the command
of their officer thus to conserve the pure
air. But the oxygen tank valve was
tight shut. The tank still contained its
normal supply of oxygen. so that WHEN
| the salvage officers went below yester-
dav and turned the valve the oxygen
wilistled as it escaped. The gas masks
| had been taken out of their canvas
cases. but they had not been used.
Door Wedged Shut.
The door leading to the battery room
was logged down tight. The dogs had
been hammered down with leaden
maui, found nearby, and large. heavy
pinchbar. In the door. the glass-cot .
cred port evidently had been leaking,
| for Ii had been covered over with a
piece Of rubber The S. c. gear was
shipped. and the stethoscope had been
| taken of, indicating that the doomed
men In the torpedo room expected that
| they would receive fresh air through
| this tube The s. c. tube runs ver-
tically from the torpedo room to the
torpedo deck above and is a listening
device, with q stethoscope in the tor
| pedo room. The stethoscope had been
removed by the prisoners before those
attempting rescue had been able to
connect an air hose tn the part that
protrudes on deck. This indicated that
Lieut., Fitch knew where to expect fresh
air. II any was TO come. but he died be-
| fore the connection was made.
| No attempt had been made to escape
| through the torpedo tubes. In fact. the
only sign that there was any attempt
/ TO escape at all was left by the man
who still claSped in death tha rail of
the torpedo room ladder. That. and the
marks left by Lieut.. Fitch's signaling
| hammer--small spots where the paint
! had been worn off-the removal OF the
stethoscope from. the S. G. tube and the
| double-barred door to the battery room
with the rubber over the headlight,
were the only pointers left by those who
died to tell OF their last struggle With
| death. g.
Details Are Meager.
| And from these 'meager details, what
/ Is there known of what went on In the
torpedo room after the sharp prov OF
| the Paulding gashed Its ugly hole
through the wall of the adjoining bat
terry ROOM tore awaS a great section OF
the wooden deck above and with the
crash of steel against steel went sliding
over the top OF the sub so that the
doomed boat keeled far over TO port?
There must have been time to evac-
uate the battery room before the crash.
And In the control room. the motor
controls we're set at stop" Lieut..
Fitch and his men in the torpedo room
must have received enough warning OF
| the collision to enable them tn close the
battery room door Then. possibly after
| the rending crash and the sudden de-
scent OF the sub, they managed to make
II more secure by pounding down the
dogs. These were emergency measures.
There must have been time TO take
them. for they could not have been
taken after the water gushed through
the great hole In the battery room side.
Four of the men must have been
asleep or lying In their hunks. The
| NTH, and Lieut.. Fitch. we're clothed
and probably on their feet. For ~
hours after the crash the hammer
signals we're heard Some Of the men
may have lived-~ali of them, possibly
long after the last signal. But four OF
them never put on their shoes. One
OF them never dressed. They were
probably told To lie still--~that on lying
still and making the air last. depended
their only chance for rescue. The gas
masks were made ready. But there
seemed no occasion 10 use them. MOI
was the oxygen used, with the tank
| AhhIlultlH tttlGu hia iNadys Why ~"
man can tell Possibly the oxygen was
being conserved until the last hours
and when those hours rolled around
no man was strong enough To reach
the oxygen valve. Possibly there was
a leakage OF chlorine gas through the
bulkheads from the battery room That
made death sudden But no signs oi
this were found And II there had beer
gas, why were the gas masks still un'
used. after being taken from theii
cases2
Catching at straws.
What Of the man who ciasped IN
death the hand OF another manP
Did they lie there in the dark, these
two holding 10 each other with some
unspoken thought Of going out TO"
getherp Or did one Of them grasp
the other, as dying man catches at
a straw? And what OF the man with
his boots on, holding tsa the rail OF the
torpedo room ladder? Shall we picture
him frantic, with those about him stilied
in death, making one last move "a
break away another man catching al
a straw
But those are things that can moi
be answered II is best % think ol
those six men dying like sailors, doing
what they had been told 10 do. IN
questioning and reporting. at the last
'Ali's well"
When the members Of the board nl
/ inquiry went into the submarine yes
tefday afternoon, after she had beer
put In dry dock, they found threi
tfns Rl bstN hA