Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, September 18, 1919, Page 3

“THURSDAY EVEN!NC. SEPTEMBER 18, 1919 THE BEMIDJI DAILY PIONEER TRAPPEB AT BOTTOM OF SEA " BRAVE CHILIAN CREW SAVED {Rescue of 21 Sallors, Helpless in Submai ine, Without One Loss, a | : /. Thrilling Chapter of Heroism in a Navy Already Rich in Traditions of Unfaltering Devotion to Duty. New York.—Felix Nieto Del RIO,|The air was well nigh irrespirable; wcorrespondent in New York of El|their pulses beat with fury. But, in | ‘Diario INustrado of Santiago, Chili, re- |'gpite of all, each man was perform- Jates for the New York Herald the | ing ir the dark the task assigned to | fallawing story of the sinking of the | him, although with the certainty of & submarine H-3 of the Chillan navy, | terrible death at hand. and its .remarkable rescue without At five o'clock in the afternoon, six Jdoss of life: hours after the sinking, the crew In the begloning of June a marl- ‘heard the clatter of a chain that was “time accident occurred in the military | peing cut. They knew then that ef- port of Talcahuano, Chili, which Will | forts for their rescue were under way figure with honor in the history of | and at the same time that these ef- submarine navigation. The fact has| forts were being frustrated. The sub- :special interest for the experts of the | marine, after the chain was cut, had ‘United- States because the submarine | remained in position with her stern H-8 of the Chilian war squadron was | gomewhat raised. «constructed here by the Electric Boat| Meanwhile, in the world above, the <company. This submarine is one of disappearance of the H-8 had become six which the British government had | known and all elements of rescue ordered built during the war, but | were get to work and succeeded in lo- +which she turned over to Chill along | cating the pesition of the submarine || -with 50 airplanes and hydroplanes of | from the indications of a tugboat «combat. England made this grant to | which had accompanied the submarine «Chili after having taken over for her up to the moment of the accident. wown fleet two superdreadnaughts of | various other submarines and tugs Which One of These Prizes Do You Want! . This car will be . awarded to the }'\'flcandidate in the whole campaign, regardless of dis- trict, securing the largest number 1920 Model, $1,185 Oakland “Sengible Six” 5-passenger tour- ing car. Purchased from A car that you will be. proud to own. This 1920 Oakland car is the embodiment of ] luxury and power. 'and on display at [ Fred M. Malzahn Bemidji, Minn. *28,000 tons, as well as some destroyers | placed themselves about this point|[ of 2,000 tons and other smaller vessels | gnd two heavy cranes with chains || awhich Chili was having constructed, [were get up in working order. «and which were used by England in “the war against Germany. _._...| tnrned saying that the H-8 was lodged The submarine fleet.left New EO0R®| iy the mud in a dangerous position +don last year, conyeyed by-the cruiser |.qnd. that the-telephone- buoy- was en- || CGheeabuvco, E ¢ , under the command of|tangled. After a little continued ef- .Adnmiral Luis Gomez Carreno. “which lasted 70 hours, during which | with the crew of the submarine re time the submarines, defying all dan-| egtablished. - When questioned the A diver who went to the bottom re- |} rizelars mez Carr At| fort the telephone apparatus was| «ChaiFleston” a* furlous” tempest came up, | gtrajghtened out and communication || The candidates securing # the largest number of votes in Districts No. 1 and No. 2, after the Has the - advantage of economy of opera- tion and a ger, demonstratell: their excellent. con- struction and the dexterity of their «Chilian crews. The transport Anga- nos, auxiliary of the fleet, was almost “lost in the storm. Having thus proved -the worth of tlie submarines, which at g1l times remained in a compact group, ‘those in command understood that ‘they could: continue the tulp to the ~coast of Chill with entire confidence. The fleet touched at Havana, Kings- ~ton, Colon, Balbos, a port in Ecuador; Arica, Chili, Valparaiso and Talca- ~huano, their final destination. This formidable voyage of many -“thousand’ miles is in truth a record that adds another proud page to the traditional competence and fearless: ‘mess of the Chilian sallors, who re- celved their first naval instruction Afrom the famous English admiral. Lord -Cochrane,--chief of the Chilian fleet during the war: of independence. “This ‘exploit ' ‘rebounded’ in all the -sclentific’ centers of submarine navi- gation, and has been recorded as one «of . the: most-.interesting- successful at- ‘tempts made in the world. The great- est span of continued travel was be- ‘tween Ecuador..and:.Chili; which is :about 1,200 miles. : Ventilating Pipe Broken. At a quarter to ten o'clock in the morning: of June 1 the submarines -started their customary exercises of submersion inside the military port of Talcahuano. Suddenly the command- er; Capt. Del Solar, noticed that his ‘boat had become very heavy and did ‘not easily respond to the maneuvers. He then saw that the ventilating pipe in the battery of the stern had broken and that, besides water, strong fumes -of chlorine were entering the compart- ment. With due presence of mind the commander- ordered that the compart- ment be vacated, taking all the neces- sary precautions so that the water and gases might not enter the other. sections of the submarine. 2 As the danger was becoming immi- nent, the telephone buoy was sent up to call for help,.but there was no an- swer. Later it’ was. found that the buoy had became entangled and had never reached the-surfgce of the wa- |- ter No answer to thelir calls for help proved to the crew that the situation was desperate. Nevertheless, never for a moment did the discipline of these men weaken. While efforts were being made to get into communicstion with someone above, the men wcre trying to hermet- fcally calk the partltions, it having been noted that the: fumes of the chlorine from the main section had already begun to filter through the cracks. However, this' compartment was soon filled with the poisonous gas and the men had to leave it to avoid .asphyxiation. Orders Wwere then given to retire to the only chamber left, that at the bow, where new and frightful ‘tortures awaited them. Just as soon as the officers and sail- ors had shut themselves up in the bow the electric current was cut off, leav- #ing the submarine still submerged and 4n° complete”darkness. This to the various ‘persons who had never board- ed a submarine before in their lives, mmeant certain death. The commander «xhorted his men to continue in the dark thelr: fork of calking up the compartment to stop the inrush of water and gas, which eontinued -to spread: throughout the boat. The hull -was laying:at’a depth of 17 meters, in 2 bed of mud. . At Work in Darkness. ‘Each man worked at random in the dark; sevenel -of them were almost overcome and their strength had be- gun to leave them, but their discipline was not lessened for one moment. The only pump available drove the water out slowly, which helped to prolong the hope of rescue which these in- irepid sailors had In their hearts. Grand Capital Prize has been awarded, will be awarded a Ford Touring Car. commander replied with stoical valor|{ that it would be necessary to raise the boat as soon as possible to save the ltves of the crew. These words, sald without anxlety, without fear in the presence of such a catastrophe, are worthy of the tradition that Prat set down for our navy, when seeing that his old wooden ship was about to be attacked by a powerful enemy of Chill, he sald: “The flag of Chill has never been lowered and I hope this will not be the occasion for doing so.” Prat, killed when he boarded the ship of the enemy, is an example which no Chilian sailor has ever forgotten. Chains Slip and Craft Drops Back. The hoists did not work right, the|. chains slipped and the H-8 returned to its old position. After some time the rescuerd succeeded in passing a new chain under the submarine, which ! slowly raised by’ the stern' so that the bow would. be tipped as:little as pos- sible.. While this maneuver was being .mnde a tug cut the telephone connec-}f: tion and communication with the sunlg en vessel was again cut off and was not re-established.. The hours passed In extreme an- guish, the victims believing that the attempts to save them were useless, i and those making the attempts think- ing it was already too late to rescue i their brave companions alive, But i the work was continued with energy, and at length the stern came to the syrface. That was the most solemn moment { of the whole operation. Few believed that any of the crew would still be i allve and that all they had done was | to raise out of the sea a coffin contain- ing 21 bodies, With no means for communication with the submarine to let the men know that the stern was already ._nbove water, one of the sallors tapped ithe Morse code with a hammer on the outside. A few minutes passed and ‘the hatchway~ was. opened. A man ‘appeared, exhausted, pale and his eyes ‘bloodshot. One by one the rest fol- lowed. Then when it was thought that only the captain was still on board; it was found that two men were missing. Captain Del Soldr descended again into the submarine and found a ma- chinist still calking and a fireman still at the pump. Neither of the two had received orders to come out and they remained at their posts. The Chilian submarine H-3 was des- ignated with the number E-12 in the English navy. It was ihe belief of the sailors that because it had borne this number it was certain to come to harm. It was said that the accident was caused by the breaking of the bottom of the tank in the battery. At the time of the accident tke automatic scaphanders for the rescue of the crew were not on board. They had ‘been taken to the arsenal for repairs. SLAIN GIRL ONLY AN IMAGE Coroner Inspects ‘Grewsome Find’ and Discovers Bloody Plas- ter Dummy. Quakertown, Pa.—Coroner Howard P. White wants to congratulate the record of per- formance that appeals to many. Two $586.21 Ford Touring Cars-—Purchased. from and on display at C. W. JEWETT CO0., Inc. BEMIDJI, MINN. - Disc Talking Machines - Purchased.from and_on display at E A-BARKER BEMIDJI, MINN, . The candidates in each district securing the largest number of votes, after the three automobiles have been awarded, will be awarded a $155.00 Edison Diamond Disc Talking Machine. COMPLETE LIST OF PRIZES $1,185 Oakland Sensible Six Touring Car. Two $586.21 Ford“Touring Cars. Two $155 Edison Diamond Disc Talking Machines. Two $135 Business College Scholarships. Two $25 Merchandis¢ Orders on Bemidji Merchants. Two $15 Merchandise Orders on Bemidji Merchants. Two $10 Merchandise orders on Bemidji Merchants. 15_Per Cent Cash Commission to Non- Prize Winners. 'INOMINATION BLANK | 95VOTING COUPON95, GOOD FOR 5,000 VOTES 00D FOR 25 VOTES Campaign Manager, The Bemidji Pioneer: e ] w” o3 i Good for Twenty-five Votes If Sent on or Before September 20, 1919 T NOMINALE :..cuiooiiotoiiciacissmscsosmesasansones il e clever sculptor who molded the figure AATORS ... oecensrnssmsnsenmisisdssnsiois shiAmATI SRR RSV S SRS RS of a young woman and placed it along . a stream at California, a village near Signed.. here, making it look so realistic that Address. the finders of the image suspected foul i e play and sent to Doylestown for the Cut out this blank and send to The Bemidji Pioneer, DISTRICT NO............imeceeee Uit with your name, or the name and address of a friend. The names of persons making nomination will not be divulged. The first nomination sent in will count 5,000 votes if sent to The Bemidji Pioneer Campaign Man- ager. The Bemidji Pioneer reserves the right to reject any objectionable nominations. coroner. The sculptured, form was smeared with a red substance and partly hid- den by foliage. A knife was placed at its side. When Coroner White and an undertaker investigated, after chil- dren had reported the “grewsome” find, ! they discovered the hoax. This Coupon will count 26 Votes when properly filled out and sent to the Campaign Manager of The Bemidji Pioneer on or before the expiration date. Coupons must be neatly trimmed and put in package with number of votes written on top.