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Show I SHIP'S WILD RUN TO ESCAPE CAPTURE Captain Polack Brings the Kronprinzessin Cecilia in Safely to Bar Harbor, Maine, After a Sensational Dash Through Thick Fog With All Lights Out. Her Officers Warned in Midoce nn cf the Danger of Capture From Cruisers Who Were 0,1 the Lookout for the Richest Prize That Ever Sailed the Ocei:n. swer from England, it Is true, but he did not know it. Couldn't Use Wireless. He could not afford to send wireless messages because he would betray himself, but he could intercept. Every message coming out of the air from Sayvnle admonished him to be careful; they told him that French and English vessels were already talking about that great prize, the Kronyrin-zessin Kronyrin-zessin Cecilie, with her gold on board. Friday night he considered himself reasonably safe. He steered far to the north, out of the beaten path but took no further precautions. Saturday the usual Marconi newspaper was omitted and at the lunch table each passenger found a printed notice that te electric lights would be turned out that night in order to conceal our irentity from passing vessels, and that we must be content with oil lamps. There were no deck lights. To make matters worse from the standpoint of the passengers, Saturday brought with it a densje fog. But the fog was to the liking of the captain. He sent the boat along at the best speed she could make through thick weather and with the foghorn silent. Thepe was small chance of his being seen through this black curtain. Many passengers remained on deck all night and others retired fully clothed. They remembered the Titanic Ti-tanic and they wanted to be prepared for emergencies. Again Sunday night there was a fog. The nerves of the passengers were on edge. A delegation ascended to the bridge and asked the captain to please blow the fog whistle and to carry the usual side and stay lights. Crew Showed Strain. The crew were showing the strain. The dining room stewards were abstracted ab-stracted and not as attentive as they were during the first days of the voyage. voy-age. It was difficult to get a cabin steward, as they had other things to think about. It was not uncommon to see stewardesses in tears. They have brothers, sons, fathers, husbands and sweethearts who may be sacrificed in the war. In the smoking room there were no more cigars and cigarettes to be had, and j et the voyage was only one day longer than the usual voyage across the Atlantic. The men just seemed to smoke more. After the famine began be-gan those who had tobacco divided with the less fortunate. A protest was written out and an attempt at-tempt made to get the signatures of citizens of the United States, but this was unsuccessful, the captain stating that the passengers were his first consideration, con-sideration, that he would give up the ship rather than sacrifice them. Bar Harbor, Me. The people of this city felt that they had a touch of the European war when the North German Ger-man Lloyd steamer Kronprinzessin Cecilie Ce-cilie entered tha harbor after a sensational sen-sational run to escape capture by French war vessels. The story' of her trip to within a comparatively short distance of the English coast, the picking up of wireless signals between be-tween French battleships that were lying in wait to effect her capture, the run through the fog with all lights out, reads more like Jules Verne fiction than hard facts. Speculation as to Trip. Sewell Haggard, associate editor of the Cosmopolitan Magazine, gives the olio wing account of the voyage: The Kronprinzessin Cecelie, with 1,454 passengers and' a cargo of $11,-500,000 $11,-500,000 in gold and silver, sailed out oi New York harbor at ten o'clock on the morning of July 28. Her first port of call was to be Plymouth and then Cherbourg and then Bremen. The war scare Was on, and naturally the majority of her first-cabin passengers being English and German, there was some speculation as to what would happen to the ship should war be declared de-clared while she was on the high seas. Persons familiar with Spanish-American war precedents recalled that ships leaving port after that war was declared de-clared were ia each instance released by prize courts. A Gay Voyage, but So speculation died down and the voyage became the usual uneventful trip across the Atlantic. There was a dance each night; English, French and German passengers fraternized in the smoking-room and expressed the hope to one another that a way out of the difficulty would yet be found. The weather was good. We made 535 knots the first day, 534 the second, 549 the third, and we had made 233 on the fourth, when There was a dance in progress on deck, and there was the usual assembly assem-bly in the smoking room. At a few minutes past ten some of the passengers passen-gers were startled by signs that the ship was being turned around. They announced this discovery to others, only to be laughed at. At 10:20 Captain Polack entered the smoking room. He carried his huge bulk a little more erect; his face appeared to be a littlo more serious se-rious than usual. "Gentlemen," he said, "I want your attention. I have an announcement to make. War has broken out between England, France, Russia and Germany, and we are going back to America. We have plenty of coal and I think we will get back safely. I want the gentlemen gen-tlemen to assist me in allaying the fears of the women." Passengers in Dark. Monday night came, and with it r-ore fog. By this time the passengers passen-gers were speculating as to which port we were headed for. The same question was being debated on the bridge. The wireless indicated to the captain that it would be unwise to attempt to make New York or Boston. He had to make up his mind on such fragments of information as he could grab from the air. Portland first came to his mind, but then he favored a less known port. He had heard of Bar Harbor, Har-bor, of course, but he was not certain of the water thereabouts. And here enters C. Ledyard Blair of Blair Brothers, Broth-ers, bankers, New York. Mr. Blair's father, D. C. Blair, has a summer home at Bar Harbor and the sons had sailed their yacht in these waters so often that he knows his way around there as well as he does in Wall street. Figuratively Fig-uratively speaking, Mr. Ledyard Blair took the helm. Heads for Bar Harbor. We were headed for liar Harbor, but the information was confined to the bridge. We folk below were not even told to pack our luggage. Those who stayed awake could tell that something was in the wind. We were taking soundings every little while. Evidently we were running into some place that we were not quite sure of. The fog was thick, and the fog horn was crying out every minute. Then dalifuii, and the fog lifted. Mrs. Howard Hinkle of Cincinnati and her daughter were awakened by the unusual doings. She got up and peered out of a porthole. She could see land. "I do wish we would land at Bar Harbor," she said to her daughter. Mrs. Hinkle has a cottage at Bar Harbor. Har-bor. St,e took another look. The land around about seemed familiar. "Why, It Is Bar Harbor." she exclaimed. News a Shock. No one uttered a sound for what seemed to be a very, long time. I was seated at a table with an Englishman, English-man, a Bavarian and a Greek. The Bavarian, a kindly faced gentleman of perhaps fifty, was the first to break the silence. He arose; we all arose; he grasped each by the hand, the Englishman last, and as he grasped the Englishman's hand he said, very intensely, "I am sorry, very sorry." Afterward it was learned that he was Major General Kristof Kiefeber, retired, of the German army. The Englishman makes his living selling war materials. After the captain left the smoking room an American approached ap-proached him and asked him if it were not possible to buy the ship, here and now, and sail her under the American Amer-ican fi.-F The captain did not think this was possible. That the situation might become serious began slowly to dawn upon the passengers. Did ever a greater prize sail the seas in time of war than the Kronprinzessin Cecilie, with her $11,500,000 of gold and silver consigned con-signed to France and England? Were there any British and French warships war-ships near? Was it usual for British and French warships to sail up and down the American coast? If so, what were the chances of slipping by? And so it went. No one could answer, but the questions ques-tions were asked over and over again. But what of the bridge? What was going on there? The ship was 850 miles out of Plymouth Ply-mouth when she turned back. Sho would have reached that port Sunday night or Monday morning. The problem confronting Captain Polack Po-lack was to get his load of gold and human souls back to America without with-out being overhauled by a French or English warship. There was no an- |