Show d v 4 9 r I 1 adventurers CLUB 1 HEADLINES arod FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF the chinese horde by FLOYD FLOW GIBBONS famous headline hunter H HELLO ELLO step EVERYBODY up here boys and girls and meet distinguished adventurer thomas E dowling 0 of f woodside N Y tommy dowling bowling started his adventuring career at an early age and it his fault that he start even earlier than that he was born in england and in 1915 when he was only thirteen years old he tried to enlist in the army they turned him down but still he kept on trying he never got into any of the armed forces of his country but he e did the next best thing when he was just a little over fourteen he managed to get himself taken on a transport ship as cabin boy to the captain there was a job that was more dangerous than many a soldiers the north se sea a was alive with german submarines tommy served on two ships that were torpedoed went through two collisions and was in halifax for or the big explosion that demolished the whole town but tommy says that the one time he was really afraid for his life was ivas not when his own ship was in danger but when the germans chucked a torpedo into another one one he be had never even been aboard cargo of chinese coolies that happened on the fifth of february 1918 tommy was working on the S S tunisian then ordinarily the tunisian carried canadian troops over to england but this trip they sailed out of halifax with a load of two thousand chinese coolies who were being shipped to france to build railroads outside of halifax the tunisian joined up with a convoy of 12 vessels and nothing important occurred until they were rounding the north of ireland and making for liverpool where they were due the next day but then things did begin to happen A few hundred yards to port of the tunisian was the S S tuscania Tu which had been moving along beside them all through the trip maybe you remember what happened to the Tu well tommy was right there watching it about six in the evening a torpedo hit her there was a sudden roar a geyser of water spouting up at her side and she began to sink sinh then three hundred yards away all hell broke loose on the S S tunisian fi fighting e litin the panic stricken mob As the torpedo struck the tuscania Tu the tunisian trembled from stem to stern two thousand chinese coolies thrown into a panic began a wild stampede for the lifeboats and tommy in the midst of that stampede fought for his life to keep from being thrown overboard the minute the roar sounded tommy ran to his station beside the captains boat he there two seconds before he be was facing a wild stampede for the lifeboats frenzied mob of coolies with but one thought in their minds to get into that boat the boat was hanging hangin g from the davits tommy jumped into it and tried to beat the chinese off he might as well have tried to beat back the sea itself A horde of them thrust him aside filled the boat and still kept coming in vain tommy yelled to them that there was nothing to be afraid of they came on and on above their screaming and chatter he says 1 I could hear bear one loud ringing voice that seemed to be urging them forward all at once the mob gave a terrific surge and I 1 was thrown back toward the outer edge of the boat 90 how tommy saved himself right hight there tommy fought the battle of his life he was pushed bac back over the side of the boat out over the seething water another inch and hed be over the side the tunisian was racing for safety with thousands of lives depending on her speed be no turning around to rescue anybody who fell overboard A boat fall dangled near his hand and tommy grabbed for it another surging rush pushed him out of the lifeboat he kicked and fought trying to get his feet back on something solid again but the pressure from behind was too great even as he struggled a couple of screaming coolies were forced over the side and fell into the water another followed them and another the panic stricken mob of chinese on deck were shoving their more forehanded fellows to their doom only his hold on the fall rope saved tommy from the same fate while he clung there wondering how long he could hold on he chanced to look back at another lifeboat a few yards down the deck there the same thing w was a S happening but as he watched he saw two sailors scramble to safety by climbing the falls of their own boats i and hanging on the davits that was my one way out he says and I 1 took it my arms were aching and my strength was about spent but I 1 managed to get up to that davit overhead when I 1 got there I 1 looked down just in time to see a couple more m ore chinese pushed overboard then I 1 grabbed a stay and worked my way hand avei over hand to the safety of the bridge deck the turmoil over even then it kept up for the rest of the night and end until the chinese we were re landed in liverpool T they hey were 25 coolies short when they got there they had gone over the side eide 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