THE APPAM INCIDENT PRIZE OF THE MOEWE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLV, Issue 4155, 4 February 1916, Page 5

THE APPAM INCIDENT

PRIZE OF THE MOEWE.

NO SUBMARINE INVOLVED IN THE CASE.

BRITAIN DEMANDS RETURN OF 91£ ' ' VESEEL.

GREAT LAW-SUIT PROBABLE.

(United Press' Association—Copyright,*

WASHINGTON. Feb. 2.

Lieut. Berg, m command of the German prize crew who took the British steamer Appam into an American port, has asked the United States to consider the Appain as a fair war prize. A close guard is maintained, and it i s impossible to obtain the real facts as to the capture. The British Consul at New York now announces that no submarine accompanied the Appam. The whereabouts of the Moewe are not discoverable. , It is believed half a million pounds sterling of South African bullion was aboard. Sir Cecil Spring Rice, British Ambassador, has formally demanded the return of the Appam to her British owners, under article 21 of the Hague Convention. 'lt is probable the case will he referred to the United States Supreme Court. It is understood that the Moewe escaped through the Kiel Canal in order to raid British shipping. Information from Norfolk, Virginia, states that Captain Harrison, of the Appam, asserts that it was not the Moewe which put a crew aboard but another German craft whose name lie refused to disclose. The German crew rigged explosives aboard the Appam in such a fashion that the/ could destroy the entire ship at a moment’s notice. , - The Unite! States Neutrality Board held that the Appam woud be a prize, but announced later that it would reconsider its decision.