A VOYAGE OF ADVENTURE
Although Mr. Lloyd George's message to mankind on New Year's Day, 1914,
was that "Anglo-German relations were far more friendly than for years
past,"[87] and that there was therefore no need to strengthen the
British Navy, it may be doubted, with the knowledge we now possess,
whether the German Government would have been greatly incensed at the
idea of a cargo of firearms finding its way from Hamburg to Ireland in
the spring of that year without the knowledge of the British Government.
But if that were the case Fred Crawford had no reason to suspect it.
German surveillance was always both efficient and obtrusive, and he had
to make his preparations under a vigilance by the authorities which
showed no signs of laxity. Those preparations involved the assembling
and the packing of 20,000 modern rifles, 15,000 of which had to be
brought from a factory in Austria; 10,000 Italian rifles previously
purchased, which B.S. had in store; bayonets for all the firearms; and
upwards of 3,000,000 rounds of small-arm ammunition. The packing of the
arms was a matter to which Crawford gave particular attention. He kept
in mind the circumstances under which he expected them to be landed in
Ulster. Avoidance of confusion and rapidity of handling were of the
first importance. Rifles, bayonets, and ammunition must be not separated
in bulk, requiring to be laboriously reassembled at their destination.
He therefore insisted that parcels should be made up containing five
rifles in each, with bayonets to match, and 100 rounds of ammunition per
rifle, each parcel weighing about 75 lbs. He attached so much importance
to this system of packing that he adhered to it even after discovering
that it would cost about £2,000, and would take more than a month to
complete.
While the work of packing was going on, Crawford, who found he was
exciting the curiosity of the Hamburg police, kept out of sight as much
as possible, and he paid more than one visit to the Committee in
Belfast, leaving the supervision to the skipper and packer, whom he had
found he could trust. In the meantime, by advertisements in the
Scandinavian countries, he was looking out for a suitable steamer to
carry the cargo. For a crew his thoughts turned to his old friend,
Andrew Agnew, skipper in the employment of the Antrim Iron Ore Company.
Happily he was not only able to secure the services of Agnew himself,
but Agnew brought with him his mate and his chief and second engineers.
This was a great gain; for they were not only splendid men at their job,
but were men willing to risk their liberty or their lives for the Ulster
cause. Deck-hands and firemen would be procurable at whatever port a
steamer was to be bought.
Several vessels were offered in response to Crawford's advertisements,
and on the 16th of March, when the packing of the arms was well
advanced, Crawford, Agnew, and his chief engineer went to Norway to
inspect these steamers. Eventually they selected the s.s. _Fanny_, which
had just returned to Bergen with a cargo of coal from Newcastle. She was
only an eight-knot vessel, but her skipper, a Norwegian, gave a
favourable report of her sea-going qualities and coal consumption, and
Agnew and his engineer were satisfied by their inspection of her. The
deal was quickly completed, and the Captain and his Norwegian crew
willingly consented to remain in charge of the _Fanny_; and, in order to
enable her to sail under the Norwegian flag, as a precaution against
possible confiscation in British waters, it was arranged that the
Captain should be the nominal purchaser, giving Crawford a mortgage for
her full value.
Then, leaving Agnew to get sufficient stores on board the _Fanny_ for a
three-months' cruise, Crawford returned to Hamburg on the 20th, and
thence to Belfast to report progress. Agnew's orders were to bring the
_Fanny_ in three weeks' time to a rendezvous marked on the chart
between the Danish islands of Langeland and Fünen, where he was to pick
up the cargo of arms, which Crawford would bring in lighters from
Hamburg through the Kiel Canal.
While Crawford was in Belfast arrangements were made to enable him to
keep in communication with Spender, so that in case of necessity he
could be warned not to approach the Irish coast, but to cruise in the
Baltic till a more favourable opportunity. He was to let Spender know
later where he could be reached with final instructions as to landing
the arms; the rendezvous so agreed upon subsequently was Lough Laxford,
a wild and inaccessible spot on the west coast of Sutherlandshire.
Crawford was warned by B.S. that he was far from confident of a
successful end to their labours at Hamburg. He had never before shipped
anything like so large a number of firearms; and the long process of
packing, and Crawford's own mysterious coming and going, would be
certain to excite suspicion, which would reach the secret agents of the
British Government, and lead either to a protest addressed to the German
authorities, followed by a prohibition on shipping the arms, or to
confiscation by the British authorities when the cargo entered British
territorial waters.
These fears must have been present to the mind of B.S. when he met
Crawford at the station in Hamburg on the 27th on his return from
Belfast, for the precautions taken to avoid being followed gave their
movements the character of an adventure by one of Stanley Weyman's
heroes of romance. Whether any suspicion had in fact been aroused
remains unknown. Anyhow, the barges were ready laden, with a tug waiting
till the tide should serve about midnight for making a start down the
Elbe, and through the canal to Kiel. The modest sum of £10 procured an
order authorising the tug and barges to proceed through the canal
without stopping, and requiring other shipping to let them pass. A black
flag was the signal of this privileged position, which suggested the
"Jolly Roger" to Crawford's thoughts, and gave a sense of insolent
audacity when great liners of ten or fifteen thousand tons were seen
making way for a tug-boat towing a couple of lighters.
For the success of the enterprise up to this point Crawford was greatly
indebted to the Jew, B.S. From first to last this gentleman "played the
game" with sterling honesty and straightforward dealing that won his
customers' warm admiration. Several times he accepted Crawford's word as
sufficient security when cash was not immediately forthcoming, and in no
instance did he bear out the character traditionally attributed to his
race.
On arrival at Kiel, Crawford, after a short absence from the tug, was
informed that three men had been inquiring from the lightermen and the
tug's skipper about the nature and destination of the cargo. All such
evidences of curiosity on the subject were rather alarming, but it
turned out that the visitors were probably Mexicans--of what political
party there it would be impossible to guess--whose interest had been
aroused by the rumour, which Crawford had encouraged, that guns were
being shipped to that distracted Republic. Still more alarming was the
arrival on board the tug of a German official in resplendent uniform,
who insisted that he must inspect the cargo. Crawford knew no German,
but the shipping agent who accompanied him produced papers showing that
all formalities had been complied with, and all requisite authorisation
obtained. Neither official papers, however, nor arguments made any
impression on the officer until it occurred to Crawford to produce a
100-marks note, which proved much more persuasive, and sent the official
on his way rejoicing, with expressions of civility on both sides.
The relief of the Ulsterman when the last of the Kiel forts was left
behind, and he knew that his cargo was clear of Germany, may be
imagined. A night was spent crossing Kiel Bay, and in the morning of the
29th they were close to Langeland, and approaching the rendezvous with
the _Fanny_. She was there waiting, and Agnew, in obedience to orders,
had already painted out her name on bows and stern. The next thing was
to transfer the arms from the lighters to the _Fanny_. Crawford was
apprehensive lest the Danish authorities should take an interest in the
proceedings if the work was carried out in the narrow channel between
the islands, and he proposed, as it was quite calm, to defer operations
till they were further from the shore. But the Norwegian Captain
declared that he had often transhipped cargo at this spot, and that
there was no danger whatever. Nevertheless, Crawford's fears were
realised. Before the work was half finished a Danish Port Officer came
on board, asked what the cargo comprised, and demanded to see the ship's
papers. According to the manifest the _Fanny_ was bound for Iceland with
a general cargo, part of which was to be shipped at Bergen. The Danish
officer then spent half an hour examining the bales, and, although he
did not open any of them, Crawford felt no doubt he knew perfectly the
nature of their contents. Finally he insisted on carrying off the
papers, both of the _Fanny_ and the tug-boat, saying that all the
information must be forwarded to Copenhagen to be dealt with by the
Government authorities, but that the papers would be returned early next
morning.
One can well believe Crawford when he says that he suffered "mental
agony" that night. After all that he had planned, and all that he had
accomplished by many months of personal energy and resource, he saw
complete and ignominious failure staring him in the face. He realised
the heavy financial loss to the Ulster Loyalists, for his cargo
represented about £70,000 of their money; and he realised the bitter
disappointment of their hopes, which was far worse than any loss of
money. He pictured to himself what must happen in the morning--"to have
to follow a torpedo-boat into the naval base and lie there till the
whole Ulster scheme was unravelled and known to the world as a ghastly
failure, and the Province and Sir Edward and all the leaders the
laughing stock of the world"--and the thought of it all plunged him
almost into despair.
Almost, but not quite. He was not the man to give way to despair. If it
came to the worst he would "put all the foreign crew and their
belongings into the boats and send them off; Agnew and I would arm
ourselves with a bundle of rifles, and cut it open and have 500 rounds
to fight any attempt to board us, and if we slipped this by any chance,
he and I would bring her to England together, he on deck and I in the
engine-room. He knew all about navigation and I knew all about engines,
having been a marine engineer in my youth."
But a less desperate job called for immediate attention. The men engaged
in transferring the cargo from the barges to the steamer wanted to knock
off work for the night; but the offer of double pay persuaded them to
stick to it, and they worked with such good will that by midnight every
bale was safely below hatches in the _Fanny_. Crawford then instructed
the shipping agent to be off in the tug at break of day, giving him
letters to post which would apprise the Committee in Belfast of what had
happened, and give them the means of communicating with himself
according to previously concerted plans.
Before morning a change occurred in the weather, which Crawford regarded
as providential. He was gladdened by the sight of a sea churned white by
half a gale, while a mist lay on the water, reducing visibility to about
300 yards. It would be impossible for the Port Officer's motor-boat to
face such a sea, or, if it did, to find the _Fanny_, unless guided by
her fog-whistle. As soon as eight o'clock had passed--the hour by which
the return of the ship's papers had been promised--Crawford weighed
anchor, and crept out of the narrow channel under cover of the fog, only
narrowly escaping going aground on the way among the banks and shallows
that made it impossible to sail before daylight, but eventually the open
sea was safely reached. But the _Fanny_ was now without papers, and in
law was a pirate ship. It was therefore desirable for her to change her
costume. As many hands as possible were turned to the task of giving a
new colour to the funnel and making some other effective alterations in
her appearance, including a new name on her bows and stern. Thus
renovated, and after a delay of some days, caused by trifling mishaps,
she left the Cattegat behind and steered a course for British waters.
The original plan had been to set a course for Iceland, and, when north
of the Shetlands, to turn to the southward to Lough Laxford, the agreed
rendezvous with Spender. But the incident at Langeland, which had made
the Danish authorities suspect illegal traffic with Iceland, made a
change of plan imperative. Before leaving Danish waters Crawford tried
to communicate this change to Belfast. But, meantime, information had
reached Belfast of certain measures being taken by the Government, and
Spender, hoping to catch Crawford before he left Kiel, went to Dublin to
telegraph from there. In Dublin he was dismayed to read in the
newspapers that a mysterious vessel called the _Fanny_, said to be
carrying arms for Ulster, had been captured by the Danish authorities in
the Baltic. For several days no further news reached Belfast, where it
was assumed that the whole enterprise had failed; and then a code
message informed the Committee that Crawford was in London.
Spender at once went over to see him, in order to warn him not to bring
the arms to Ireland for the present. He was to take them back to
Hamburg, or throw them overboard, or sink the _Fanny_ and take to her
boats, according to circumstances. But in London, instead of Crawford,
Spender found the Hamburg skipper and packer, who told him of Crawford's
escape from Langeland with the loss of the ship's papers. Spender,
knowing nothing of Crawford's change of plan, and anxious to convey to
him the latest instructions, went off on a wild-goose chase to the
Highlands of Scotland, where he spent the best part of an unhappy week
watching the waves tumbling in Lough Laxford, and looking as anxiously
as Tristan for the expected ship.
Meantime the _Fanny_ had crossed the North Sea, and Crawford sent Agnew
ashore at Yarmouth on the 7th of April with orders to hurry to Belfast,
where he was to procure another steamer and bring it to a rendezvous at
Lundy Island, in the Bristol Channel. Crawford himself, having
rechristened the _Fanny_ for the second time (this time the _Doreen_),
proceeded down the English Channel, where he had a rather adventurous
cruise in a gale of wind. He kept close to the French coast, to avoid
any unwelcome attentions in British waters, but on the way had an attack
of malaria, which the Captain thought so grave that, no doubt with the
most humane motives, he declared his intention of putting Crawford
ashore at Dunkirk to save his life, a design which no persuasion short
of Crawford's handling of his revolver in true pirate fashion would make
the Norwegian abandon.
In the heavy seas of the Channel the _Doreen_ could not make more than
four knots, and she was consequently twenty-four hours late for the
rendezvous with Agnew at Lundy, where she arrived on the 11th of April.
The Bristol Channel seemed to swarm with pilot boats eager to be of
service, whose inquisitive and expert eyes were anything but welcome to
the custodian of Ulster's rifles; and to his highly strung imagination
every movement of every trawler appeared to betoken suspicion. And,
indeed, they were not without excuse for curiosity; for, a foreign
steamer whose course seemed indeterminate, now making for Cardiff and
now for St. Ives, observed at one time north-east of Lundy and a few
hours later south of the island--a tramp, in fact, that was obviously
"loitering" with no ascertainable destination, was enough to keep
telescopes to the eyes of Devon pilots and fisher-folk, and to set their
tongues wagging. But there was no help for it. Crawford could not leave
the rendezvous till Agnew arrived, and was forced to wander round Lundy
and up and down the Bristol Channel for two days and nights, until, at 5
a.m. on Monday morning, the 13th of April, a signal from a passing
steamer, the _Balmerino_, gave the welcome tidings that Agnew was on
board and was proceeding to sea.
When the two steamers were sufficiently far from Lundy lighthouse and
other prying eyes to make friendly intercourse safe, Agnew came on board
the _Doreen_, bringing with him another North Irish seaman whom he
introduced to Crawford. This man handed to Crawford a paper he had
brought from Belfast. It was typewritten; it bore no address and no
signature; it was no doubt a duplicate of what Spender had taken to the
Highlands, for its purport, as given by Crawford from memory, was to the
following effect: "Owing to great changes since you left, and altered
circumstances, the Committee think it would be unwise to bring the
cargo here at present, and instruct you to proceed to the Baltic and
cruise there for three months, keeping in touch with the Committee, or
else to store the goods at Hamburg till required."
The "great changes" referred to were the operations that led to the
Curragh incident, the story of which Crawford now learnt from Agnew. The
presence of the fleet at Lamlash, and of destroyers off Carrickfergus,
was enough to make the Committee deem it an inopportune moment for
Crawford to bring his goods to Belfast Lough. But the latter was hardly
in a condition to appreciate the gravity of the situation, and the
indignation which the missive aroused in him is intelligible. After all
he had come through, the ups and downs, dangers and escapes--far more
varied than have been here recorded--the disappointment at being ordered
back was cruel; and in his eyes such instructions were despicably
pusillanimous. The caution that had prompted his instructors to leave
the order unsigned moved him to contempt, and in his wrath he was
confident that "the Chief at any rate had nothing to do with it." He
told the messenger that he did not know who had sent the paper, and did
not want to know, and instructed him to take it back and inform the
senders that, as it bore no signature, no date, no address, and no
official stamp, he declined to recognise it and refused to obey it; and,
further, that unless he received within six days properly authenticated
instructions for delivering his cargo, he would run his ship ashore at
high water in the County Down, and let the Ulstermen salve as much as
they could when the tide ebbed.
But Crawford determined to make another effort first to accomplish his
task by less desperate methods. He therefore decided to accompany the
messenger back to Belfast. The _Doreen_, late _Fanny_, was too
foreign-looking to pass unchallenged up Belfast Lough, but he believed
that if the cargo could be transhipped to a vessel known to all watchers
on the North Irish coast, a policy of audacity would have a good chance
of success. The s.s. _Balmerino_, which had brought Agnew and the
messenger to Lundy, was such a vessel; her owner, Mr. Sam Kelly, was an
intimate friend of Crawford's; and if he could see Kelly the matter, he
hoped, might be quickly arranged. The reliance which Crawford placed in
Mr. Sam Kelly was fully justified, for the assistance rendered by this
gentleman was essential to the success of the enterprise. He it was who
freely supplied two steamers, with crews and stevedores, thereby
enabling the last part of this adventurous voyage to be carried through;
and the willingness with which Mr. Kelly risked financial loss, and much
besides, placed Ulster under an obligation to him for which he sought no
recompense.
Crawford accordingly went off in the _Balmerino_, landed in South Wales
on Tuesday, the 14th of April, and hastened by the quickest route to
Belfast. Agnew took charge of the _Doreen_, with instructions to be at
the Tuskar Light, on the Wexford coast, on the following Friday night,
the 17th, and to return there every night until Crawford rejoined him. A
friend of Crawford's, Mr. Richard Cowser, with whom he had a
conversation on the telephone from Dublin, met him at the railway
station in Belfast and told him that he had a motor waiting to take him
to Craigavon, where the Council was expecting him, and that he would see
Mr. Sam Kelly, the owner of the _Balmerino_, there also. This news made
Crawford very angry. He accused his friend of breach of confidence in
letting anyone know that he was coming to Belfast; he declared he would
have nothing to do with the Council after the unsigned orders he had
received at Lundy; and he besought his friend to take his car to
Craigavon and bring back Kelly, repeating his determination to bring in
his cargo, even if he had to run his ship ashore to do so. Mr. Cowser
replied that this would be very disappointing to Sir Edward Carson, who
was waiting for Crawford at Craigavon, having come from London on
purpose for this Council Meeting. "What!" exclaimed Crawford, "is Sir
Edward there? Why did you not say so at once? Where is your car? Let us
waste no time till I see the Chief and report to him."
That evening of the 14th of April, at Craigavon, was a memorable one for
all who were present at the meeting. Carson invited Crawford to relate
all he had done, and to explain how he proposed to proceed. The latter
did not mince matters in saying what he thought of the Lundy
instructions, which he again declared angrily he intended to disobey.
When he had finished his narrative and his protestations against what he
considered a cowardly policy--a policy that would deprive Ulster of
succour as sorely needed as Derry needed the _Mountjoy_ to break the
boom--Carson put a few questions to him in regard to the feasibility of
his plans. Crawford explained the advantage it would be to transfer the
cargo from the _Fanny_ to a local steamer, which he felt confident he
could bring into Larne, and after the transhipment he would send the
_Fanny_ straight back to the Baltic, where she could settle her account
with the Danish authorities and recover her papers.
Some members of the Council were sceptical about the possibility of
transhipping the cargo at sea, but Crawford, who had fully discussed it
with Agnew, believed that if favoured by calm weather it could be done.
When Carson, after hearing all that was to be said on both sides in the
long debate between Fabius and Hotspur, finally supported the latter,
the question was decided. There was no split--there never was in these
deliberations in Ulster; those whose judgment was overruled always
supported loyally the policy decided upon.
Immediate measures were then taken to give effect to the decision. Kelly
knew of a suitable craft, the s.s. _Clydevalley_, for sale at that
moment in Glasgow, which would be in Belfast next morning with a cargo
of coal. This was providential. A collier familiar to every longshoreman
in Belfast Lough, carrying on her usual trade this week, could hardly be
suspected of carrying rifles when she returned next week ostensibly in
the same line of business. It was settled that Crawford should cross to
Glasgow at once and buy her; the steamer, when bought, was to go from
Belfast to Llandudno, where she would pick up Crawford on the sands, and
proceed to keep the rendezvous with Agnew at the Tuskar Light on Friday;
and, after taking over the _Fanny's_ cargo, would then steam boldly up
Belfast Lough and through the Musgrave Channel to the Belfast docks,
where he undertook to arrive on the Friday week, the 24th of April, the
various proposals which named Larne, Bangor, and Donaghadee as ports of
discharge having all been rejected after full discussion. This last
decision was not approved by Crawford, for he and Spender had long
before this time agreed that Larne harbour was the proper place to land
the arms, both because the large number of country roads leading to it
would facilitate rapid distribution, and because it would be more
difficult for the authorities to interfere with the disembarkation there
than at any of the other ports.
Before parting from the Council Crawford made it quite clear that during
the remainder of the adventure he would recognise no orders of any kind
unless they bore the autograph signature of Sir Edward Carson. On this
understanding he set out for Glasgow, bought the _Clydevalley_, and went
by train to Llandudno to await her arrival. These affairs had left very
little margin of time to spare. The _Clydevalley_ could not be at
Llandudno before the morning of the 17th, and Agnew would be looking for
her at the Tuskar the same evening. As it actually turned out she only
arrived at the Welsh watering-place late that night, and, after picking
up Crawford, who had spent an anxious day on the beach, arrived off the
Wexford coast at daybreak on Saturday, the 18th. Not a sign of the
_Fanny_ was to be seen all that day, or the following night; and when
the skipper of the _Clydevalley_, who had been on the _Balmerino_ and
was privy to the arrangements with Agnew, gave Crawford reason to think
there might have been a misunderstanding as to the rendezvous, Yarmouth
having been also mentioned in that connection, Crawford was in a
condition almost of desperation.
It was, indeed, a situation to test the nerves, to say nothing of the
temper, of even the most resolute. It was Sunday, and Crawford had
undertaken to be at Copeland Island, at the mouth of Belfast Lough, on
Friday evening for final landing instructions. The precious cargo, which
had passed safely through so many hazards, had vanished and was he knew
not where. He had heard nothing of the _Fanny_ (or _Doreen_) since he
landed at Tenby five days previously. Had she been captured by a
destroyer from Pembroke, or overhauled, pirate as she was without
papers, by Customs officials from Rosslare? Or had Agnew mistaken his
instructions, and risked all the dangers of the English Channel in a
fruitless voyage to Yarmouth, where, even if still undetected, the
_Fanny_ would be too far away to reach Copeland by Friday, unless Agnew
could be communicated with at once?
There was only one way in which such communication could be managed, and
that way Crawford now took with characteristic promptitude and energy.
The _Clydevalley_ crossed the Irish Sea to Fishguard, where he took
train on Sunday night to London and Yarmouth, having first made
arrangements with the skipper for keeping in touch. But there was no
trace of the _Fanny_ at Yarmouth, and no word from Agnew at the Post
Office. There appeared to be no solution of the problem, and every
precious hour that slipped away made ultimate failure more menacing. But
at two o'clock the outlook entirely changed. A second visit to the Post
Office was rewarded by a telegram in code from Agnew saying all was
well, and that he would be at Holyhead to pick up Crawford on Tuesday
evening. There was just time to catch a London train that arrived in
time for the Irish mail from Euston. On Tuesday morning Crawford was
pacing the breakwater at Holyhead, and a few hours later he was
discussing matters with Agnew in the little cabin of the _Clydevalley_.
The latter had amply made up for the loss of time caused by some
misunderstanding as to the rendezvous at the Tuskar, for he was able to
show Crawford, to his intense delight, that the cargo had all been
safely and successfully transferred to the hold of the _Clydevalley_ in
a bay on the Welsh coast, mainly at night. Some sixteen transport
labourers from Belfast, willing Ulster hands, had shifted the stuff in
less than half the time taken by Germans at Langeland over the same job.
There was, therefore, nothing more to be done except to steam leisurely
to Copeland, for which there was ample time before Friday evening. The
_Fanny_ had departed to an appointed rendezvous on the Baltic coast of
Denmark.
It was now the turn of the _Clydevalley_ to yield up her obscure
identity, and to assume an historic name appropriate to the adventure
she was bringing to a triumphant climax--a name of good omen in Ulster
ears. Strips of canvas, 6 feet long, were cut and painted with white
letters on a black ground, and affixed to bows and stern, so that the
men waiting at Copeland might hail the arrival of the _Mountjoy II_.
Off Copeland Island a small vessel was waiting, which Agnew recognised
as a tender belonging to Messrs. Workman & Clark. The men on board, as
soon as they could make out the name of the approaching vessel,
understood at once, and raised a ringing cheer. Two of them were seen
gesticulating and hailing the _Mountjoy_. Crawford, suspecting fresh
orders to retreat, paid no attention, and told Agnew to hold on his
course; and even when presently he was able to recognise Mr. Cowser and
Mr. Dawson Bates on board the tender, and to hear them shouting that
they had important instructions for him, he still refused to let them
come on board. "If the orders are not signed by Sir Edward Carson," he
shouted back, "you can take them back to where they came from." But the
orders they brought had been signed by the leader, a special messenger
having been sent to London to obtain his signature, and the change of
plan they indicated was, in fact, just what Crawford desired. The bulk
of the arms were to be landed at Larne, the port he had always favoured,
and lesser quantities were to be taken to Bangor and Donaghadee.
It was 10.30 that night, the 24th of April 1914, when the _Mountjoy II_
steamed alongside the landing-stage at Larne, where she had been eagerly
awaited for a couple of hours. The voyage of adventure was over. Fred
Crawford, with the able and zealous help of Andrew Agnew, had
accomplished the difficult and dangerous task he had undertaken, and a
service had been rendered to Ulster not unworthy to rank beside the
breaking of the boom across the Foyle by the first and more renowned
_Mountjoy_.
FOOTNOTES:
[87] _Annual Register_, 1914, p. 1.