Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 53, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 March 1915 — HONOLULU PAPER TELLS OF TRIP [ARTICLE]

HONOLULU PAPER TELLS OF TRIP

John Eilts, Now in Jasper County, Was Interviewed While in Hawaiian Islands. John Eilts, who is visiting his brothers, R. H. and Edward Eilts, of Union township, called at The Republican office Wednesday. The Honolulu Commercial Advertiser, of Feb. 16th, published the following account of the experiences Mr. Eilts and wife experienced in getting away from China: , John Eilts, a civil engineer and architect of Tsingtau, who is a through passenger aboard the Tenvo Maru, accompanied by his wife, en route to San Francisco, said*last night that the British authorities in the Orient were making it almost impossible for Germans to leave China for either the United States or Europe.

Mr. and Mrs. Eilts and a number of prominent members of the local German colony were the guests of Rudolph Heydeurich at the Rathskellar last night. When the war broke out in Europe, Mr. and Mrs. Eilts were in Hainan, in the southern part of China. Owing to his large property interests in Tsingtau, Mr. Eilts made immediate preparations to leave the Chinese province for his home in North China. ‘The first obstacle I encountered,” said Mr. Eilts, “was when I, was told by the British consul at Hainan that I could not leave the country until permission was granted from Hongkong. A letter was written to the authorities in Hongkong asking for this permission, which was not answered for a whole month. Telegrams were exchanged for another week and finally cablegrams were sent to London. “For three months we were held in Hainan waiting for the unraveling of official red tape and finally my wife and I slipped out of the port one night in a Chinese junk. For two weeks we were on this strange craft and after many thrilling adventures with French officers at Hoi-How we finally made the port of Kong-Moon, Which is within seven hours of Canton by rail.

“We were four weeks making the journey from Canton to Nanking, and upon our arrival in Shanghai we found that we had another month’s delay in getting a steamer out of there for the United States, owing to the fact that all ships from the Orient at that time were carrying large numbers of refugees from Tsingtau. We finally secured passage on the Tenyo Maru and without any further difficulty I expect to land in the United States safely within the next week. “OUr experience has been a trying one and at times very thrilling. I will say, however, that the British, with the assistance of the Japanese, are going to convince the German residents of China that the Flowery Kingdom is a good country to stay in.”