Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 57, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 October 1914 — BRITISH GIVE UP AMERICAN SHIP AFTER DEMAND [ARTICLE]

BRITISH GIVE UP AMERICAN SHIP AFTER DEMAND

Standard Oil Tank Steamer *Freed by England. OTHER BOATS STILL HELD Government Held That Vessel's Cargo of Oil Was Contraband —Germans Sink Twelve Ships— Italian Craft Sunk.

Washington, Oct 23. —Sir Cecil Spring-Rice, the British ambassador, was informed by the, London foreign office that the American tank steamer, • John D. Rockefeller, seized by British cruisers, had been released. The ambassador received no word concerning the other American ships, the Brindllla and Platuria. His advices were communicated at once to the White House and that was taken in official circles as an indication of Jthe personal interest President Wilson has taken in the cases. The Rockefeller, like the Brindllla and the other two ships, carried illuminating oil which Great Britain la understood to have declared contraband. It was seized and taken to islands off the coast of Scotland.

The ambassador's advices were that jthe Rockefeller’s cargo was consigned merely “to order” at Copenhagen and [that the British cruisers which took it jhad difficulty in establishing its destination. Fuel and lubricants were declared conditional contraband by the I proclamation of August 4. U. 8. Demands Release. Acting Secretary Lansing of the state department announced that the United States had protested to Great Britain against, the seizure of the American steamer Brindilla, now at Halifax, N. S„ as unjustifiable, and demanding its immediate release. ' Secretary Lansing said the American protest, made through Ambassador Page, was similar to that lodged against seizure of the John D. Rockefeller, bound from Philadelphia to Copenhagen. He stated that the Brindilla also was plying between neutral ports —New York and Alexandria, Egypt—and he was satisfied that,, even though there had been a change of registry from German to American, the ownership was continuously American. Carried Illuminating Oil. The cargoes of both the Rockefeller and the Brindilla contained illuminating oil, which has not been specifically declared contraband in any list sent to the state department by Great Britaip, although officials here believe Great Britain regards that oil is covered in the general prohibition against "fuel.” A Norwegian steamer which arrived at Las Palmaß, Canary islands, according to a dispatch from that place, reports that It was visited by a German cruiser, whose captain declared he had sunk 11 British and French and one Italian steamers.