name of newspaper: The Osceola Record
         location: Osceola, NE 68651
  date of article: Thursday, September 18, 1919
          edition: 44th year, number 2(?)
             page: page 5
           column: 5
            about: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84022854/ (?)
           source: https://www.newspapers.com/image/740969848

GOB OF '61-'64 VISITS U-BOAT
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John Rasmussen Inspects German Submarine in Chicago.
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FINDS VAST DIFFERENCES
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Civil War Veteran Who Served on United STates Monitors and Participated in the Sieges of Forts Sumter, Moultire and Fisher Marvels ar the Mechanical Features of the Captured Submersible UC-97.
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  A bent little old man, with snow-white hair and beard, and with kindly blue eyes peering out form behind silver-rimmed spectables, haltingly put foot on the deck of the captured German submarine UC-97 down at the end of the municipal pier in Chicago.
  "Wal, I swan!" he ejaculated. "This is considdible diffrint f'm th' boats o' my days!:
  The little old man was John Rasmussen, 75 years old, the only Chicagoan who saw Lincoln on the day he was assassinated, and a veteran of the United States navy monitor service during the Civil war. He has lived and greyed in Chacago since the Civil war, and is a familiar figure in the Methodist church block, Randolph and Clark, where his unpretentious boot-making shop is located on the second floor.
    Wanted to Make Comparison.
  When John Rasmussen heard that the captured German submarine had come to town, he expressed a desire to see it and compare it with the monitors he served on during the Civil war.
  He closed his little shop, put on his plain black coat and took himself down to the municipal pier. He was enthusiastically welcomed by Lieutenant Commander E. A. Lockwood and his twenty-four gobs, comprising the crew of the sub, when they learned he was an "ex-gob" of the United States navy of '61 to '64.
  A sailor from the age of 14, John Rasmussen had no difficulty accustoming himelf to the roll of the UC-97, which tossed uneasily at her moorings. However, John's "sea legs" were not so strong as they used to be, and he beamed his gratitude at a husky "gob" who lent him an arm.
  Interestedly John moved about the intersticed steel deck of the U-boat, pointing out variations in its construction as compared with the monitors on which he went through the siege of Forts Sumter, Moultrie and Fisher during the stirring days from '61 to '64.
  "See theer, now," said John, indicating the surface steering apparatus on the bridge of the UC-97. "Th' monitors like the Mahotac, which I was on in '64, didn't have no sich fancy steerin' do-dinkusses on. Th' Mahotac had jist a steerin'wheel an' a compass an' not a lot o' fancy instryments like an electric power-house."
    Surprised at Mechanism.
  When he was told that the steering apparatus of the submarine was duplicated inside the hold, so that if the upper paraphernalia were destroyed by gunfire the craft could still be controlled, John shook his head wonderingly and wiped his glasses so that he could trace the course of a shifting indicator on one of the instruments.
  "This is the instrument that is manipulated to sink the boat," said Lieutenant Commander Lockwood, showing John the submerged gauge as worked from the outside. "This lever is pulled and then the captain goes down this hatch." (Pointing.)
  "Wal, I swan!" again ejaculated John. "About th' only intryment that'd sink a monitor would be a twelve-pound shell!"
  To an interested circle of gobs, Mr. Rasmussen told the story of how he had served in the American navy from 1861 to 1864, and how he had seen Lincoln shortly before the emancipator was assassinated.
  "The war was over." said John. "The Mahotac was in Washington harbor and President Lincoln came along the docks in a one-horse buggy to look at the fleet. I didn't know him by sight. but a big negro by my side said: 'Dere's old Abe!' with a pleased grin, and I got a good look at Abraham Lincoln. That night he was shot in Ford's theatre.
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