HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1915-05-14, Page 3fihl IA k'° f the Lusitania nothing was heard r
1 officially at any of the wrreiess stn
noire ttar,ti.ish�� y after 2 o'clock,
when the wireless operator at
S
L'and's End, Ireland, ,caught this
hurriedly : "Come at once, Big
list; position ten miles, south of
Kinsale."
That was all that ever carne out
of the ships° far as can be learned.
It would not have been sufficient
to have blown.. tip:- the boilers to
stop the wireAss, Tee the emer-
gency batteries. were `there to work
with. Something snapped the whole
thing: out. The • word Iron Land's
End was out to, the world in an-
other two minutes. Every port of
the Irish coast 'was , notified and
passed the word along. Men on
the jump from 'Waterford clear
down to Cape Clear rushed into
sma11 boats and large boats and,
dashed out to sea.
Old Head of Kinsale was the next
to send a little word. A murine
observer there with powerful glass-
es made out the big ship ten miles
out, listed to one side almost on
the point of turning over. There
wale only a brief flash of this, and
then carne the word, "Save has
gone." Asa matter of fact, it is
estimated the Lusitania was hit
around 2.15 o'clock and was under
water by 2.45. Lloyds officially:
places the time as that.
Them the observer made .out the
small boats on the spot left when
the big ship vanished.
Fastest ocean Liner in the World- Sent to Bottom
by German Pirates
More than thirteen hundred lives were lost when the Cunard
liner Lusitania was torpedoed without warning off Old Head of
Kinsale, Ireland, by a German submarine Friday afternoon, sink-
mg'within thirty-five minutes.
Out of a total number of 2,104 persons aboard, passengers and
crew, with over 200 Canadians and 189 United States citizens,
between 800 and 900 are reported ashore at Queenstown, Kinsale,
Galley. Head and Clonakilty, but a late bulletin received by the
Cunard Company in New York .from a chief steward expressed
his belief that no more than 500 or 600 were saved.
Among the survivors, it is reported, are many wounded, who
have been taken to -the naval hospital at Queenstown, thus estab-
lishing that the explosion must have been terrific, or there was
a second interior explosion. •
Lass of Life Enormous.
The very latest bulletins received
enumerate so few survivors that it
is feared that more than 1,300 fhave
perished.
Out of the 2,104 passengers and
crew aboard the ship, 1,254 passen-
gers and 850 crew, there is definite
information concerning lase than
700 of them, and even the uncon-
firmed reports of rescues at vari-
ous ports add very few more to the
list.
The latest bulaetian comes from
Queenstown by way of Liverpool
through the Cunard Company. It
reads: "Queenstown wires that
the Stormcook is landing about 160
passengers and crew. It is re-
ported by the Admiralty that the
,trawlers Dock and. Indian Empire
have about 200; the tug Flying Fish
100; three torpedo boats have 45
' living and four dead.
"We are, putting these up at the
different hotels and boarding
houses."
London, May 7, 5 p.m. The
Lusitania was sunk at 2.33 this
afternoon off Old Head Kinsale by
a torpedo. Assistance has been
sent to her.
Queenstown, May 7. -The Cu-
nard Line steamer has been tor-
pedoed and sunk.
The Lusitania sailed last 'Satur-
day from New York.
Cunard Gives Text of Telegram.
New York, May 7. -The .Cunard
Line gve out the following cable-
gram received from Liverpool
"Lands End wireless reported
distress calls made by Lusitania, as
follows:
`Coarse at once; big list, posi-
tion ten miles south Kinsale.' Sub-
sequently received telegram from
Queenstown that all small craft in
harbor dispatched to assistance."
The see.ond message read:
"Queenstown.—Old Head Kinsale
wire begins, , "About 20 boats of all
sorts belonging to Lusitania are in
vicinity where sunk."
Before the Lusitania sailed some
nervousness was caused because of
the publication in the papers of an
advertisement warning intending
travellers that a state of wax exist-
ed between Germany and Great
Britain and her allies; that the
zone of war includes the waters
adjacent nt to
the British
Isles; ,
that
in accordance with �ioticte given by
the Genian Government vessels
flying the flag of Great Britain are
liable to destruction in those wa-
ters and that travellers sailing in
., the war zone on whips; of Great
Britain ea her allies do so at their
own risk. This advertisement was.
signed, )'Imperial German . Em-
bassy.''
This warning apparently did not
clause many cancellations, for the
whip sailed with .a very full passen-
ger list.
Charles P. Sumner, general
agent of the Cunard Line, was at
the pier, and in a statement made•
then, said that the voyage of the
Lusitania would not be attended
by any risk whatever, as the liner
had a speed of twenty-five and a
half knots, and was provided with
unusual watertight bulkheads.
in commenting on the report of.
the torpedoing of the Lusitaaiia,
marine men pointed out that in
their opinion the Lusitania could
not be sunk by a single torpedo.
The Lusitania carried Alfred
Gwynne :Vanderbilt, Elbert Hub-
bard, Charles Frohman, and other
well-known. people. Just before
the steamer sailed away many of
the passengers received telegrams
trona a mysterious source warning
them not to make the voyage as
something was .goring to happen to
the big liner.
The Lusitania was coaxm,anded. by.
Captain W. T. Turner, Royal Na-
val Reserve, and Staff Captain J.
C. Anderson is his assistant. On
board were anumber of British re-
servists going back to join the
colors and representatives of many
American and .Canadian firms who
deal in war materials:
The Lusitania, carried :a crew of
about 700 :and 1,300 passengers.
This included 200 passengers who
were taken aboard from an Anchor
Line steamer which urns com-
mandeered by. the British Admir-
alty
Hit WithottPt Warning.
There is no doubt that she was
hit without . warning. Liverpool
shipping men have announced that
Captain Turner would not think of
stopping for any Germansubma•r
ine, but would rely on . his speed
the moment he saw a periscope in
sight. It would only be by chance
that a torpedo would strike home
unless there were a number of the
undersea boats in line, each of
which would discharge a torpedo
in her path. None could stop her,
none could keep up with . her.
Therefore, it is believed to -night
that there was a great loss of life:
A unessage received from Queens-
town by tale Cunard Company
The Daily Mail in an editorial
says of the sinking of the Lusitania
and the loss of life
"It was not an act of war ; it was
a case of sheer cowardly murder.
To the. American people who suf-
fered this felons' :blow equally with
ourselves we address no words of.
impertinent counsel, but we do
venture to offer to them from the
bottom of our hearts a. message of
profoundest sympathy. It is at
such times as these 'essential by the
kinship of the. English -,speaking
peoples that we make unmistakably
manifest that we share their indig-
nation, loathing and contempt for
the assassins who sneak under the
water to wage a campaign of mur-
der against unarmed defenceless
passenger ships, merchant vessels
and fishing trawlers, and we pro-
mise them that, so fax as in us lies,
the deaths of these American citi-
zens 'shall be avenged."
says:
' "Chief Steward Jones thinks
about 500 to 600 saved. This in-
cludes passengers and crew. In
the meantime the injured and' the
dead are taking up all our atten-
tion."
The Cunard Liner Lusitania, Sunk by the Germans.
SURVIVORS TELL
OF . THEIB. ESCAPE
Sent Only One Wireless.
After the early afternoon report
�ZA�E IViPORTANT ADVANCES
JOffre's. Forces Report Gains S.ir John French
Chronicles Attacks by His ° First Array
A despatch from Paris says: Im-
portant French advances in Alsace
were recorded by,the War Office in
5aturda,y's officinal cormmntnique.
The forces which for some time have
Tl
been gradually workiog their way
toward M.etzorail, an important cen-
tre, some ten miles east of the
Rhine, pushed forward for' a dis-
tance of one kilometre over a front
100 kilometres in length. The
progress'made was along the banks
f the River Feoh,t.
French troops have made impor-
tant gains ,:youth sof Carenoy. Two
and in tame cases three, lines of
German trenches were taken over
a front of four and a hall miles,
T
y bit -
1e German fortifications at these
pll�sta�nwere very y h�eovy', pad the re-
sistance,
arc�e, whilefutile, was ver
ter.
l ritleli fonetee recovered on Sat-
Talks With Toronto and Ontario
People Saved Front the
Lusitania.
A despatch from London says:
Stories of Canadian survivors are
reaching London.
Frank Hook, an 11 -year-old boy
passenger on the Lusitania, was re-
turning to England from Toronto
,with his father and sister. He was
pitched overboard as the boat went
down and suffered a broken leg by
-striking a piece of wreckage. The
hoy sank, but came up again and
clutched an upturned boat. He be -
"came separated from his father,
.who did not know the boy was alive
until he found Jain in a hospital in
Queenstown.
Says 200 Americans Dead.
New York, Saturday, May 8.---
More
.--More than 200 Americans, are
among the dead in the Lusitania
disaster, according to a London
cable to the Tribune, whose cor-
respondent places the total loss of
life at from 900 to 1,400, the latter
estimate by First Officer Jones. It
is supposed there were 400 Ameri-
cans on board.
Resolution to Ratify
Uses of Gases in War
Mrs. Lohden's Experience.
Mrs. Rose Lohden and her daugh-
ter, of Toronto, survivors of the
Lusitania disaster, bell a pathetic
story concerning two English wo-
men who were rescued by the boat
in which the Loaders left the
steamer.
One woman had buried her baby
at sea. .The other, with pan infant
held tightly to her breast, on being
taken fromi the Seca intothe boat,
looked for a moment at the child's
face, and then ,said "Let me bury',
my baby," at the same time plac-
ing the body in•the water,
Vincente Egana, a young Span -
tared, saved innumerable women,
Mrs. Lohden says, before the ship
went down. He carried them to
boats and, standing beside Cap-
tain Turner, went down with the
steamer; bedng :later picked up in
the water.
Mrs. Lohden says she saw a peris-
cope between 200 and 300 yards dis-
tant from the Lusitania, She had
no idea what it was, and asked a
steward. The latter replied : "My
God, a submarine," Almost im-
mediately the explosion lifted the
ship.
ious to hear from relative of tl'
boys, to whom they would be sex.
Mrs. Gardner fainted when the tc
pedo struck, and went down wi-
the 'ship. The elder eon, who sto•
by his mother, went down with b
ship, but carne to the stale
where he was hauled into a boat
which his father was lying' un cc
scious from shock and •chill. T`
Bather died soon afterwards, a
the boy, believing himself alon
the world, was taken to Queer
town, where' he found bis young
brother .alive. They are at a he
near Euston Station, the you,n0
suffering from exhaustion. It
thought they will return to Cat
ads, where they have relatives. .
Lost Mother and Babe.
Thirty survivors of the Lusitar
arrived at Euston Station, Londe
Sunday evening. Among them s*',Something" is the slogan of
Mrs. F. C. Stevens, of Mantra St'aet rcaerrtisii NOW
wife of a wounded army officer jr g
over from Flanders. She coil , the advertising all thro>�gh
not believe that those she look
for were not among the 30 until tie, ea a pee lms;ness to ill'
SMYRNA CllT b'F�
FROM STRAIT
tish Aviator Drop's r13ornbs o
Panderwa. Bridge, Destroy-
lig It.
A despatch from London stye,
Deeperate fighting is in progress ti
the Gallipoli. Peninsula. The Turk
have been reinforced by a division
and the allies are now endeavorin
to prevent this force from joinin
the other 'bodies of Turkish .troops
The losses on Toth si+ es a
heavy. The allies at other point
on the Peninsula are strongly es
tablished, and are advazicing slow
ly but steadily, overcoming nth
Turkish resistance everywhere.'
A dlesn.atch. to the e Exchange{Tele
A despatch from London says:
'The suggestion that Great Britain
adopt measures in retaliation for
the use of gases in battle by the
Germans has taken concrete form.
Joseph King , representing the
North District of Somerset in the
House of Commons, announced his
intention of introducing a resolu-
tion on this subject.
The resolution sets forth "that
this House agrees to
such
me
a-
.
sures of retaliation as is essential
to prevent success attaohing to
such gross and unparalleled viola-
tion of the rules of war; a,ubject,
however, to the condition that in
the preparation of any gas used by
his Majesty's military forces the ut-
most regard be paid to the dictates
of humanity.'
urday .the kine of trenches lost' on
Friday to the Germans cat Hill 60,
according to a report from. Field
Marshal Sir John French. Field
Marshal French sent the following
report of the operations" onthe
western line :
',`The enema continued his at-
tacks east of Spree, sand made fur-
ther attacks; w+lii le have all been
repulsed With heavy losses. Our
line there is firmly. established..
Our final army attacked the enemy's
line between Bois Greiner and Fes-
tubera,' and gained ground south
and .east toward 'F'roxri�elles. The
fighting. in this areiarea,'continuer ,
`'Our. airinen rlacle successful at-
tacks on the St....Andre railway
junction n or•tb it Lxl.le. ; and on the
canal bridge at Dok, Funises., Her -
lies, Illiese, Marqueldaee and La
Basset',Basset',were lam bombed."
No,,Demonstrations
On King's 'Birthday
A. despatch from Ottawa says: A
message from Right Hon. Lewis
Harcourt,, Secretary of State for
the Colonies, has been received by
the Government in regard to the
celebration of the King's birthday.
The cable ,states: "I
be feared and greatly to
ahead --keeps a business
had spoken with every once of the:
She waits word of her mother aie tonic effect of your
her 18 -months -old baby the rnotl
was bringing to London.
Prominent Dead.
The body of Charles Frahm,:
the. New York theatrical produc) f Zurich
has been identified in the tesnpee
ary morgue ,at the Queenstown
Town Hall, and it is practically
certain that ,among the other well-
known persons to perish were Al;
fred Gwynne ,Vanderbilt, Charles
Klein, the playwright; ,Dr. F. S.
Pearson, Justus Miles Forman,
author and playwright, and Mr,
and Mrs. Elbert Hubbard. It has
been impossible to find dyes& bodies
Parents Lost, Sons Saved.
Eric -•and William Gardnerr, aged
16 and 11 respectively, of Toronto,
passengers on the Lu sitand,a•, were
saved, but their parents, Mr. and
Mrs. James Gardner, were lost,
according to news received by the
Cunard Line here. The family was
on its ,way to. New Zealand. The
Cunard officials said they were aux-
iOT OF
�C
among the 200 in Queenstown, but
word from every point of the Irish
coast fails to bring any reassuring
tidings.
It is now definitely established.
that there were 1,917 persons
aboard the ship when the German
submarine smashed two torpedoes
into her starboard side, literally
tearing two great sections of her
hull in pieces. There were 290 first -
cabin passengers. Only 79 of these
have been reported alive. There
were 599 in the second cabin, and
the 'survivors' list so far reaches
only 100. There were 361 persons
in the third class, and there were
667 in the crew.
'4
Women applied last year in the
United Kingdom for no fewer than
350 ,patents.
I1VIFORTilCL
Temporary Success Can Do No More Than belay
the Russian Advance Into Hungary
A despatch from London says:
between
The battle now progressing
the Vistula and the Carpathians is
thus described by the correspon-
dent of the Daily Mail at Petro-
grad :
"`For the moment masses of Ger-
man and Austrian troops who for
1 th a ran - his some weeks past have been ooncon-
ty's wish that
on e sec s tenting at Cracow have, by mere
Majesty's birthday this year flags weight and superiority
should be flown, but no dinners,
reviews, salutes.or other celebra-
tions'sdnouild take place."out
Tustruelions have been sent t
by the Militia Department to' ofn
cars•-comnnanding divisions and' die-
trictsi to carry out the Kings wish-
es thronghout their respective com-
nnands.
Will Stop Exports
01 Coal and Coke
e atch from London says:
A d spabout to prohibit
Great Britain is abs olze to
the exportation of coal and c
aI.l countries abroad other than l3ri-
fish - oseeaSi0ne and Protectorates
lr
and allied countries. A committee
will be appointed, however, t6 con -
these !note to prohibited destina-
tions.
' of num ei s,
forced the Russians along the Dun-
ajec to draw back. The .operations
in this region began a week ago
when an Austrian force approached
the Biala River south of Tarnow.
At first they were held in check,
but soon German reinforcements
arrived, including many first line
troops not before used in the Car-
pathians. At the same time at
Krasnow, on the upper Vistula, a
very vigorous offensive began. Six
times the Russian positions were
attacked and eacah time the enemy
was driven off. Finally, the enemy
being greatly weakened, a battalion
of Russians was ordered to charge,
and did so with :complete.success,
a whole regiment of Lanclwehr
troops being put out of action and
400 survivors being made prisoners.
r'`Then came the movement of the
Threw Arsenic Into the
Water.
A despatch from London says
In support of charges that the Ger
mans had poisoned wells in th
South-west African . cainpaig
Lewis Harcourt, Secretary of Stat
for .the Colonies, has issued a s co
munication in which he say
Ali -
when Gen. Louis ' Botha, comma,
dee of the Union of South Afrin
forces, occupied Swakopmund h
discovered that six wells had bee
poisoned by an arsenical entti
wash.
As a remonstrance Gen. Both
sent a communication to Col
Francke, commander of the Ger
man forges. This elicited a, re
sponse, according tothe staternen
of Mr. Harcourt, that the Germ
troops had been given orders the
"if they possibly can preventces t
not to allow aiwate,r Supp
fall into the bands. of the enemy di
a form which allows it to be use
for mean or beast.
When Swakopmund was evacuat
ed, the reply of Col: Frawcke con
tinucd, the officer in chargeha
several bags of cooking salt throw
into the wells, but it was found tha
this "could in a short time be ren
dered ineffective." Thereafter
061. Francke's letter said, "w
tried the copper dip, and foun
that by using this material an
enemy occupying the: town wouli
for some time have to rely on wate
From elsewhere."
The communication says that de
spite Gen. Botha's protest the prat
tics continued. A message said
have been from Capt. Kruger,'.'o
the German protectorate troops, i
quoted in the communication a
saying: "The patrol at Gabib ha
been instructed thoroughly to infeo
mine.
k
1
with disease the Idap
preach Swakop and the Ira mini
with extreme caution. Don't wate.
there any more.'s
Since their evacuation of Aus
Warmbad and other places, Gen
Botha says in •a letter, "the Go.
man troops have consistently poi
soned all wells along the r.ailwal
line in their retirement v•.
enemy for which !these attacks had
been preparatory. A very large
force of Germans crossed the Duna-
jec and under cover of a heavy and
concerted artillery fire made an ad-
vance, No sooner had they gained
the right bank, however, than they
were stopped by the fire of the, "Rus-
sian gunaers. Orders were these
sent to the Russians to retire on
their strong second line defences,
and this was done after a fierce en-
gagement in which the enemy's
looses were very heavy. ' -
"In connection with this move-
tuent other ,attacks were made by
German and Austrian forces on the
Nide, south of Lohuchno,..and.
the Gorlice .district. The first ven-
ture failed, all attempts to cross
the Nide being repulsed and the
enemy being driven back on the left
bank, which he had occupied for
some time. At Geelice the advance
was more serious. The object of:
the Germans here is to compel the
Russian armies in the Carpathians
to retreat by threatening their line
of ceinnaunicatien•S. .
"Nore ardin • the. result
anxiety g �
is felt here, and it is not believ,ed.
that the new Austro -German offen-
sive
ffersive can do more than delay the
Russian advance into Hungary."
Italy Has Prepared '>,"�tatenteut.:
A despatch from Rome says ; 1l
addition to military prsparat ionl
the. Italian Government is: Lakin;
all measures possible in a diel
matic way in anticipation of a•pa,
sible outbreak of war.
Foreign Minister Son.tino '11A
prepared a. long statement for pail
1i -cation the moment Itale joins t
allies, in ease she decides upon th
This statement is desi nm
action, g
to justify Italy's action before fl
world. It sets forth the historic
raicial, economic and strate-gic.
reasons influencing the nation, ver
dwells upon the "intolerable pe;
tion" of Italy in the Adriati :
on her eastt.rn frontier. .,,t,,
is fc•