Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 109, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 May 1915 — LUSITANIA SUNK BY GERMAN SUBMARINE [ARTICLE]

LUSITANIA SUNK BY GERMAN SUBMARINE

GREAT CUNARD LINER SENT TO BOTTOM OFF COAST OF - IRELAND. MANY AMERICANS ON BOARD Complications Deepen By Overt Act of Germany—Even Sympathizers of Teutons Criticise Action and U. S. Will Doubtless Make Emphatic Demands On Kaiser—Americans Were Warned Not to Take Passage On Ship But Disregarded the Warning —James W. Beckman Not With Elbert Hubbard On the Sunken Ship.

The Cunard liner Lusitania, one of the fastest ships afloat, was torpedoed and sunk ten miles off the Irish coast Friday afternoon. The liner was flying the American flag. Of the passengers aboard 188 were Americans. The first news of the torpedoing of the Cunard liner Lusitania reached New York shortly after 1 o’clock Friday afternoon. Less than an hour later the company received messages confirming the sinking of the liner. Conflicting reports came in through-, out the afternoon in regard to the safety of the passengers, but up to the early hours of the evening nothing definite had been learned as to the fate of the passengers. From 500 to 600 persons landed at Queenstown and other ports during Friday night and Saturday morning. A steward who arrived in the first boat stated that he feared about 900 lives were lost. The Lusitania, with a total of 1,251 passengers and a crew of 816, sailed from New York last Saturday in the face of a warning published on the day of her departure by the German embassy, which stated that travelers intending to embark on British ships did so at their own risk, of the ship being destroyed in accordance with the German war zone decree. The warning in the form of an advertisement did not cause a single cancellation of the trip by passengers, nor did anonymous notes of warning said to have been received by some of the passengers, deter anyone from sailing. Approximately 700 persons are believed to have perished when the liner was torpedoed off the Irish coast by a German submarine. First Officer Jones of the Lusitania, reported th%t he thought from 500 to 600 lives were saved.’ Among the number landed at Queenstown were the bodies of several dead and several hospital cases. The exact number and identity of the victims has not been made known. The Lusitania, it is stated, was struck without warning while going at full speed and went down in 21 minutes. There were 1,251 passengers on board, among them many wealthy and prominent Americans, including Alfred G. Vanderbilt and Elbert Hubbard, the American author. A wireless call .from the Lusitania brought many vessels to her rescue. Late reports indicate that a number of lifeboats and rafts were lowered and that many of the survivors were taken from these onto the rescue ships. , The first wireless S. O. S. received from the Lusitania at 2:15 read: “Want assistance, listing badly.” Half an hour later came an announcement that the vessel had gone down. A scene rivaling that which occurred three years ago when the Titanic was sunk was occasioned at the office of the Cunard line Friday afternoon, when thousands of friends and relatives of the passengers besieged the steamship headquarters. More than 500 telegraphic inquiries were received and twice that many phone calls. Conflicting reports of the safety of passengers only tended to increase the anxiety of the waiting throngs and pathetic scenes were enacted as the surging crowd kept its all-night vigil. * James W. Beckman, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Beckman, of this city, and private secretary of Elbert Hubbard, author of the Philistine, had planned to make the trip to Europe with Mr. Hubbard aboard the Lusitania, but gave up the trip a short time before the ill-fated ship left the port.