Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 February 1917 — WILSON WAITS ON CONGRESS’ RESPONSE [ARTICLE]

WILSON WAITS ON CONGRESS’ RESPONSE

Sinking of Laconia a Clear-Cut Overt Act —Congress Quibbles On Wilson's War Appeal. Washington, Feb. 27. —The sinking of the Cunard liner Laconia by a German submarine was stated officially today to constitute a clear cut violation of American rights. Conclusive official investigation at the state department shows that two American women lost their lives, that if four other Americans among the passengers and the fourteen members of the crew were saved, it was only by good fortune and that the vessel was sunk without warning in direct defiance of all the principles. for which the United States has stood. Consul Frost’s report from the survivors' landed at Queenstown and Bantry show that the vessel was struck by a first torpedo without warning at 10:30 Sunday night, 150 miles ‘ off Fastnet, when the steamer was traveling at 17 to 18 knots on her voyage from New York to Liverpool. The engine was stopped as the ship listed to starboard, wireless, calls were flashed broadcast and six red rockets were sent up. Thirteen boats with passengers and crew got away and scattered over two or three miles to prevent collisions in a high sea rolling in twelve-foot swells. About twenty minutes after the first torpedo, the reports add, and while some of the boats were still nearby, a second torpedo was driven into the vessel, which sank threequarters of an hour after the original attack. The small boats with survivors pitched about durnig the long hours of the night until rescue came up. During this time two American women, Mrs. Mary E. Hoy and Miss Elizabeth Hoy, of Chicago, died of exposure and were buried at sea. There were several other deaths, but not of Americans. No further facts are needed by this government, it was stated officially, and no inquiry of any sort is necessary to establish the facts of tfie case. Officials are entirely clear in their belief that Germany has committed the act which President Wilson has said it was impossible for him to believe she would commit. Both white house and state department officials seem to feel that the answer must come fronr eongrdss. ;