Jasper County Democrat, Volume 18, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 May 1915 — WEEKS NEWS [ARTICLE]

WEEKS NEWS

Summarized for Very Busy Readers

European War News Russian success at several points where desperate fighting with the Teutonic allies has ’been in progress for the last few days is reported in the announcement of the Petrograd war oflice. : The was issued at the American embassy in London: , “As to the sinking of the Lusitania, it appears from all Statements which have been secured that no warning was given. A torpedo hit amidships on the starboard side. Seventy-nine Americans -were saved and one hundred and eighteen Tare Thi ssfngW - <- - —■ • * * The secretary of the British admiralty says that on May 1 two German torpedo boats and a British destroyer were sunk following an engagement. The British lost 16 officers and men. * ♦ * A dispatch from Cracow to the Journal de Geneye says that the losses of the Austrians and Germans since May 1 are 165,000 officers and men. Losses of the Russians in prisoners are placed at 50,000. • * •' ■ The sinking of the steamer Lusitania has aroused to a violent climax the smoldering hatred and suspicion of Germans living in England. This animosity has found expression in attacks on Germans, principally upon their shops in London, Liverpool, Manchester, Birkenhead, Glasgow and other places. , Many Germans were injured. “Murder, lust and pillage prevailed over many parts of Belgium on a scale unparalleled in any war between civilized nations during the past three centuries,” declared the British government commission headed by Viscount Bryce, former British ambassador to the United States, in “a report given at London on alleged German atrocities in Belgium,” presented to Premier Asquith. ♦ * * French troops captured “a veritable fortress” at Notre Dame de Lorette, says the war office report from Paris; “an important German work and an entire system of trenches along the road from Loos to Vermelles,” the chapel of Notre Dame de Lorette, and all the trenches south of it, part of Carency. ♦ * * The London Times states that A. F. Wilding, the famous tennis player, was killed in a recent-action at the Dardanelles. ■* • * Official announcement was made at the German war office at Berlin that the city of Libau, in the province Of Courland. Russia, has been captured by the Germans. Libau Is an important seaport and industrial center. ♦* * 5 Canada had 108,760 men under arms at the front and in Canada May 1, says an official announcement made at Ottawa, Ont. The government expects the number will be increased to 150,000. * * • Germany, through Ambassador, Gerard, notified the United States that submarine commanders had been specifically instructed not to harm neutral vessels not engaged in hostile acts, and that Germany would pay for damages to such ships in the war zone. -. • ♦ The Austrians have taken the passage of the Wisloka and reached Linevernik, Haligrad and Bukowsho. The total loss of the Russians is at least 150,000, says Vienna. ■ ’ ■ * • ♦ ' While England was mourning for the dead lost in the Lusitania disaster, Germany launched another aerial attack upon towns between London and the east coast. A fleet of aeroplanes and Zeppelins bombarded several towns and villages, setting fire with incendiary bombs. A woman had been killed and many civilians were injured-at South End. • * * The London Daily Mail’s correspondent at Rotterdam says a proclamation has been posted in Antwerp declaring that Germany has annexed Belgium. The proclamation is dated May 5. • • • The semiofficial Berlin News agency issued the following statement: “The steamship Transylvania, which left New York, belongs to the category of ships which carry contraband and, therefore, is liable to attack by German submarines.” * • * Webb Ware, who was the British representative of Alfred Vanderbilt, was informed at Queenstown that Mr. Vanderbilt’s body has been recovered. The reports came from a small coast village. Ware is investigating. * * * -> ' A news dispatch received at Geneva, Switzerland, from Basel says a number of American citizens, mostly business men, are arriving there from Germany ■ where they will await developments in I the relations between the United ' States apd Germany.

Washington The United States government, in a note written by President Wilson at Washington to Germany, formally demands of the imperial government a strict accounting for the loss of American lives in the sinking of the Lusitania, and violations of American rights in the war zone. It also asks that there will be no repetition of such events or practices. With the plain intimation in it that the United States is prepared to meet any eventuality that may arise from a noncompliance, the communication, phrased in unmistakably emphatic language, was cabled to Berlin. • President Wilson received a letter at Washington from former President Taft expressing confidence in his ability to handle the situation growing out of the sinking of the Lusitania. The president has written a reply to Mr. Taft, thanking him warmly. * * * President Wilson at Washington appointed John G. Kuhn postmaster of Elgin, 111. * * * The department of state of the federal government at Washington has issued orders to steamship companies at Chicago and other cities to sell no more transatlantic tickets and to make no more steamer reservations unless the prospective passenger is supplied with passports and credentials. * ♦ * President Wilson gave further assurance at Washingtofi that the United States shall expect no interference with its treaty rights In the demands which Japan has made upon China. * * * Mexican Revolt Fifty persons were killed in disorders in Mexico City, which began as the result of a brawl between rival Mexican generals at a dance. Antonio Barona, a Zapatista general, shot and killed Gen. Francisco Estrada, chief of staff of Gen. Gonzales Garza. • • * Foreign The sailing of the Cunard line steamer Mauretania, sister ship of the Lusitania, advertised for May 29, has been canceled at, London. ♦ *■ The Japanese government announced at Tokyo that the naval and military movements in connection with the Chinese situation had been canceled. • • * Personal Grief over the war in Europe and the devastation of his native Belgium was believed to have hastened the death of Camillus P. Maes, sixtynine, who for thirty years was Catholic bishop of the diocese of Covington, Ky. P. J. Fitzpatrick, seventy, member of a wealthy Irish family, was found dead in his room asphyxiated accidentally at Chicago. Doctor Fitzpatrick was once a surgeon on an English steamship. Domestic Twenty persons were saved from drowning when the steamer Dixie ’struck a snag in the Mississippi river opposite Montrose, la., and sank in three minutes. The passengers and crew escaped. Mrs. Jane Kearney, aged eighty, was burned to death and Mr. and Mrs. Henry Beckman were probably fatally injured in a fire at No. 792 East One Hundred "-and Sixth street, New York. ♦ * ♦ Pride in the United States navy and confidence that if called upon to vindicate the honor of the nation it would uphold the heroic traditions of its past were voiced at a luncheon tendered to Admiral Fletcher and the officers of the Atlantic fleet at Fraunces’ tavern at New York by the Sons of the Revolution. * » ♦ “America,” said President Wilson in an address to a gathering of 4,000 naturalized Americans at Philadelphia, “must have the consciousness that on all sides it touches elbows and touches heart with all nations of mankind. The example of America must be an example not merely of peace because it will not fight, but because peace is a healing and elevating influence of the world, and strife is not.” • ♦ ♦ Leo M. Frank, convicted of the murder of Mary Phagan at the National Pencil factory at Atlanta, Ga., two years ago, was sentenced to be hanged June 22 by Judge Ben Hill in the criminal court. '*' ♦ * Ballot boxes were stuffed in the recent municipal election in Kansas City, Kan., according to George D. Jameson, a former sergeant of police, who testified In Governor Capper’s investigation. ♦ • * Ferdinand J. Zeni of Duquoin, 111., has received word from Austria telling him of the death of six cousins who were killed while fighting in the Carpathians. ♦ * ♦ Three divisions of the Atlantic torpedo flotilla, under command of Capt William S. Sims, U. S. N., arrived in the Hudson off New York and anchored opposite the battleships. With the arrival of the destroyers the naval mobilization of 1915 is complete and the fleet is lined up exactly as it will be reviewed by President Wilson.