Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-12-18
DISTINGUISHING,
|SGERMAN CLAIM
Two of Those Attacking Raid
ing Squadron Sent to Bottom,
Official Statement Says.
EIGHTY-TWO ESTIMATED
KILLED AT HARTLEPOOL
This Is Simply Prelude to What
Fleet Is Soon to Undertake"
Says Prince Won Buelow.


LONDON, December Is. 3:l5 a-m-An
Amsterdam dispatch to Reuters TeIe-
gram Company contains German OIL,
cal statement which claims that some
OF the British destroyers which at,
tackled the German raiding squadron Off
the British coast were sunk The COM
munication follows:
The retreating cruisers were attacked
py four British destroyers, one of which
was sunk Another disappeared, badly
damaged
AT another point another English
destroyer was sunk"
An official statement ISSUED by the
BRUSH admiralty last night makes no
mention of any British warship having
peen lost The British statement said
that the light cruiser Patrol and the de-
stroyer Doom. which were among the
British ships that attacked the German
cruisers, were struck by shells and lost
hve men in killed and fifteen wounded.
Official Account of Attack.
BERLIN, via Amsterdam, to London
December IS, 1925 a.m.-The following
Official details concerning the German =
squadron's attack on the east coast of
England are published:
When approaching the English coast
our cruisers We're unsuccessfully at
tackled by four British torpedo boat
destroyers in misty weather
The batteries at Hartlepool were ST.
fenced and the gas works DESTROYED
There were several detonations and
three big fires in the town could b..
observed from our ships.
The coast guard station and water
works at Scarborough and the coast
guard station and signal station al
Whitby were destroyed
Our ships received some shots from
the coast batteries. but suffered only
slight damage.
(signed) won BEHNEKE."
Eighty-Two Dead at Hartlepool.
HARTLEPooL. England, December
Il. via London. December is. 1885 am
The latest official estimate of the
casualties resulting from the German
bombardment of Hartlepool, issued
late tonight. says that eighty-two per-
sons were killed and about $50 we're
wounded.
Many of the wrecked houses have
not been explored. and 1t is believed
the list OF dead eventually will reach
100.
The panic-stricken residents of the
to their homes from the country, and
are standing about in sad groups
watching the search OF the demolish-
ed buildings for dead and injured.
American Consular Agents Escape.
C. Nielsen. the American consular
agent. narrowly escaped death during
the attack. the houses adjoining his
being crushed, together with their
occupants.
The most remarkable feature of the
Commandment was the calmness of the
public while the shells were falling"
said Mr.. Nielsen. AT first we thought
it was a naval battle. but when tho
people realized it was a bombardment
there was no panic.
Many persons stood outside their
homes watching. I saw a postman
continuing his duties and a dairyman
delivered our milk as usual during the
smelling. Our cook, unmoved by the
destruction all about. continued the
breakfast preparations and announced
that the meal was ready just before
the bombardment stopped.
After the shells quit singing the
nerves of the public went to pieces,
and hysterical people took to the
country"
First Inquest of Kind.
An inquest began here today over tire
bodies of the victims. In opening the
court the coroner said that never be-
fore in English history had an inquest
been held under similar circumstances
and that he hoped the occasion would
never occur again. The shelling nf
faint idea of what Belgium ana France
had suffered through the German in
vasion.
The evidence. though mostly OF a form
oil oh .af~se lr.., .rrl.s ILL.,
pathetic cases. An old woman was
picking up coal dropped from cars on
the railway embankment when she WAS
killed by she'll An old man and his
breakfast in the kitchen when a shell,
burst in the room, killing all three OF
them.
a young woman went to the house OF
her aged mother. intending to conduct
her to place OF safety. Entering the
passageway she stumbled across hrr
mothers body. A shell had pierced the
roof and killed her. An elderly maj
of British ships at practice, sat down
unconcernedly to breakfast - shell
carried away the corner of his house.
killing his two little grandchildren.
Says Towns Are Fortified.
Hartlepool, Scarborough and whitb,
German warships Wednesday. are de
Tended places and that the Germans.
therefore, We're justified in Smelling
them, is the substance of a statement
given out here by Capt. Franz von
Papen, military attache of the German
embassy at Washington.
Four Vessels Sunk.
Four vessels have been sunk, with
heavy loss of life. by the mines strewn
in their wake when the German war
ships completed their attack on the
English coast Wednesday. So great
has the peril become that the admit
rally has ordered all ffic between
Flamborough Head and Newcastle
stopped indefinitely.
Among the vessels known to have
been lost are the Norwegian steamer
Warren. the English steamers Princess
Olga and the Clearwater.
The fourth vessel destroyed has not
yet been identified.
Four survivors of the Warren were
brought into Grimsby yesterday by a
trawler. which found them clinginE
to an upturned lifeboat. Thirteen other
members of the crew of the Warren