Norwich bulletin., 1915-07-01

Washington, June 3o-The Donin- ion freight liner Armenian, flying the
 British flag and carrying mules from
 Newport News, Va, to England, was torpedoed and sunk on Monday night
 by the German submarine U-3S off
 Cornwall England and nearly score of American muleteers aboard are re-
 ported lost, according to messages re- ceived by the state department today from Consul John s. Armstrong Jr, at Bristol. Twenty men in all
 were lost and ten injured. Created Sensation. The news created sensation in of ficial quarters, as it was the first case of American lives since the sinking of the Lusitania- The gravity of the in cident, however, and the action of the Washington government depends en- tireIy on whether the Armenian was chartered by the British government and was, in fact, transport of con- traband war abroad which Americans
 would sail at their own risk or wheth-
 CT she was an unarmed merchantmen.
 In the latter case, even though carry
 ing contraband. the ship should have
 been subjected to visit and search and | those aboard transferred to a place of | safety before the destruction of the vessel was attempted.
 Immediate Inquiry Directed.
 In the absence of official information on these points, officials declined to say what effect the sinking of the l Armenian would have on pending me- gotiations between the United States directed, however, to Ambassador Page at London to secure more de- | tails and when Secretary Lansing re- turns tomorrow, Ambassador Gerard
 will be instructed to inquire of the
 German admiralty as to its report.
 At Least One Shot Fired.
 From the messages received it ap- pears that in addition to the torpedo,
 at least one shot was fired from dis appearing rifle. The consuPS report said the wireless house was taken by | the second shot" It was not made clear whether the Armenian was first ordered to halt and resisted capture, requiring a second shot or whether the submarine attacked without warn ing. The fact that the number of the
 submarine was given indicated that
 she had come to the surface to make | the attack.
 Mules are contraband. Mules are contraband of war, ac- cording to all the lists of belligerents, so there can be no doubt as to the l contraband character of the Armen- | ian's cargo. Officials will make an effort to learn. however, whether the
 vessel was armed and whether she
 was a part of the British naval forces | before the opinion of the state de- partment on the case will be disclosed.
 News Photographed to President. All of. the despatches received were
 promptly telegraphed to President Wilson at Cornish. N. H., and Secre- | tary Lansing at Amherst. Mass, and | would communicate with each other | while in New EuRland
 American MuIeteers Lost. The messages from Consul Arm strong did not show clearly just how many Americans were lost. In his | list of Americans missing, he named | twenty muleteers-eight whites and
 twelve negroes-who were unaccount- | ed for, but later telegrams spoke Of | Dr. J. S Viso, a Porto Rican and three negroes as having been picked up by l a submarine and other survivors by a Belgian trawler and transferred to two British destroyers whic brought them
 into Bristol.
 The List of Missing. The list of missing as finally made
 up tonight from Consul Armstrong; s reports follows:
 | E. Williamson, St. Louis. J. NJ. Monroe New Orleans.
 B. M. Cranberry, Montgomery, Ala | s. R. Sutton, Cartersville, Va | Harry Stone, New York city. ! Brown (cattle carpenter) Harris burg. Pa.
 | pr. J. s. Viso, Porto Rico.
 R. H. Brooks of West (chief fore
 man of muleteers). London (natural- | ized American
 | Henry, Leroy, Jackson and Speed Richmond, Va; Wall, Foley and Little. Newport News, Va; King, Small, Rickert and Oakes, Norfolk, Va;
 Smith, Portsmouth. Va Gall negro
 muleteers).