The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1915-09-15

SUNK BY MINE
German Government Dis
claims Responsibility for
Steamship Disaster
NO SUBMARINE WAS
NEAR THE SPOT
Other Circumstances Convince Berlin
That the Liner Was Not Deliber-
ately Attacked-Note Given to Am
bassado1 Gerard Yesterday

WASHINGTON, Sept u. The |
German government, III note from
the FOREIGN office to Ambassador Ger
ard, delivered at Berlin at noon yes
terday, male a qualified disclaimer of
responsibility for the sinking of the
steamship !Iesperian. On the face of
the evidence thus far at loud the gov
eminent il satisfied that the Hesper-
ian was rot sunk by Il German sub
marine. The German position as
semi-officiallv stated, follows:
AS we are informed from a compc-
tent source, the news already received,
taken in connection with facts off
ciallv known. seems to exclude almost
absolutely the possibility that a Ger
man submarine could under any cir
cumstances have been concerned III
sinking the British passenger steam
CT HesperiaH.
First, ace riding to the prearranged
| distribution, no German submarine
should have been on September i III
! that part OF the ocean in which the
| IIesperian sank.
| - Furthermore, the explosion, accord
| ing to descriptions received from Brit
! ish sources was of such n nature as
to indicate from its effects that it was
rather of "A mine than torpedo. The
circumstances that, according to
! these dcscript IONS, the vessel was
| struck near the bow and that the bow
compartments filed with water. goes
TO confirm this assumption
The note contains, in addition, to
the statement thus made semiofficially,
| paragraph TO the effect that all the
| submarines that were at sea on Sep
tember have not yet returned, but
that there Is no reason to expect that
the reports which they will supply win
change the situation. The note Is a
simple recital of the facts as the Ger
man government sees them without
any expression OF sentiment or com
ment on the German submarine pol
icy.
It is believed At Berlin that the Hes
perian note Will go far toward remov
ing one factor of possible tension in
+ the German American negotiations re
| earding submarine warfare. In this
note the German government indicates
| two reasons for its faith that the Hes
perian was not torpedoed. Other rea
! sons, even stron or, exist, to which j
/ IS difficult TO retCr owing to the lin
itations imposed by the censorship. At
; tention is given to the doubtfulness OF
similar incidents occurring again.
The political leaders OF Germany eN
press themselves as confident that tn,
possibility for future error or acciden
, with respect to the sinking of liner
> without warming has been minimized
/ They hope that he Arabic case ma,
4 be settled on the basis of Germany
2 offer to refer tho question Of repara
1 tion to The Hague, and that the dit
4 feulties with the United States owe
the submarine question, if they still
T exist, may he eliminated by reason 0
> the instructions issued to submarin
B.. commanders, which are in clear well
5 defined form
o 1t is pointed out in Berlin that
T these instructions arc interpreted an
considered in connection with tn
: changes which have taken place a
Il Berlin and the new spirit prevailin
e in the quarter most directly intercste
= they are adequate to meet the dt
! mands of the United States.
! 1t is understood that only one sui
marine, which was enaged in con
: mcrce raiding on Sept. 4, the date c
= the Hcsperian incident, is still on
= This boat was operating, according
= the statement at Berlin, in a differer
N section of the ocean.