Goldsboro weekly argus., 1915-05-13
KAISER HELD RESPONSIBLE
FOR LUSITANIA DISASTER
1he German Government
Charged with Whole
sale Murder
The vERD|sT oF.CORONER's JURY
There Was No Panic on Board-Wat.
er-IIght Compartments Were ALI
Closed But Force of Water
Burst Them Open.

DuISG lHem open.
hln5ale, Ireland, May 1O.-The coro-
ner's jury Investigating the deaths of
nVe persons drowned when the Cun-
arQef Lusltania was sunk by a Ger
man submarine off the coast of Ireland
last FRIDAY, returned a verdict here
today charging "the officers of said
submarine and the emperor and gov
efhlnent OF Germany, under whose or
lders they acted, with the crime of
wholesale murder before the tribunal
OF the civilized world"
Captain Turner, of the Lusitania
was the principal witness. He told tbe
jury he did not see any submarine
elther before or after his shin was
Corpedoed. He was on the bridge
When MS vessel first was struck and
Immediately gave orders for the low
erlng OF the boats and the placing of
the women and children in them. He
SAID there was no panic; that sit was
all most calm.''
Many OF the boats could not be low
cred on account of the list of the steam
er, the witness continued. He was nm
ae-e TO say how many boats which
we're put overheard, nor was able to
tell the extent Of the damage to the
Lus1tania. He gave it as his opinion
however, that the watertight compart-
ments were blown asunder by the force
he SAID, were all closed when the shin
struck, and yet she remained ofloat
only Is minutes.
The witness said he had received ana
carried out special instructions as to
thls voyage, but he declined to say
What they were. He also said he had
received messages in regard to the
presence of submarines off the Irish
coast but when asked the nature of
their contents he referred the coroner
to the admiralty for answer.
captain Turner said that after the
warnings at New York that the Lusi-
tanla would be torpedoed he did not
make any application to the admiralty
1or an escort. ct is their business.
not mine. I simply had to carry out
my orders to go, and I would do il
declared the witness with
emphasis.
among other witnesses heard was
sh1p's bugler Livermore. He testified
that all the watertight compartments
were closed, but that the force of the
explosion and rush of water must have
burst them open. All the officers were
at their posts, he continued, and the
earlier arrival of rescue boats would
not have saved the situation.
In summing up the case, Coroner
Horgan charged that the responsible
ity ''lay on the German government
and the whole people of Germany, who
collaborated in the terrible crime"
The text of the jury's verdict fol-
lows:
We find that tbs deceased met death
from prolonged immersion and exhaus-
t1on II the sea eight miles southwest
OF Old Head of Kinsale, Friday, May
i 1915, owing to the sinking of the
Lus1tania by torpedoes fired by a Ger
man submarine.
1--WE find that Shis appalling crime
was committed contrary to interna-
tonaI law and the conventions of all
civilized nations.
We also charge the officers of said
submarine and the emperor and gov
ernment of Germany, under whose or
ders they acted, with the crime of
wholesale murder before the tribunal
OF, the civilized world.
We desire to express sincere con.
doIence and sympathy with the re1a-
tVes OF the deceased, the Cunard COM
pany and the United States. many of
whose citizens perished in this mr.
derous attack on an unarmed liner.
coroner Horgan said that the. first
torpedo fired by the German subma-
fine did serious damage to the Lusi-
tanla, but that not satisfied with this.
Inc Germans had discharged another
torpedo. The second torpedo, he said.
must have been more deadly, because
II went right through the ship, hasten
lng the ork Of destruction.