Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1915-12-16
NOTE TO AUSTRIA
NEAR ULT|MATUM
MUST plsAvow ANcoNA SINKING
AND PAY CASH IN
IDENTITIES.
PUNISH COMMANDER, DEMAND
Prompt Reply Requested II Cordial
Relations Between the Two
Nations Are to Be
Maintained.

NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Is tu6 IeXJ
of the note dispatched last week to
the Austrian government by Secre
tary Lansing:
Department of State. Washington,
D.. c., December 6, 1915.
Secretary of State to Ambassador
Penfield.
Please deliver a note to the minis
ter of foreign affairs textually rs
follows:
Reliable information obtained from
American and other survivors who
were passengers on the steamship
Ancona shows that, on November 7,
a submarine flying the Austro-Hun-
garian flag fired a solid shot through
the steamship; that thereupon the
Ancona attempted to escape, but be-
ing overhauled by the submarine she
stopped; that after a brief period and
before the crew and passengers were
all able to take to the boats the sub
marine fired a number of shells at
the vessel and finally torpedoed and
Sdllh hcl Willie IAClC WOIC e Y many
persons on board; and that by gun
fire and laundering of the vessel a
large number of persons lost their
lives or were seriously injured, among
whom were citizens of the United
States.
THE Austro-H Hungarian government
has been advised, through the CORE
spondence which has passed between
the United States and Germany, of
the attitude of the government of the
United States as to the use Of sub
marines in attacking vessels Of corr
MERGE and the acquiescence of Ger
many in that attitude, yet with full
knowledge on the part of the Austro-
Hungarian government of the views
of the government of the United
States as expressed in no uncertain
terms to the ally of Australian
gary, the commander of the submarine
which attacked the Ancona failed to
put in a place of safety the crew and
passengers of the vessel which they
purposed to destroy because, it is
presumed, of the impossibility of TAX
ing it into port as a prize Of war.
THE government of the United
States considers that the commander
violated the principles of international
law and of humanity by Smelling and
torpedoing the Ancona before persons
on board had been put in a place of
| safety or even given sufficient time
to leave the vessel. The conduct of
the commander car only be character
lied as wanton slaughter Of defense
less noncombatants, since, at the time
when the vessel was shelled and tor
pedoed, she was not, it appears, re-
sisting or attempting to escape.
"The government of the United
| States is forced therefore to conclude
either that the commander of the sub
marine acted in violation of his in
structions or that the imperial and
royal government failed to issue in
structions to the commanders of it's
submarines in accordance with the
law of nations and the principles of
humanity.
THE government of the United
States is unwilling to believe the lat
ter alternative and to credit the Aus
tro-Hungarian government with an in
tention to permit its submarines to
destroy the lives of helpless men,
women and children. 1t prefers to
believe that the commander of the
submarine committed this outrage
without authority and contrary to the
general or special instructions which
he had received.
"As the good relations Of the two
countries must rest upon a common
regard for law and humanity, the gov
eminent of the United States cannot
be expected to do otherwise than to
demand that the imperial and royal
government denounce the sinking OF
the Ancona as an illegal and indefens-
ible act; that the officer who per
petrated the deed must be punished
and that r~eparation by the payment
Of an indemnity be made for the citi
zens Of the United States who were
killed or injured by the attack on the
vessel.
THE government OF the United
States expects that the Austro-Hun
garian government, approaching the
gravity Of the case, will accede tt
its demand promptly, and it rests it!
expectation on tho belief that the Aus
tro-Hungarian government will no
sanction or defend an act which II
condemned by the world as inhumar
and b~arbarous, which is abhorrent t
al civilized nations, and which has
caused the death Of innocent Ameri
can citizens"
(Signed) LANSING"