Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1915-05-13
SURVIVORS RECITE STORY
OF LUSITANIA DISASTER

yard Of a church. digging graves for
the unknown dead. who will be buried
there. groups OF relatives and friends
Of the passengers went from morgue
to morgue-some finding what they
sought, others turning away to con
tinue their search, with ebbing hope.
The public funeral, which a repre-
sentative Of the viceroy OF Ireland
will attend, will be too large for the
ordinary facilities of Queenstown and
Cork, and trucks viii be used to carry
the collins. The funeral will be
marked by military pomp such as is
accorded those who die in the armed
service of their country.
Though too late to be of material
assistance to their stranded country
men, Captains William A. Castle and
Alexander Miller, the American mill
tary attaches, arrived here to confer
with the American consul, Wesley
Frost. They departed in an automo-
bile for Kinsdale Head to continue
| their investigation in behalf Of the
government.
Consul Frost has been indefatigable
in assisting the Americans, visiting
and attending to their wants. He has
supplied many of them with money to
reach their destination. All, the iden-
titled American dead have been
claimed by the consul. even in cases
where no requests from relatives have
been received. The bodies are being
embalmed as rapidly as the work can
be done.
Survivors Can Tell Nothing of Last
Moments Of A. G. Vanderbilt.
The survivors are beginning to re-
cover from their shock and told more
coherent stories of their experiences.
Unlike those who were on the Titanic
when she was sunk, they had SO little
time for observation that none Of
them can relate more than what hap
pened near them5 with the result that
little light has been shed on the last
moments Of Alfred Gwynn Vanderbilt
and other prominent passengers who
are missing.
The stories of lifeboat in~adequacy
grow as the passengers are able to
take a cooler view of the disaster. A
number Of the survivors maintain that
only five of the 81 ~lifeboats which
were swung out were launched sue
cessfully. Others assert that a gen
eral order for lowering the boats was
not given until the second torpedo
struck home. Yet all admit that as
many passengers as possible obtained
seats in such boats as were launched.
Fifty-two persons were picked up
by n boat alone, and Ga were found
packed in another. The collapsible
boats proved surprisingly efficient.
The American survivors have taken
no action and have made no protest
in any form beyond supplying the
American consul with a few affidavits
embodying their experiences. These
survivors are divided, roughly, into
two classes-the first, those who
never believed in the possibility of a
tragedy and who are almost inarticu-
late with bitter hatred for Germany;
the second, those who took the risk
with their eyes open and therefore do
not expect their country to take dras-
tic action on their account. Perhaps
the most prominent of the latter class
is DIR. Howard L. Fisher of Washing
ton, who, although ~condemning the
handling Of the lifeboats as grossly in
efficient, said he knew he was risking
his life in the war zone and accepted
what had happened to him as a mat
ter Of course.
1--WE were warned by the German
government" said he, land l, for one,
do not want any Official action by my
country" 4
All express resentful anger that the
admiralty did not see fit to send a
convoy for the ship.
A Cunard tender returned from the
scene of the disaster. She did not re
cover any more bodies of the victims,
as the sea was too rough for picking
up bodies.