The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-07

, ordered to attack no more liners with outSwarning.
 Reports during the day from Ambassa- l dor Page at London added few details to | the story told in the brief cab'egram in which Consul Frost at Queenstown last night announced that the vessel had been | torpedoed with a loss of about eight lives, none of them American. The con- suls statement that the ship carried on her stern a 4.7-inch gun went unamended. | although the Allan line officials have de- | clared that she had no gun when she left Montreal
 l News that the crippled Hesperian had foundered while being conveyed toward Queenstown dissipated the hope that an | examination of her hull might prove be- yond a doubt the nature of the wrecking explosion. The fact that the vessel was struck forward when we'll outside tho
 zone in which the German submarines | usually operate has caused some veteran
 naval officers here to advance the theory l that she struck drifting mine. It is
 pointed out that Consul Frost reported
 that while the British admiralty believes the ship was torpedoed without warning,
 there had been no official announcement to that effect and that none of the &C., counts of the disaster speak of a sub
 marine being sighted.
 This being Labor Day, a national holi-
 
 were closed President Wilson and Sec
 retary Lansing received copies of Am bassador Pages dispatches, however, and read carefully all newspaper reports from London and Queenstown. It Is under
 stood that they think some word will come from Berlin as soon as it is possible
 for the German government to determine whether one of it's U boats was responsi- ble for the attack, and if so under what circumstances
 Berlin, September 6.-(Via London, September ', 205 a. m. )-News that the Allan line steamer Hesperian had been destroyed by an explosion was published only this afternoon. Definite statements that no lives had been lost and that the steamer had floated until this morning caused the German peo- pie to take the situation calmly and there are no indications of apprehen- sion over any possible effect the incl dent may have on German American relations. Newspapers abstain from comment, aside from advising their readers in the terms of semi official announce nent. to await more details, but in the headlines they indicate strong doubt as to the accuracy of the press ac- | counts, particularly as to whether the | steamer was torpedoed, as described III the uISpdtCHeS, tOrpeQOeQ lf De1n g printed with question mark, and ono | or two papers using in their headlines German torepdo or British miner" No report on the Hesperian from German official sources need be expect ed for at least a week, as the sub marines operating in the waters off that particular part of the British coast
 belong to detachment recently sent out.
 The admiralty had nothing to say today when asked whether any report had been received on the Arabic or whether the missing submarine had re- turned or was considered lost. Rome, September 6.-tvia Paris, $40 p. m.)-The Messagero comments on the sinking of the Hesperian:
 'It Is obvious that Germany does not mean to keep her promises. Her sub marines will continue to sink mercan- tile ships without warning. This con- stitutes not only a new offense against
 the laws of humanity. but against the dignity and prestige of the American government, which sees contradicted
 by reality the solemn official assurance
 given by the representative of Germany to Washington"