News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1915-05-12
VITAL BLOW
hit LUS|TkN|A
AMIDSHIpS
Number Of Submarines Victims
VIII Reach Twelve Hundred
LINER PLUNGED AHEAD
IN GARDENING FASHION

Who Could Have Told Vivid Story
of Disaster Are Among the Dead
Battery of Under Water Craft Prob
ably Pocksted Liner-UnsoIved
Question as TO Why There Was
Such Terrible Loss of Life-No
Convoy Though Submarines Were
Known to Have Been In Vicinity
Twenty three miles from Queens
| town as the crow flies an irregular
smear of hotsam on smooth sea
! marks the grave of the Cunarder
Lusitania, first transatlantic liner
sunk by a German submarine. One
hundred and forty Americans are
among the dead.
The GAS Survivors are quartefed III
hotels, residences and hospitals,
some too badly hurt to be moved.
Two groups, clad in misfit clothing,
left town for Dublin by rail and
thence by boat to Holyhead. The in
juries of some are so serious that ad-
ditional deaths are expected, ana
nearly all are too daZed to under
stand fully what has happened.
The survivors do not agree as to
whether the submarine fired one or
two torpedoes. They say they saw
the periscope, though many attest to
tracing the wake of foam as pro-
jectile came toward the vessel.
Lifeboat Davits Smashed
The only point on which all concur
is that the torpedo struck the vessel
a vital blow amidships, causing her
to list almost Immediately to the
starboard. In this careening fashion
she plowed forward some, smashing
the lifeboats' davits as she did so,
and making the launching of boats
we'll nigh impossible until Roadway
had ceased.
How far the Lusitania struggled
forward after being struck and how
long it was before she disappeared
beneath the waves, likewise are
points upon which few passengers
agree, estimates of the time she re-
NAMED atioat ranging from eight to
twenty minutes.
Two stokers, seeing a drifting boat,
dived overheard, recovered 1T ana
pulled in nearly forty persons, mostly
women. The Lusitania's crew mean
while adhered to the letter of the IN
structions which had been given
them, and the discipline was rig1d'
although one or two subordinate OIL
ticers are said to have told a group
of passengers who had climbed INTO
boat that there was no immediate
danger and advised them to remain
on deck while longer.
Whether this was due to the 1act
that these subordinates lost their
heads. or to their conviction that tina
ships bulkheads would save heri
never will be determined.
Moraue Filled With Dead ;
In four morgues lay the dead, wom-
on in some cases side by side with
children grouped like toys. The BODY |
of Charles Frohman, his features
placid. lay face upward in a bare
room in an old building on the hill
side a hundred yards from the waters
edge. Around him were ranged nifty
bodies of both sexes, over which at
tendants were bending, sorting and
ticketing their belongings.
Those men best fitted to chronicle |
the last moments of the Lusitania-
Gilbert Hubbard, head of the Roy
crefters;" Justus NJ. Forman, author
of THE Hyphen," war play; Charles
Erohman. Americas foremost the
atrical producer; Alfred G.. Wander
biIt of New York, acknowledgements
man. and others-apparently all went |
TO their graves with her.
The Lusitania's speed at the time |
she was struck is variously estimated |
from eight to twenty-one knots.
When forced, the liner could DO |
twenty five knots, outstripping even |
the fastest and latest submarines, |
hence it is the belief of survivors and |
Cunard line officials that battery OF |
underwater craft numbering perhaps |
four or five lay in wait in the clear |
sunshine, posted advantageously |
along the route it was surmised the |
vessel would take. 1t was easy to |
keep all but the tips of the periscopes |
submerged and then the craft nearest |
her to let go torpedoes.
An Unsolved Question
There can be no doubt, survivors |
say, that the disaster was caused by !
a German torpedo, but the unsolved |
question is why there should have |
been such terrible loss of life. Mean
while here are serious questions which |
demand answers.
First there is a well-defned report |
that the Lusitania mad orders to take |
the mid-channel course, which would |
place her approximately lao miles on |
the Irish coast. Instead she was |
within eight miles of land. where two |
vessels had been torpedoed within |
the previous twenty -four hours. 1t is |
known that four submarines, in all |