The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-12
ALL REPORTS AGREE THAT THE ANCONA
 WAS NOT ATTACKED WITHOUT WARNING
Number of Americans Lost Not Yet Ascertained. Ships Officer Declares Two Austrian Submarines Attacked the Liner

Rome, November 1I.--Cvia Pnris.) Only 225 passengers and crew of the steamer Ancona were saved out of VI total of 42S on board, says n dispatch from Tunis to the Corriere Della sera.
 Previous dispatches placed the num- Der of passengers on the Ancona at 4s2 and the crew hns been estimated at from 60 to 1do.
 Paris, November II.--A dispatch to the Havas agency from Tunis says:
 "The captain of the Anconn, who arr rived here today. confirmed previous reports that the hostile submarine fred upon his vessel while her boats were filled with passengers and ready to he lowered. Shells struck the boats. kill ing or woundinG many pnsscngers, the captain said. and boats were also in the water.
 The captain declared that no signal was given by the submarine cxcept that shot was fired when the s,sbnn- rinc was about five miles distant. The steamer immediately stopped complete Iy. The last gun shots were fired at R distance of about ROO yards from the steamer. Several of the boats pulled close to the submarine, the captain Of with insulting cries."
 London, November 1t.-The Italian steamer Anconn was not sunk without warning, according to information ob- tained from survivors landed ut Maita by the Reuter- correspondent and cnbIed here.
 The Austrian submarine which over- hauled her after n long, stern chase. gave the commander a brief respite to permit the removal of passengers, but the indiscribabIe panic which began among the immigrants on board as soon as the underwater craft was sighted was responsible for the loss of many lives.
 The Reuter- dispatch, which contains the first connected story of the sinking Oe the Aucona Monday afternoon. 20 hours after she had left Messinn, Sic- iIy. follows:
 Mostly Greeks and Italians
 We left Naples with fairly large number of passengers, intending to sail direct to New York, but soon after leav- ing port we received wireless message directing us to stop at Messina for move passengers and cargo, The people aboard were mostly Greeks and italians, with large faniness es4-their way to the United states to settle down there. The majority, therefore. were women and children.
 we left Messina at D. m. The cap- tain, having been warned of the pres encc of enemy submarines, took all pos sible precautions. At exactly o'clock Monday afternoon we sighted an enemy submarine at a great distance. She came to the surface and made full speed in our direction, firing she did so shot which went wide across our bow. We took this to be warning to halt.
 Immediately there was the widest panic aboard, not only among the women and children, but among the men as well. Women screamed and children clung des- perately to their mothers. Meanwhile. the sub marine continued to shell us, gain ing rapidly. The fifth shot carried away the chart house.
 Engines Are Stopped
 The engines then were stopped and the Ancona came slowly to a standstll. The submarine, which we could now see plainly was an Austrian, came alongside. We heard the commander talking to our captain. In somewhat curt manner we were told the Austrian had given us a few minutes to abandon the ship. Mean while the submarine withdrew little distance.
 ''We finally turned to the boats, which began to be lowered without loss of time but the passengers were in q pan- demonium Men women and children lAyA hair Rl The submarine, presumably to accelerate our departure continued to fire around the vessel. There was rush for the first boats lowered and in the confusion these were overturned before they were free from the davits, the occupants fall before our eyes.
 ''The shrieks of women, children and struggling men rent the air. but it seemed no help could be given. Everyone was trying to act for himself.
 Vessel Bombarded
 "The heart-rending screams were punctuated with shot after shot deliv- cred almost mechanically from the declS of the submarine. adding to the panic aboard. Had it not been for these shots, it might have been possible to restore a semblance of order. The conduct of the submarine was incomprehensible Not one shot was directed at the ship, but they were fired all around the vessel as if to create as much terror as pos sble.
 "One of the survivors in n>describing his experience, said:
 'The boat in which I found myself contained 30 members of the crew and three passengers. an Italian woman and her child. besides myself. l am certain fully half those aboard perished. Some time after we entered the lifeboat we heard four explosions indicating the end of the Ancona We remained in the boat all night and were picked up in the morn ing by British steamer which brought us to Malta"
 Ten Americans Aboard
 Washington. November 1.-The state department received a cablegpani today