Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1915-11-19

Malta, Nov. 13.-Scenes of wild
pan. preceded the sinking of the Ital-
ian liner Ancona. Men fought over
bloody decks for places in the life
boats. Shrieking, terror-stricken WON
en- leaped into the sea, some with chill
dren in their arms. Passengers, bad.
ly wounded by the submarines shrap-
mel and unable to move, went down
with the steamer as she disappeared
beneath the waves. These were the
stories Of passengers and members OF
the crew brought here.
Practically all the As survivors
landed at Malta were Italians. They
accused the Austrian submarine crew
of inhuman action and declared they
fired deliberately ON women and chill
dren in the lifeboats.
Submarine Dashes At Ship.
1--WE left Messina at p. m, Sun,
day." said one Of the Italian surviv.
ors. "At Messina we picked up 100
thtrd-class passengers, principally
Greeks and Italians, bound for New
York. The majority of them were
women and children with some babies,
At about l p. m, Monday, we sighted
the submarine, coming up astern. We
were somewhere between the south
ern coast of Sardinia and Bizerta as
near as I can Judge.
The submarine was several miles
away, but was dashing at us at great
speed We could see she was big
one the way she split the water over
her bow. Our captain ordered full
speed ahead. In a minute the subma
rine fred. The sot went wild, but II
caused the greatest panic among the
passengers. Women and children ran
about screaming and crying. Others
dropped to their knees in prayer.
Passengers Killed by Shot.
"The next shot struck aft where a
number Of passengers and several OF
the crew were watching the chase.
Several men were killed outright, l
understand. The others ran forward
bleeding profusely.
I'VE were making about Is knots
an hour. But the submarine was com
ing faster than that, sending shells
after us as quickly as they could be
rammed home. One shot wrecked the
chart house, blowing fragments over
the decks. When the next shell struck
us the engines were stopped.
I'm a few minutes she was along
side us-the biggest thing Of her kind
l ever saw. Her commander mega
phoned q curt order to our captain to
get off his passengers and crew. Then
the submarine withdrew a short dis
lance with her gun trained on us.
Wounded Scream for Help.
Instantly there was rush for the
boats. Women and children went over
In the first ones, but men were fight
ing their way towards others, cursing
and screaming. The din was awful.
Above it all you could hear the yells
of wounded men scattered about the
decks. They were screaming for some
one to help them into the boats.
THE first boats struck the water all
right; but the fourth one, think 1t
was, capsized. Then something SEEM
ed to go wrong and boats began slid
ing down the side striking almost on
edge. Most Of them righted them
selves but others capsized. The crew
kept yelling that some Of the passen,
gers were interfering with the lower
ing.
Women Jump Overheard.
THE women started jumping. Men
threw boxes into the water ahead OF
them and tried to swim to them. The
submarine began circling around US,
Smelling the Ancona and the boats
One boat seemed to be struck square
ly by charge Of shrapnel. Women
and children were shrieking from the
boats; others were screaming for
help from the water.
II didn't see the torpedo shot. All
heard was big explosion. A mo-
ment before 1 saw the Ancona clear
ly. The noise of the explosion stun
ned me. When l looked again she
was gone. Our boat drifted for sew
aral hours before it was picked up"