Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1916-01-07
LINER WAS At sIANDS1ILL
American Woman Physician Described
How Victims Were Killed on Deck Of
vssseI-Maid Was Killed at Her
Side-AlI Her Possessions, Including
$4,000 In Gold, Were Lost.

rather have gone down with the
steamer" :
Such was the statement Of DR.. Cecile
8. Greil. the American physician. who
arrived in the United States the other
day. DR.. Greil comes home penniless.
Her clothing, surgical instruments,
jewelry, furniture and $4,000 in cash
were all lost in the Ancona. The
clothes she wore were purchased with
money given her by the American en-
bassy In Rome. She estimates her to-
tai loss at $4,000.
II remained at the table Alone" said
DR.. Greil, until I heard the crash Of
a shell, followed by an explosion in the
forward part Of the ship. The Ancona
was slowing down, and that fact must
have been apparent to the commander
Of the submarine, though there was
thick fog outside. The ships course
had not been changed, and there was
no maneuvering beyond the reversing
of the engines.
"Another shell brought the wireless
down. and when reached the deck
shots were raining all around US. Fiji
ty shots were fred before the cannon
aiding ceased. escaped being hit sew
eral times by what seemed to me no
more than the breadth Of a hair. I
went below to get some of my things
from the cabin.
Maid Killed at Side.
my maid came with me. and as !
was leaning over picking up some
things shot came clean through the
window and tore away half Of the
maids head. 1t did not explode In the
cabin, but continued through the par
tition and exploded on the other side
Of the ship. ran on deck again and
found them lowering the lifeboats.
Suddenly remembered the receipt
for 10000 lire $4,000 that the pur-
ser had given me and which was In
bag carried rould my neck. l ran
down to the purser's Office and found
him lying dead on the floor. When
reached the deck again l saw life.
boat being lowered and jumped a dis
lance of twenty-five feet into 1t.
"Most Of the firing was done at the
100 yard range, and it seemed to be
the submarines intention to sink the
Ancona with shells. The Ancona was
the fourteenth ship the submarine had
attacked
1--WE saw some Of the boats struck
by shells and the people in them killed.
l do not believe that the lifeboats were
wantonly fired on, but they were hit
opd c,,pI. ir1ct tho cSmn
Boats Shattered In Lowering.
IAN attempt was made to lower fif-
teen boats, but some overturned. and
others were shattered by shell fire and
sank. Only eight reached the water
upright.
"All Of them seemed to be full Of
people. l looked around on deck.
There was rift in the fog. which had
been very dense, and l saw the sub
marine very plainly. The captain of
the Ancona afterward told me he could
distinguish faces on the undersea craft.
1.-THE sight fascinated me for an in
slant Then l went to the rail and
saw lifeboat in which were a wire
less operator and the chief engineer.
Carlo LAMBERT, brave man. He
called to me to jump into the boat and
grasped an edge Of a steel plate to hold
the boat against the liner until could
get in.
"As soon as our boat touched the
water the one impulse was to get
away. and the men pulled with all
their might at the oars to put the An
coma and the submarine as far from
us as they could
Found Leaking Boat.
Meantime" she added, I'VE came
upon heavily laden boat which was
leaking We took off five women and
four children in order to tighten II.
LAMBERT then took line from the
other boat, and We had it in tow. He
did his best to reassure every one.
telling us we would all be saved if
we did as he told us. Most of the wo-
men and children were in tears. but
his manliness prevented panic ana
finally brought about order.
''The Pluton, after taking our two
bOatloads. cruised about and saved sew
eral more loads. Then she headed for
Biserta. We arrived there about IL
O'Clock that night, but remained ON
board the PlutOn. her officers giving
us their staterooms and the cabin. At
8 o'clock the next morning we reach
ed the arsenal at Sidi-ab- Dallas. where
temporary quarters were arranged for
rs. There we were able to rest.
Finally we were taken to Naples.
and I went Immediately to the Ameri-
can embassy In Rome. I had no bag
gage and NO money The Of1cials Of