Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1916-05-17
Commander of U-Boat Is Pun
iShed.
FULL INDEMNITY is OFFERED
New German Note to United States
Says That Master of Submarine
Believed Vessel Was Enc
my's Warship.

cent full responsibility fOr the torpe-
doing of the Sussex and that the sub
marine commander already had been
punished for falling to exercise proper
Judgment. The commander, says the
German note, thought he was attack
ing an auxiliary warship.
Germany admits that in this in
stance her assurances for the safety
of passenger vessels were violated.
She offers to pay indemnity for all
American injuries.
Accept American Evidence.
The German government confesses
that it was in error believing that
the Sussex had not been the victim
of a German undersea boat. The
American evidence is accepted as
proving conclusively the submarines
guilt
The text of the note follows:
"Supplanting his note of the 4th
instant, concerning the conduct of the
German submarine warfare, the I'M
dersigned has the honor to inform his
excellency, the American ambassador,
Mr.. James w. Gerard, that the fur
Their investigation made by the Ger
man naval authorities concerned, in
regard to the French steamship Sus-
sex, on the basis of the American
material, has been concluded in the
meantime.
Admit U-Boat Was to Blame.
'Tn conforming with the result of
this investigation, the assumption ex-
pressed in the note of the undersigned
Of the 10th ultimo, that the dam
age of the Sussex was to be traced
back to a cause other than the at
tack of a German submarine cannot
be maintained.
Such an assumption has to be ar
rived at with the certainty from the
materials in the possession of the Ger
man government knowledge of the cir
cumstances connected with the torpe-
doing of the Sussex, the more so as
apart from the points enumerated in
the note of the 10th ultimo, the fol-
lowing facts had come to the atten-
ton of the admiralty staff of the navy
through reliable information:
March "a, 1916, approximately at
the time the Sussex, an auxiliary war
ship, left the port of Folkestone with
q large transport of British infantry
On board; on the same day trans
port steamer was torpedoed in the
channel a few minutes preceding the
explosion on the Sussex she had
passed through mass of ship wreck
age, which created the impression
that a ship had been sunk at that
spot shortly before.
"All these facts justified the con-
:lusion that the only torpedo which
could be considered under the cir
eumstances had struck the British
var vessel, whereas the Sussex had
net with an accident in some other
way.
However, on the basis of the Amer
can material, the German govern
nent cannot withhold it's conviction
hat the ship torpedoed by the Ger
nan submarine is in fact identical
with the Sussex, for in accordance
with this material the time, the place
and the effect of the explosion by
which the Sussex was damaged agree
il the essential details with the state
nents of the German commander, so
that there can no longer be any ques-
lion of the possibility of two indie
pendent occurrences.
AN additional reason is constitut-
ed in the fact that officers of the
American navy found fragments of an
explosive in the hold of the Sussex
which are described by them upon
firm grounds as parts of German
torpedo.
Error in Pictures Caused Confusion.
Finally the counter-evidence which
was deduced in the note of the 10th
ultimo from the difference in appear
ance of the vessel described by the
submarine commander, and the only
reproduction of the Sussex then avail
able. has proven to be untenable, in
asmuch as according to a photograph
of the damaged Sussex now at hand
the characteristic distinctions no
longer existed.
while the Sussex in the photo
graph of Daily Graphic Enclosed in
the note) only carried one mast and
also showed the white gangway Gus
tomary on passenger vessels on the
level with the portfolios o. w. S., the
reproduction of the damaged Sussex
shows a second mast and a uniform
dark color and thus approaches in he
outer appearance the description OF
the vessel as furnished by the subma.
rine commander.
Submarine Commander Is Punished
In view of the general impression
of all the facts at hand, the German
government considers it beyond doubt
that the commander of the submarine
acted in the bona fide belief that he
was facing an enemy warship On
the other hand. it cannot be denied
that. misled by the appearance of the
vessel. under the pressure of the cir