Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1917-02-28
ATT|.Ack| ON. Liner
NOT OVERT ACT
Washington Officials Regard
Sinking Of Steamer as Sec
ond Lusitania Case.
WILSON WAITS ON CONGRESS
President Will Delay Further Steps In
the Crisis Until Vote on Grant OF
Power-U-Boat Commander in
Plain Sight Of Passengers.

Washington, Feb. 2S.-The destruc-
ton without warning Of the Cunard
line Laconia was a "clear-cut violation
of International law" but not neces-
sariiy the covert act" which will
plunge the United States into the Eu-
ropean maelstrom. 81
This definition J, was obtained, on
present reports of the. sinking after
cabinet meeting and after state depart
ment officials had spent hours con-
sidering the dispatches Of American
diplomatic and consular officials near
the scene. ,s5,..4 Il (, ss4
The. situation is yiewediin the gray
est light, but additional details must
be Forthcoming before the government
can reach decision. Many circum-
stances Of the sinking remain to be
cleared before the state department
feels itfcan act. KIM ~ -
1ffhree American. Dead.
Three Americans lost their liyes, ac-
cording to the latest dispatches Of
United States Consul Wesley Frost at
Queenstown. They were Mrs. Mary
E. Hoy and Miss Elizabeth Hoy Of Chi
cago, passengers OH the Cunarder, and
Thomas Coffey, negro fireman.
The total death list was either IL
or IL out of total of 294 persons
aboard. The language of Consul
Frost's dispatch left doubt in the
minds Of officials as to the exact num-
Der of victims. Earlier dispatches
had indicated eight persons lost their,
lives.
Another Lusitania Case.
On the basis of the official reports
the sinking of the Laconia is regarded
as another Lusitania case in principle,
even though fewer lives were lost.
The following dispatch from Consul
Frost at Queenstown was received at
the state department.
@The American ladies' believed dead
from exposure and lost ut sea from La
coma, namely Mrs. Mary E. Hoy and
Miss Elizabeth Hoy of Chicago. -Four
Americans saved: f. B. Gibbons, Chi
cage Tribune; Mrs. F.. E. Harris, wife
Of Colonel Harris, us. A., Fort Du
Pont; Arthur F. Kirby, upper New
York state, and Father Wareing OF st.
Joseph's seminary, Baltimore.
"I4aconia was torpedoed without
warning at 1880, p. ms February %,
100 miles west Of, ,Fastnet. Overcast,
heavy swells, not breaking, fair breeze.
"Laconia carried ~ gun invisible
at night. Second torpedo 20 minutes
after first. Thirteen, boats got away,
Of which No. s, with Hoy ladies was
lost. Wireless had been sent out.
Boats picked up admiralty patrol 4
D. m, February 90. Cargo cotton.
foodstuffs and noneXplOsfve munitions.
Apparently eight deaths out OF $50 on
board. Two hundred sixty crew and
Is passengers, including many women
and children.
"Ship sank in about As minutes, from
time of first torpedo Had fired SIX
rockets, which were seen by admiralty
patrol. Wireless also used up to last
moment. Boats scattered two or three
miles in swells I2 feet high. Burned
flares and were picked up seriatim be-
tween 3 and 4 a. M, February rs
A second dispatch from Consul Frost
timed 80 Tuesday morning, says:
"Deaths Mrs. and Miss Hoy as re-
ported now positively confirmed. Ced,
rio B. Ivatt of New York, probably
American, is apparently lost"
U.Boat Commander in Sight.
Queenstown, Feb. 2S.-The com
mander of the German submarine
which sank the liner Laconia with q
loss of at least two American lives
stood on the deck Of the undersea craft
in plain sight of the passengers and
gave the final instructions which Sent
the liner to the bottom. .
This was asserted positively here By