The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1917-07-17

QUEENSTOWN, July 3.-(MaiD--
The newest memorial to be placed on
the graves OF the Lusitania victims Is
an artificial bouquet Of flowers enclos-
ed in glass case. also containing
woman's photograph and small marble
cross with the inscription: in mem
ory OF my dear wife. Margaret Butler.
drowned on the Lusitania. Vengeance
is mine saith the Lord will repay"
This and three rough mounds OF
earth virtually are all that mark the
resting place of more than one thou
sand persons who persisted May z,
1915, when German submarine stun
ned the world by sending to the bottom
Of the ocean. twenty-three miles from
here, the first transatlantic passenger
steamship to be sunk by a torpedo.
There is movement on foot to
erect a great monument over these
graves but it is not likely to bear fruit
until the end of the war.
Cunards May Help.
A high official of the Cunard Steam
ship company. owners of the ill-fated
Lusitania, visited the graves recently
and deprecated the fact that they are
SO neglected. He told the veteran
town clerk, James Campbell. that he
is making a report to his company
with the view of cooperating with the
British government for suitable mon
ument but expressed doubt if anything
could be done in the midst of this war.
Officers and men from American
craft now in British waters also have
made long overland pilgrimages to the
graves and have given hearty support
to the movement.
A correspondent Of The Associated
Press who few days ago, visited the
burial place in a local cemetery which
is situated in green wood on the
cliffs behind this picturesque town.
found grass growing foot high over
the three mounds marking as many
huge graves, the largest containing 20
bodies and the others SO and q VIC
tins of the German submarine. The
town clerk apologized for the uncut
grass, saying it was allowed to grow
until July l, to enable the poorly paid
caretaker to procure hay therefrom.
Change Prophesied.
After July, the first, he said, you
will see transformation. !
The town council has just denied a
request made by the relatives of Miss
E. A. Secombe. of Peterborough, New
Hampshire, to allow her body to be
disinterred for burial in the United
States, on the gronud that it is detri-
mental to the public health. 1t de-
velops that the town medical authority
has been busy ever since the catas- |
trophe in declining requests made by
relatives of the victims in American |
and other countries. The cemetery is |
seldom visited by any of the towns /
people, who shun it, because it brings |!
back awful memories of the heart |
breaking scenes enacted on that fate
full May I, two years ago.
AS showing the sentimentality of I
these pious townspeople, it is interest
ing to note that the town hall which |
was turned into temporary morgue
on that occasion Has never been occu-
pied by any one since, except Camp
bell. the town clerk
people who used the town hall as
eggs, and cheese have never returned
said Campbell. THE treasury is set
back five pounds annually, derived
from rental space in the town hall"
Not until about two years after the
disaster could the decorator and paint
er be induced to take up the work of |
housekeeping the town hall, which is
being done in the hope of coaxing back
the market people and incidentally
some of the revenue of this quaint old
place which before the war owed it's
fame largely to its being the port of