Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1917-11-09
AMERICAN STEAMER
ROCHESTER TORPEDOED
Four Men Lost; Captain And 81
Saved
WASHINGTON AWAITS LIGHT
Reserves Judgment Until Official Re.
port Concerning Revolt Is Re-
ceived Denial About Italy.

N~AA~& AtSAGh
Ire American steamship Rochester
was torpedoed and sunk at dusk on
November 2.
-Four sailors are known to have lost
their lives in the sinking of the
steamer One boat with the second
mate and 13 men is missing.
The captain and % men have been
landed At Buncrana. One lifeboat
with nine survivors reached Ross
Port, in the county of Mayo, yester-
day.
The Rochester piled between Balti-
more and British ports. She was in
command of Capt Erik Kokeritz and
carried crew of about so men.
The Rochester was formerly the
steamship Yaguez, built at Ecorse,
Mich, in 1912 She registered 1851
IONS gross and was 247 feet long.
await News From Russia.
Until accurate official reports are
received, official and diplomatic
Washington are reserving judgment
on the new Russian crisis and all that
it involves, including possibly civil
war, and still further weakening OF
Russia's position in the war against
Germany.
Dark as the news dispatches make
the situation in Petrograd appear,
there is a strong hope among officials
and diplomats that there may be a
silver lining TO the cloud. On every
hand keep sympathy was expressed
for Premier Kerensly and those who
have been standing with him against
terrific odds in opposing the eXtrem-
have threatened to disorganize the
Russian military machine, and have
worked for separate peace, regardless
Of its effect on the future of Russia
and her pledges to her allies.
The State Department has received
no official confirmation of the Max
imalist successes in Petrograd. In the
last six days Secretary Lansing has
received only two messages from Am
bassador Francis, and neither dealth
with the political situation. One bore
date OF Friday last and the other of
Tuesday
The Russian Embassy officials said
they had no advices from Petrograd
on the basis of which comment could
be made. Jean Soukine, First Secre-
tary. after a telephone conversation
with Ambassador Bakhmetieff. who is
in Memphis, stated that in the obsence
OF official intelligence the embassy
held that the action of the Maximalists
in Petrograd, as told in the news dis
patches, was local to the capital and
by no means representative of the
viii or of the Russian nation.
This point was emphasized that the
dispatches from Petrograd stated that
the Maximalists had taken control of
the telegraph offices and that this put
them in a position to exaggerate re-
ports of the situation in their own
favor
British Governments Denial.
The following Official announcement
was issued in London
"a statement from a correspondent
of The Associated Press at Italian
Headquarters appeared in the British
press today. This statement set out
to remind the Allies that something
more than assurances were needed
for getting reinforcements in men and
munitions to the threatened Italian
lines, and purported to reflect the feel
ing of Italians. who were represented
as distrusting the allied efforts to help
them. 1t was also stated that the
enemy masses were so overwhelming
that nothing but effective reinforce
ments would turn the tide.
This alarmist statement is abso-
lutely uncalled for and is calculated
to do grave harm by suggesting that
the seriousness OF the military situa-
ton in Italy is not appreciated by her
allies. and that the latter are not Civ
ing her the support she requires.
There is no truth whatever in these
assertions. The statement that the
enemy masses are overwhelming is
an absurd exaggeration."