The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1917-02-22
AMERICANS LOST
BY BOAT ATTACKS
Two Hundred Citizens Of Unit
cd States Persisted at Sea.
TENSION WITH GERMANY

Crises Have Come and Gone Over De
struction of American Lives Upon the
observation-disclosures Brought Us Near
Steamer Sussex.
At least 200 Americans and probably
more have gone TO their deaths through
submarine operations. The first Aneri.
can of whom there IS record TO lose his
life in submarine attack was Leon 4
Thresher. "A passenger on the British
liner Falaba. bound from Liverpool for
West Africa, which was torpedoed and
sunk March %. 1915. off Milford. Eng
land.
The first American ship attacked was
the Gulfiight. an oil tanker. from Port
Arthur. Tex. for Rouen. France.
The mex attack was the one that
shocked the CIVILIZED world and brought
the United States and Germany for the
first time to the verge of war. 1t was
the destruction of the Lusitania on
May 7, 1915. Unarmed, with 1857 pas
sengers. of whom 100 We're Americans,
with a crew of I02, she was torpedoed
without warning and sank i'm twenty
three minutes Off Old Head OF Kinsale
as she was nearing Liverpool. In all,
1,19S lives were lost, of which 124 were
Americans, many Of them men of ma
tional prominence.
Twenty American negro m~uleteers on
the Leyland liner Armenian were killed
June rs, 1915. by shell fire and drowning
when the Armenian failed to escape
with her cargo of army mules from a
The Armenian was warned and invited
her destruction by flight. The Ameri-
can muleteers suffered by the action OF
the British captain.
The Case of the Orduna.
The next submarine attack in which
Americans were endangered was IN
successful, but only because the Cunard
liner Orduna was too speedy for her
pursuer.
On July 20, 1915, came the first COM
plete destruction of an American ship
by a subma rine. 1t was the Leelanaw
OF New York, bound from Archangel to
Belfast with fax, which is contraband.
The American sailing ship William p.
Frye had been previously sunk I'm the
war. but under different circumstances.
A new crisis and the first suspicion
that German submarines were operat-
Ing In the Mediterranean or that Aus
trian submarines were being manned
by German officers aud crews was de
veloped by the destruction of the Brit
ish liner Persia ON Dec. 80. 1915. south
east of Crete while ON her way to the
orient. American Consul McNeeley, on
his way to his post at Alden. was
lives, OF which two or more were
Americans. The wake of a torpedo
was seen. but no submarine was visi-
BILE.
The Crucial Sussex Case.
The next great passenger ship de-
stroyed was the Dutch liner Tubantia.
While she was I'm the North sea. bound
for Rio de Janeiro an explosion rent
the ship asunder. and she sank. Three
Americans We're passengers. All per
sons on board were saved. except one
russian.
On March "a. 1916. came the culmi.
naftop ~ N lnpg lief cf ,,hro,r;uo -
tacks, which caused President Wilson
TO lay the situation before congress
and TO notify Germany that unless
such methods of warfare were discon-
tinued the United States would break
of diplomatic relations. This was the
destruction of the French channel
steamer Sussex between Folkestone
and Dieppe. All the evidence went to
prove that the ship was torpedoed
without warning, and, although Ger
many Mt first disclaimed responsibility.
the statements which the Berlin for
elgn Office made I'm its disclaimer went
to prove that a submarine destroyed
the ship
Visit of the U-53.
The next development came when
Germany carried the submarine war
to the American side of the Atlantic.
On Saturday, Oct. Z. 1916. the German
war submarine U-53 entered Newport
harbor unannounced. delivered a pack
age of mail for the German embassy
md departed as swiftly. as silently
as she had come. Within forty eight
hours afterward she sank six ships
within sight Of the American coast
four British. II Dutch and one Nor
wegian. With the assistance of Amer
lean destroyers, which witnessed the
operations. all lives were saved. In
each Ease the submarine commander
cave legal warning and permitted the
escape Of passengers and crew.
On Oct. 20, 1916. the British mel
chant ship Rowanmore was attacke,
- - y..-n., -.A~~. r.. Olu Al 49,.