Arizona republican., 1917-10-20

Secretary Daniels announced the dis aster tonight in statement based up- on a brief dispatch from Vice Admiral Sims which gave few details and did not say whether it was a day or night attack. An accurate list of the missing cannot be issued until General Pershing reports the names of the army men on the vessel and the list of the merchant crew. Following is the announcement:
 The department is in receipt Of
 a dispatch from Vice Admiral Sims
 which states that the steamship
 Antilles. an army transport, was
 torpedoed on October Y while re-
 turning to this country from for
 eign service. This vessel was under
 convoy of American patrol vessels
 at the time.
 "The torpedo which struck the
 Antilles was not seen, nor was the
 submarine which fired it. The tor
 pedo hit abreast of the engine room
 bu'khead and the ship sank wtain
 five minutes. One hundred and
 sixty seven persons out of about
 two hundred and thirty seven on
 board the Antilles were saved.
 About seventy men are missing.
 "All the naval officers and off
 cers of the army who were on board
 at the time were saved as were the
 officers of the ship with the ex-
 ception of the following:
 ''Walker, third engineer officer;
 Boyle, junior enoineer officer, and
 O'Rourke, junior engineer officer.
 ''The following enlisted naval
 personnel were lost:
 "E. l.s kinzey, seaman second
 class, next of kin, Thomas M. Kin
 zey, father, Water Valley, Miss;
 J. w. Hunt, seaman second class,
 next of kin, Isaac Hunt, father,
 Mountain Grove, Mo-: C. L. Aus
 burn, radio electrician first class,
 next of kin, R. Ausburn, brother,
 New Orleans, and Fl. F. Watson,
 radio electrician, third class, next
 of kin, Mrs. w. L. Seger, mother,
 Rutland, Mass.
 There were about 33 of the ar
 my enlisted personnel on board Of
 whom 17 were saved. The names
 of the missing of the army enlisted
 personnel and of the merchant
 crew of the ship cannot be given
 until the muster roll in France Of
 those on board has been consulted.
 As soon as the department is in re-
 ceipt of further details concerning
 the casualties they will be made public immediately"
 Upon receipt of the cablegram iron Admiral Sims, the government kept its promise not to withhold bad news iron the public The issuance of the state ment was delayed only until the nav! could telegraph to the families of the men known to have been lost Secretary Daniels carried word 0 the loss of the Antilles to the Whit House when he went there late in tn, day with Admiral Mayo, who made hi! report to President Wilson on his visi 1 to England at the direction of the pres | ident. The news added to the gravit, of the hour that the secretary and Ad miral Mayo spent in conference witt i the president
 | Quick upon the wave of sorrow at tn | news of the loss of the transport. cam l a feeling of distinct relief because sh 1 had met her fate homeward bound am l not on the way over with troops. Tn l only soldiers on board were returnln 1 to the hospital or on special assign ment. Had the full complement of tn | transport been aboard. the loss un | doubtedly would have been written i hundreds as she was struck in the mos vulnerable spot and went under s | swiftly that few could have escaped. Officials are confident that thos i who survived, owe their lives to tn l careful attention given by the navy de partment to the equipping of trans | ports with life boats and life rafts. l is a fixed rlle that enough boats an rafts shall be carried to afford plac for every man aboard. even though tn ship keel over and put half her boat l out of commission.
 The loss of the ships engineer off cers indicates the probability that non of the engine and fire room forces e 1 duty escaped. Probably most of ther l died in the blast of the explosion of th 1 Continued on Page Two)