The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-05-22
Strange Explosions Arouse Sus-
piciOn of Officials.
Accident Kills Two Red Cross
Nurses On,Liner.
SUSPECT GERMAN SPIES
Tampering May Have
Been the Cause.
Could Inferior Munitions
Passed Shell Inspectors?

Washington, May 22.-The whole
subject of shells supplied the navy
may be probed as a result of two re-
cent strange occurrences aboard arm
ed American merchant ships.
The Mongolia incidet wherein two
nurses were killed and the case of the
worthless shells aboard the liner St
Louis, have perplexed navy ordnance
experts.
AS result a thoro investigation in
both cases is under way today.
The Mongolia case appears to be,
on the whole, an unaccountable acct
dent; the st. Louis case, suspiciously
like an accident of malicious lamp
ering with the shells.
Some Complaints From Abroad.
There is some talk that in both
cases, faulty ammunition may have
been supplied the government, tho if
inspection was proper this theory
could not hold. 1t is known that
abroad in the past that American
munition makers were turning out
ammunition that failed to function
properly. Whether this same brand
of munitions is being foisted on the
government would be determined I'M
doubtedly as a result of the parallel
probes now under way.
Secretary of Navy Daniels admitted
today that the Mongolia case in which
a portion of the cartridge bounded
backward, killing two Red Cross
nurses, is particularly puzzling. He
explained that the shells were navy
standard and that the possibility of
such an accident as that of Sunday
had never even been contemplated.
The possibility that the breech block
was insecurity closed is being consid-
cred in connection with the case.
nocfOred INV German SDieS.
! The ST. Louis affair, however. pre-
sents what many navy men regard as
sinister phase-namely, that the
shells may have been "doctered by
German spies. In that instance the
shells on deck ready for the gun crew
were found faulty, while subsequent
| tests of those below deck as reserve,
/ showed them to be all right.
! This matter is being ferreted out to
| the bottom. In the Mongolia case,
thus far, there has been no suspicion
| that the cartridges had been tam
pered with after manufacture That
the fittings of the brass case were in
securely or improperly placed is pos
sible, tho experts fail to see how the
goods could have been passed for gov
| eminent service in such an event. That
the gun itself did not function entirely
as it should is another possibility.
Ordinarily the little brass cup, which
hurtIed back and killed the women,
would be elected at the mouth or the
gun. Why it boomeranged and landed
! zoo feet behind is something that
ordnance experts have been unable to
solve without fuller information than
| that now at hand.
Used Spanish War Shells.
, Washington, May 22.-Shells which
were made during the Spanish-A
lean war have been put on armed
! American merchantmen to be used in
resisting submarine attacks.
This came to light today when Ad-
miral Earle, chief of the ordnance de-
! partment, submitted to Secretary Dan
| iels a report on the accident which
| caused the death of two American
nurses on the armed merchantmen
! Mongolia. Some of the shells used
for the merchant craft, the report
said, were made during the Spanish
! war