Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1917-04-23

the midst of the distress and tragedy
our men were able to strike up some
popular ditties"
The chancellor of the excheQuer,
Andrew Bonar Law, announced on
April 10 in the house of commons that
there recently had been further losses
of British hospital ships which would
be published soon. Today the secre
tary of the admiralty issued the follow
ing statement:
'On the evening of April II the
steamships Donegal and Lanfranc
while transporting wounded to British
ports We're torpedoed without warning
The Donegal carried slightly wounded
cases-all British. OF these 29 men
as well as II firemen are missing and
presumed drowned.
The Lanfranc, in addition to 234
wounded British officers and men car
ried 1877 wounded German prisoners, a
medical personnel of 50 and a crew of
1913 OF these the following are miss
ing and presumed drowned
Two wounded British officers; II
royal army medicaltuantuano tuano
royal army medical corps staff; five
wounded British other ranks; one
of the crew; five wounded German Of
ficers and ten wounded German other
| ranks.
"One hundred and fifty-two wound
ed German prisoners We're rescued by
British patrols at the imminent risk
of being themselves torpedoed.
owing to the German practice of
sinking hospital ships at sight and to
the fact that distinctive marking and
lighting of such vessels renders them
more conspicuous targets for German
submarines, it has become no longer
possible to distinguish our hospital
ships in the customary manner. One
of these two ships, therefore though
carrying wounded, was not in any way
outwardly distinguished as a hospital
ship.
The distinctive markings of the
other had not yet been removed Both
We're provided with an escort for pro-
lection
THE Illegal and inhuman submarine
warfare which Germany has waged upon
merchant shipping has for some time
been openly adopted against British
ships flying the Red Cross flag and
otherwise acting in complete conform
| ity with the requirements of The
Hague convention. This elimination
of savagery has brought the world face
to face with a situation that is with
has no justification in any conceiv-
able distortion of international law
nor in the most brutal creed of neces
| sity.
THE British government, in consid-
ering fully the measures to be adopted
| in these circumstances, have had in
| review the entire facts on which the
| German government claims to have
acted. These may be recapitulated
briefly for the consideration of the civ
ilized world"
The statement then recites that on
January 20 Germany addressed a
memorial to the American and Span
ish embassies for transmission to the
| British and French governments
claiming that allied hospital ships, and
| particularly those of Great Britain
were employed in transporting troops
and military supplies and declared that
no hospital ship would be tolerated in
| the zone between the lines connecting
| Marlborough Head and Terschellng
on the one side and Ushant (OueshanD
and Lands End on the other
On January 81 the British foreign
office denied that hospital ships were
being used contrary to The Hague
convention, and requested the Ameri-
can government to inform Germany
that if the threat was carried out not
to tolerate hospital ships in the zone
specified by them, immediate reprisals
would follow. Notwithstanding the
British denial of the German claims
and the threat of reprisals, the Bri-
fish hospital ship Asturias was tor