The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1918-02-07
cunard Liner TusCania
Submarined By Ger
mans Off Coast
Of ireland
Two Hundred and Fifty Amer.
lean Soldiers Believed to
Have Been Lost
HOPE EXPRESSED THAT MANY OF
THE MISSING MAY YET BE
FOUND SAFE.

Washington, February 6-The Gun
aid liner Tuscania, carrying 2,l79
American soldiers, has been torped.
oed and sunk off the Irish coast but
official reports late tonight said 1912
of the officers and men had been saved
and indicated that the list of rescued
might prove even larger.
The troops composed chiefly of de-
tachments of Michigan and Wisconsin
national guardsmen, were travelling on
the Tuscania, British vessel, under
convoy of British warships.
A brief dispatch to the war depart
ment from London early this evening
announced the disaster and reported
the landing of only LOO survivors
This was made public shortly after ten
o'clock, and for more than two hours
it was feared that probably l,4O0 men,
including members of the liners crew
had gone down.
When a message came to the state
department from the embassy at Lon
don saying at II o'clock tonight, l.
912 of the Americans had been ac-
counted for, the Joy of officials almost
swept away the distress Occasioned by
the earlier news.
The first LOO survivors were land
ed at Larne and Buncran, two widely
separated Irish ports, and this coupled
| with the evident fact that rescue ships
were at hand quickly, gave rise tc
hope that nearly everybody on board
the Tuscania except those injured by
the explosion might have been saved
The president, Secretary Baker and
in fact, all official Washington were ur
late waiting for further news. Only the
briefest dispatches we're received and
none gave details of the attack on the
, liner.
Even the time was missing, but II
was assumed that it occurred early
! this morning as the first message was
, filed at London at o'clock this after
noon, probably within an hour after
, the relief ships reached the Irish
coast.
The President was at the theatre
when the news was received and ht
was not told until he returned to the
| White House. In the meantime the
War, Navy and State Departments had
sent urgent messages by wireless and
cable instructing their representatives
in England and Ireland to forward
every available fact Immediately.
Because of the nature of the mill
tary organizations carried by the ship
the war department announced that II
would be impossible to say definitely
what troops were aboard until the list
Of survivors was received. Later, how
over, the adjutant generals office
made the list public. 1t follows:
Headquarters detachment of Com
panies d, E. and F, of the Goth Engi-
neers.
10th Engineer train.
10th Supply train.
Number 100 Aero Squadron.
213th Aero Squadron.
Replacement Detachments Numbers
1 and 2, Of the 32nd division.
Fifty-one casual officers.
The Thirty-second division is COM
posed of National Guard troops from
Michigan and Wisconsin. The division
trained at Camp Macarthur, Texas.
The 10th engineers was composed
Of the first battalion of Michigan engi-
neers: the 1O7th military police was
made up from the Fourth and Sixth
Wisconsin infantry and the 1O7th sup
ply train from the Fourth, Fifth and
Sixth Wisconsin infantry.
Thus all the soldiers are former
Wisconsin and Michigan guardsmen
except those in the areo squadron
who probably were recruited from all
parts Of the country.
Neither the dispatch to the War De-
partment nor that to the State Depart
ment referred to the fate Of the mem
bers Of the Tuscania's crew. Undoubt.
edly many OF them we're saved and
when all reports are In, officials hope
that the loss Of life will be remarkably
small. The liner, which IL not q resu-
lar transport was under convoy and
the wsrships apparently we're quickly
IT,