The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1918-02-26
RIIRY AMERICANS ON
BLEAK SCOT COAST
PICTURESQUE SCENE AT BUR-
1AL OF THE BOYS WHO DIED
AS TUSCANIA WENT DOWN.
OLD GLORY FLIES AS SERVICES
ARE READ AND VOLLEYS FIRED
Mourners Stand on Top of Cliff 800
Feet Above. Farm and Fisher Folk
Come Great Distances. Many Bod
les Were Mutilated.

were N10Lh0AGNs
correspondent of the Associated
Press. writing from a Scotch sea-
mort which he reached after a peril
ans VOYAGE from Ireland, gives the
first authentic account of the last
moments of many of the American
victims who persisted as result of
the Tuscania disaster and of pathetic
Incidents attending their burial on
the bleak and rocky shores of this
barren coast.
The correspondent assisted in the
burial of 16 Americans, bringing the
total of those buried thus far up to
145.
This burial was at the waters
Adce at the base of rocky cliffs and
was picturesque in the extreme. All
the tiny villages for miles around
ware in mourning for the Americans
and farm and fisher folk came great
distances to attend the ceremonies.
Twenty-Five American survivors of
the disater who had been left behind
for the purpose assisted the natives
in DIGGING the graves into which the
khaki-clad troops tenderly placed
their dead comrades.
Scotch Women Make
An American Flag.
Looking down from the top of the
cliffs 800 feet above stood the
mourners, headed by British col
onel and an American private carry
ing an "Old Glory" made for the oc-
casion by a group of Scotch women,
who on learning that the Americans
had no flag, obtained a small silk
handkerchief edition of the flag from
a sergeant and remained up all night
copying it on a large scale.
Two clergymen came many miles
and read the Scotch and Episcopal
services, after which volunteers fired
three volleys, which re-echoed against
the hillsides. While this was going
on the only photographer within 20
miles photographed the mourners.
Wooden crosses, with distinguish
ing numbers, have been placed on
each grave, all of which are enclosed
by temporary fences.
Bodies Came Ashore
At Many Points.
The bodies of the Americans have
come ashore thus far at eight widely
separated points along the coast. All
but IA, which were recovered today,
have been buried at three of the most
central points, or where the greatest
number were recovered. For in
stance, at one point alone funeral
rites were carried out over so sol
diers who were washed up within a
stretch of coast line not longer than
two city blocks.
Among the treacherous, low-lying
rocks 20 miles farther north the
next greatest number was found
49, Midway between these two
points "A bodies were discovered at
a small cove, IS of which the CORE
spondent helped to bury today.
When a few bodies were found at
scattered places they were brought
to a more concentrated point and
buried with many others in one or
two Large trenches. A majority of
the dead were identified through the
metal discs which the men wore.
There were about twenty instances
of men wearing blank tags, but in
spite of this fact majority of them
were identified by a general descrip-
ton of the body and papers carried
by the men in their pockets.
So many bodies came ashore be-
tween the cliffs and in inaccessible
places that great difficulty was ex-
perienced in conveying them to buri-
al places. Some bodies were DASH
ed upon the rocks at the base of
precipitious cliffs higher than the
palisades of the Hudson river. At one
point Al bodies were recovered at
the base of cliffs which rose to a
height of 800 feet, making it impos-