Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-10-12
Dashed tO Pierces.

The OtrantO after the collision was dashed to pieces on the rocks off the south Scottish coast with probable loss of 372 American soldiers.
 Three hundred and one men were taken to Belfast by the British des- troyer Mounsey, the only vessel which made an attempt at rescue in the terrific gale when Kashmir, another vessel in the convoy, with the Otran- to- rammed the Otranto amidship.
 Seventeen men were picked up alive on the Scottish coast.
 BIO Are Landed.
 Of the 699 American soldiers on board the Otranto, BIO were landed. Seventeen were rescued alive at Isley leaving 372 unaccounted for.
 The Otranto and the other vessels of the convoy were battling with the, heavy seas and high winds Sunday morning.
 The storm was so severe and the visibility so bad that the Kashmir, q, former peninsular and orient liner, crashed into the Otranto squarely amidship.
 The Kashmir backed away badly damaged but was able to make port.
 As the bows of the Kashmir were pulled from the great hole in the side of the Otranto, the water rush. ed in but for time it did not serve to stop the engine.
 The Otranto tried to proceed but made no headway against the gale in her crippled condition.
 Within a short time the water put out her fires and the Otranto drifted toward the rocky coast of Islay Island where most of the Tus- cania victims met their deaths.
 Four times the battered destroyer came alongside and each time the previous scenes were repeated.
 At the end of the fourth trip she had BIO Americans, 236 of the crew, 30 French sailors and one British of ficer on board. The bow was full and, having done all possible, she start ed for port.
 Drifting Towards Rocks.
 The survlvors saw the Otranto drifting helplessly toward the rocks as they pulled away toward the Irish coast.
 The destroyer barely had time to send a brief message when her wire less was carried away.
 The little overloaded vessel had rough trip to port. One of the Ameri- can troopers on board the Otranto pictured the scene when the vessels collided.
 Stood at Attention.
 Soldiers lined the deck as though on parade and at the word of com mand stood at attention like statues. They never wavered, remaining there in military formation, exemply- flying the crisis the noblest traditions of the army for heroism.
 Both Were Brave.
 The same thing, said the soldier, applied to the seamen. Numbers of bodies today were being washed up rapidly on the shore. It was reported that 175 had been counted at noon and nearly all them had been identi- fled.
 A Tragic Moment.
 A seaman on the Otranto described the most tragic moment as that when the order came for the men to jump and save themselves.
 The destroyer looked like very small boat alongside the former Orr tent liner and many dansmen among the American troops thought them- selves safer aboard the larger vesseL This was fatal to many of them.
 Collect Victims.
 The victims are to be collected at the most suitable place and buried there.
 A boat left Liverpool today with material for collins, fifty laborers and carpenters and chaplains to con duct the funerals.
 Mark Graves. m
 The grave of every man will be marked and charted.
 There were few cases among the dead where Identification was de- layed.
 Every Man Tagged. X Every man had worn an identiflca- tion tag on his wrist or neck but M some instances these were torn os and it wss necsssary te ts.ke 1lnlss
 tcontinsed ou pare thfis, , $