The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1918-07-06

night of March 20-21 O910. The torpedotng Of
this hospital ship is included in the list of achieve
ments claimed by U-boats as reported in the Ger
man wireless press message yesterday
The Asturias didn't sink, although 43 died in
the tragedy, including two women, and 80 were
injured. The torpedo rendered her helpless, as
her rudder had been carried away. Captain Laws
drove the sinking ship for shoal water. AS she
was off the rocky shore of Cornwall, If he did sue
coed in Bleaching her the chances of saving the ship
would be slight. All Captain Laws thought of was
to get her somewhere where she wouldn't sink ere
her wounded had been. removed.
AS luck would have 1t, the Asturias took matters
into her own hands and in the darkness missed a
reef, rounded a headland and brought up on one
of the few sandy beaches to be found along the
Cornwall shore line. After three years in COM
mand of her, several times a week crossing the
Channel and running the risk of mines, as well as
seeing the agony of human beings he transported,
Captain Laws, like many other hospital ship skip
pers, collapsed. He's made several attempts to go
to sea again, but his nerve Is gone.
The nation responsible for the murder of Nurse
Cavell accepted the Asturias incident with COM
posure, If not with satisfaction. For the Germans
stated blandly:
at would, moreover, be remarkable that the
English in the case of the Asturias should have
abstained. from the customary procedure of using
hospital ships for the transport of troops and mu-
nitions."
The Asturias was returning from France. That
is a sufficient answer to Germany.
Ten days later the Gloucester Castle was tor
pedoed without warning in midchannel. All the
wounded were successfully removed from the ship
and the casualties were five medical officers, nine
nursing sisters and 3S Royal Army Medical corps
men. On April IL the Berlin official wireless again
cynically published a notification that the Glouces-
ter Castle was %torpedoed by a U-boat, thus re-
moving any possible doubt In the matter.
Then on April II the hospital ships Donegal and
LanfranC were sunk by U-bOatS The Rritish al.
miralty announced:
THE Donegal carried slightly wounded cases,
all British. OF these, 20 men, as well as 70 of the
crew, are missing and presumed drowned. The
Lanfranc, In addition to 234 wounded British off
GERS and men, carried 167 wounded German pris-
oners, a medical personnel of so and n crew of
123. OF these the following are missing and nre-
sumed drowned:
"Two wounded British officers,
eleven wounded British, other ranks.
zone r. A. M. G. staff.
give crew.
"Two wounded German officers.
Thirteen wounded German, other ranks.
'One hundred and ffty-two wounded German
prisoners were rescued by British patrol boats at
the imminent risk of being themselves torpedoed."
And then on the 26th of February they sank the
Glenart Castle, bound from France to England.
Yes, she carried troops, but they lay In white cots
within the Glenart Castles white sides. Nice chap,
Fritz, for he'd agreed to respect hospital ships If
they carried a Spanish officer to guarantee their
Red Cross mission. The Glenart had her Spaniard
and he too was nearly drowned in the catastrophe.
One pleasing thing about the tragedy was that it
gave an American destroyer, at the risk of being
herself torpedoed, a chance to do a rescue work
which makes the blood run faster in ones veins.
The sea was vile and the destroyer couldn't launch
a boat. Yet as she passed men clinging to wreck
age-men too weak to catch the lifelines thrown
to seamen jumped overheard
into icy water, swan to the poor devils and held
them up till they could be rescued. Mr.. Daniels,
I'm glad to say, has fttingly rewarded such gal
lantry.
And shortly after the Glenart Castle the big
Llandovey Castle, on mercy bent, was torpedoed.
She also carried a Spanish officer. / have a letter
from an officer on the hospital ship Araguaya,
which has been transferred from passenger and
food service to the work of mercy to replace last
hospital ships, and he tells me his ship is most par.
ticular about living up to the Geneva convention.
No nurses are carried except those who make the
round trip between England and Canada. For If
Canadian nurses worked their passage home Ger.
many might say they were troops,