The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-02-07
SOLDIER VESSEL SUNK
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CONTINUED from Page One.l
national guardsmen and regular army
engineers.
The first dispatches received at the
wal department stated that OF 2,179
troops on the vessel the survivors were
landed at Buncranna and Larne, on
the north coast of Ireland.
Keep Cables Busy All Night.
Later dispatches from the American
embassy at London, however, stated
that out of 2,179 troops aboard. 1912
were saved.
Turnout the night the great gov
eminent wireless stations and cables
were pressing for details of the dis
aSter.
Until early this morning Secretaries
Baker and Daniels remained at their
desks directing the work of inquiry:
Early today long cable came thru
which is expected to picture details
of the attack.
The 10th engineers are forest
ers recruited for pioneer and COM
| munication work behind the battle
lines. The regiment is the largest in
| the service and its members are
drawn from every national guard and
national army division as well as from
| the regular army and general recruit
| ing channels
Many COlege Men,
The troops have been in training
! for their special work at the Ameri-
can university at Washington. A
large number of college men, includ-
| ing experts in forestry, are in the regi-
ment.
| The aero squadrons were drawn
| from various divisions.
The remaining troops, comprising
more than two-thirds of those on
board were Michigan and Wisconsin
guardsmen. The 10th engineers train,
| composed of the former first bat
| talon of Michigan engineers and the
107th military police was drawn from
the Fourth and Sixth Wisconsin in
fantry.
The 10th supply train was drawn
from the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Wis
consin infantry.
Was British Transport.
| The report from the war depart
was a British steamship and not an
American transport This was taken
| to mean that the recent agreement of
the British to put all shipping facili-
United Sta ties for carrying soldiers.
| munitions and supplies already has
been put into effect.
Reports that survivors were being
taken to Belfast, led to the SUPPOSE
| ton that the Tuscania was bound for
Liverpool by way of the north Irish
coast. 1t was suggested by officials
that rough seas may have separated
| the vessel from its convoy. Fear that
survivors may be suffering acutely
from exposure is thought to have
/ prompted the American embassy at
London and Belfast officials to hasten
plans for the Immediate relief of the
| troops on their arrival at the Irish
port.
The ambassador has sent~an as
/ sistant military attache and another
/ army officer to Belfast, Ireland" the
American embassy at London cabled
the state department at IL o'clock last
night.
Representatives of the American
Red Cross and the Y. M. C. A. also
have gone with full power to spend
i ton from the British Red Cross to
use their equipment at Belfast. The
lord mayor of Belfast is giving all the
aid possible. The latest information
was that 1919 officers and men on the
/ Tuscania were accounted for out of
j 2,173."
First News of Disaster
The initial communication of the
disaster by the war department was:
1.-The department has been officially
| was torpedoed and sunk and that sur
vivors numbering 1.100 as far as
could be ascertained at that time were
landed at Buncranna and Larne in
ireland. There was a total or Z,l79
United States troops on this vessel.
No names of persons lost has been
reported to the war department and
no names of survivors were reported
The fact that the Tuscania was the
first large troop ship to be torpedoed
on the Atlantic eastbound led Of
ficials here to conclude that the ex-
pected drive of the Germans against
The employees who were members
of the Sixth, it was announced in
Guided Thomas Ashby, Liberty, Kan,
Company E: Porter B. Smith, Liberty,
Mo, Company E: Vernon E. Babcock,
Walnut. Kan, Company E; W. M. Bar
wick. Chicago. Company F: Purl H.
Marshall, Columbus, Kan, Com
ps.ny E.
American transports is on. The slight
losses, by latest reports. are strikingiy
lower than those of British transports
lost early in the war in the Mediter-
rauean sea.
This was accounted for in official
circles by the elaborate torpedo. drills
on every American transport ship and
by the efficiency of the convoy system
Sending Names of Survivors.
| The names of survivors of the dis
aster began to reach the war depart
ment by cable from~Belfast early this