New-York tribune., 1918-05-19
rI.boats Deliberately
Gent to the Bottom
More Than 100000
Tons of Red Cross
Ships Since the War
Began
By Ralph E. Cropley
! ECENTY we have had another
record of German barbarity


record of German barbarity
~ in the torpedoing of the hos
.aal ship Rewa, made dramatic be-
.suse the missile of destruction
aruek her where the Red Cross of
Mercy was painted on her side, as if
4 were a bulls eye for just such
rurderous shots. / was speaking to
.merchant ship captain about it and
sked him why he had given up the
command of a certain British hos
.ital ship, berth which to my lands
naa's eyes had seemed to be the
esdest on the sea to-day in spite of
instances like the Rewa.
He didn't look at me as he an
<xxred. He looked far out through
lis cabin port at the tower of the
Woolworth Building. He finally told
ne that in spite of the danger it was
,asier on him to take a merchant ship
Or transport through the war zone
than to have his heart torn asunder
by the suffering of humanity he had
sen on hospital ships; men gassed
md writhing in agony; men wounded
tr mutilated cut of sheer deviltry.
Frightfulness - waste of manhood
because tho Kaiser wanted to domi-
nate the world-that's what he saw
on hospital ship; and when his ship
Of mercy, like the Rewa, was torpe-
deed without warning and he man
aged to beach her before she sank he
simply went to pieces, as have many
hospital ship commanders before him.
Every hospital ship sunk means
that the Allies must replace it with
ship which has been carrying food
and munitions. That is Germany's
game. Finding her submarine war
fare was not succeeding as she had
hoped, she lessons the tonnage Of her
enemies by fouler means still and
covers up her dastardly motives by
officially saying:
"The German government can no
longer suffer that the British govern
msnt should forward troops and mu-
nitons to the main theatre of war
under cover of the Red Cross, and it
therefore declares that from now on
no enemy hospital ship will be al
loved in the sea zone comprised be-
tween line drawn from Flambor-
ough Head to Terschelling on the
one hand and Ushant and Lands
End on the other. If in this sea
sdne after the expiry of the stated
time any enemy hospital ship is en-
tsuntered. it will be considered as
. vessel of war and it will be at
tucked without further ceremony"
Has Lessened
Allied Tonnage
And knowing full we'll that nc
Allied hospital ships were carrying
either troops, munitions or ANYTHING
which they shouldn't in their garh
Of mercy, Germany has lessened
tonnage by sinking the hospital ship
Britannia 100000 tons), Asturias
ll,AoO tons), Gloucester Castle
1890 tons), Donegal 1,997 tons)
Salta (7,284 tons), Lanfranc (6,275
tons), Dover Castle $3.50 tons),
kewa (7,267 tons), Glenbart Castle
1900 tons), Llandovey Castle (1O,-
wv tons), and others amounting to
over 100000 tons.
Germany has already begun paw
ing the way to lessen American ton
mage by sinking our hospital ships
whenever we get any. On May 1,
1915, she officially notified the world
that
american aviators are crossing
. Europe as members of the Red
efoss on hospital ships. This mis-
we OF the Red Cross appears from
o0cumentary evidence found on
american aviators who have been
saet down. An American brought
asn IN the region of the army of
osasral Won Hutier carried pass
which referred to him as member
y The American Ambulance for
France.
Prisoners openly admit that it is
ae general practice for aviators to
sasef American Ambulance Service
'0e tneir passage to Europe and to
ea0ss on hospital ships. After they
~ landed in France they immedi-
s'y transfer to the automobile
s0.pc and thence into the air service
Inc captured aviator referred
= nad, however, transferred direct
Z from the ambulance service into
1e air service. Another carried q
= .ancate in which the dates of sew.
sl transfers were officially indi.
except for the naval hospital