South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1922-12-04
LUSITANIA CARRIED
AMMUNITION CASES,
MALONE DECLARES
First Report as to Ships Cargo
Published-l,0 900 Lives
We're Lost.

NEW YORK. Dec. 3.-CBy 4.
T)-The Cunard liner Lusitania,
sunk by a German submarine in
1915 off the Irish coast. carried
neither guns, troops nor explosives,
but did carry 5.4OO cases of am
munitiOn, the official report of the
vessels cargo made public by Dud-
ley Field Malone, collector Of the
port at the time, shows according to
"a copyrighted story in the New York
World.
The cases Of ammunition. the re-
port stated, were carried by specific
permission under rulings Of the de-
partment Of commerce. in force
since 1911.
The Malone report, the newspaper
says, was made to Sec'y of the
Treasury McAdoo. 1t was dated
June 4. 1915. and was called for
after the German reply of May 2S to
Pres't Wilson's first Lusitania note
of May Is. mad set up the conten-
ton the Lusitania had been armed
and that her rapid sinking was due,
not 10 the torpedo. but to the ex-
plosion of ammunition. 1t was this
report To which Pres't Wilson. in
his second note OF June 3, referred
when he said:
Fortunately, there are matters
concerning which the government
of the United States is in a position
to give the imperial German gov
ernment official information"
What RcpOrt Contained
Mr.. Malone said he had determin-
ed to give out the text of the report
because of still insistent appeals to
him for information regarding its
contents
These appeals" he explained.
come not only from the United
States bat from abroad; for instance
from such organizations as the
central committee of esta blishing
the causes of the war.
When Sen. Lafollette's attitude
toward the war was under inFestiga-
ton, the treasury department was
called on for the original of this
report. 1t replied that it had been
turned over to the state department.
The state department held that the
report had become a state paper
and therefore secret.
so il has never been possible
for the public 10 know just what the
report contained For this reason
and because of the constant appeals
20 me for information regarding il,
I have decided to make it public.
The report states that when the
Z fr
May 1915. on her last trip TO Eng
land, she did not have any guns OF
any calibre or description on any
deck. mounted or unmounted,
masked or unmasked. Afidavits by
various government inspectors were
affixed 10 the report in substantial
tion.- II stated further that the
LUsiania did not have Canadian
troops or troops of any nationality
on board Moreover. the Lusitania
carried no group or groups, no body
or organization OF passengers or
such. with or without uniforms, and
II any individual reservist OF any
nationality sailed on the Lusitania
on this trip. they did 50 as individ-
uals paying their own passage and
receiving their own individual tic
kets.
Thousand Lives Lost.
Referring 10 the question Of the
presence Of explosives on the liner
the report said that the ammunition
set forth as part Of the cargo did
not contain explosives within the
Interpretation OF the statutes and
regulations as interpreted by the
department OF commerce within the
ruling previously quoted