The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-09-28

There were 129 children on
board; "a of them were lost.
Among these children there were
80 babies, of whom only four were
saved.
TOR this appalling loss of life
Il it does not seem possible, in
spite of the official whitewashing,
to relieve either the admiralty or
the ships officers of all blame.
With the sanction of the British
government, the Cunard Line was
selling people passages through a
declared war zone, under due
notice that its ships were subject
to being sunk on sight by a power
which had demonstrated its ability
and determination to do so.
Yet the admiralty's warnings
seem curiously sketchy. This great
vessel was placed in the hands of
a master who did not even know
that zigzagging was necessary be-
fore a submarine had been sighted.
Capt. Turner took almost no real
precautions, either to avoid attack
or to deal with emergency should
it come.
Yet with the best of prepare
ton it would have been impossible
to abandon such ship within Is
minutes. The real reason for the
tremendous death roll was the
fearful suddenness with which she
sank-and there some sense of
mystery still fingers.
A SSUMING that the torpedo
L n hit against a bulkhead, it
could hardly have opened more
than two main compartments, and
the ship was designed to float
with two compartments filled.
The Germans and German SYM
pathizers seized at once upon that
second explosion, which may
possibly have been internal" and
claimed that the ship must actual
ly been destroyed through the de-
donation of munitions in her
cargo.
The first news was at the
American embassy in London by 4
o'clock that afternoon; it said
nothing, however, about the loss
of life, and the staff was busy with
the preparations for the dinner
that evening to Col. and Mrs.
House.
'At about 7 o'clock the ambas-
sador came home; his manner
showed that something eXtraordi-
nary had taken place"
1t was too late then to postpone
the dinner, and the bulletins be-
gan to arrive with the guests. All
through the evening Mr.. Page read
them out to his company as they
were received. The affair was
"one of the most tragic in the
social history of London"
n
ONE hundred and twenty-four
~ American citizens had been
murdered off the Irish coast. On
Saturday, May 8, the morning
papers were shouting the news in
bigger and blacker headlines than
they had used since the early days
of the war, and their editorial
pages were blazing with horror
and indignation.
This spontaneous blaze of pas
sion was at once, of course, famed
vigorously by every agency OF
Allied propaganda. Mr.. Page has
tened to pour out for the Presi-
dent his Interpretation" OF
opinion here:
THE United States must declare
war or forfeit European respect.
So far as I know this opinion is
universal. If the United States
come in the moral and physical
effect will be to bring peace quick
ly and to give the United States a
great influence in {. so reorgan-
izing the world as to prevent (a)
recurrence (of war;. If the Unit
ed States submit (Slle) will
have no voice or influence in
settling the war or in what follows
for long time to come"
Again the ambassador was play
ing upon what he supposed to be
the weakness of his chief. Per-
hapS it was.
Mr.. Wilson burned the almost
insolent dispatch; but after all,
he too generously commented,
this does not express Pages own
opinion, but what he takes to be
public opinion at the moment in
Great Britain" Such q reaction