The Wilmington morning star., 1940-05-11

order.
inc had disappeared. The water
was dotted with men and women
clinging to all sorts of wreckage.
captain Turner was the a S to
leave. He calmly walked down the
ladder as the ship went under. He
chung to a floating chair for two
hours until he was picked up by
rescue boats.
Accounts agree, generally, that
the passengers behaved well, al
though there was a panic in the
storage. There were many Incl
dents of quiet bravery in that quick
rendezvous with death.
Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, the
American millionaire, whose( body
never was recovered) took off his
life preserver and handed it to an
hysterical woman. The last thing
he was heard to say was to a fellow
passenger:
dCG . So OS1OW III 5SS - k1AO4O
are any Riddles left"
Charles Frohman, the New York
theatrical producer, lame and ill,
stood passively by while women
and children were being thrust into
the life boats.
To a woman, who was saved, he
said, casually:
Death? What is death b ut a
beautiful adventure?"
His body was brought back to
New York for an impressive fune-
raj.
Rescue ships combed the seas for
living and dead. Survivors w e r e
taken to Queenstown, now Cobb.
There were pathetic, heart : break
ing scenes in the temporary
morgues for days as friends and
relatives tried to identify the dead.
Most touching of all were the bod
les of babies and small children.
The survivors, many of them in
jured or suffering from exposure,
were cared for by the Queenstown
people. Later relief funds W e r e
raised here and abroad.
The days that followed were TAX
en- up by diplomatic usage. On
May 10. the German government
cabled its sympathy for the loss of
American lives but at the same
breath maintained the responsible
ity was Great Britain's.
The Lusitania was armed, said
the Kaiser's government. Ameri-
cans had been warned not to travel
on ships of belligerents in the war
zone. The ship had carried war
material. The owners knew of this
and therefore they must bear the
responsibility.
The British government said it
was wholly false" that the boat
was armed. Dudley Field Malone,
collector of the port of New York,
said he had personally inspected
the ship before sailing and that she
carried no guns, mounted or un-
mounted.
It was shown, in subsequent in
vestigations, that the liner carried
200 cases of cartridges for small
arms, not enough to cause the ter
rifle explosions which the Germans
charged had caused the sinking aft
er the torpedo struck.
A court Of inquiry in London
placed the blame on Germany. A
coroner's jury charged the Kaiser
personally with 1.-The crime of will
full and wholesale murder"
Years later there rel damage
suits amounting to millions of dol.
lars. Plans were made at various
times to raise the ship and recover
its cargo. They never materialized
After the war, Admiral Won Tir-
pitt, father of the German navy,
who was target for much criticism,
wrote a personal narrative which
reflected the German view point.
He said, in part:
1.-The Lusitania was listed in the
English navy as an auxiliary cruis.
er and the English regulations pre-.
scribed that she should have or
board, even in peace times, the
necessary arms and munitions.
The commander of tn e German
submarine which did the sinking
was not aware at the moment
when he had to make his decision
; that it was the Lusitania that loom,
ed up before him, still less that she
had a large number of passengers
on board.
He therefore acted simply in &C.
cordance with his instructions anc
dispatched his torpedo. =.
Let us suppose that the com.
mander of the submarine was, a
the moment of forming his resol1.
ton, actually aware that he hac
the Lusitania before him; in that
case he could not have avoided the
bitter reflection that the unlawful.
cargo, if not sunk, would cost the
lives of $1,000, 20, 1000 or perhaps
even a greater number of his fellow
countrymen.
II can not believe that any officer
OF the American navy, finding him.
self in such a position, would have
refrained from making use of the
only means at his command fol
preventing such a holocaust.