THE STORY OF THE _LUSITANIA_
The _Lusitania_ was, in the eyes of the German Admiralty, the symbol of
Great Britain’s supremacy on the seas. The big, graceful vessel,
unsurpassed in speed, had defied the German raiders that lurked in the
Atlantic hoping to capture her and had eluded the submarines that tried
to find her course. Time and time again, the Germans had planned and
plotted to “get” the _Lusitania_, and every time the ocean greyhound had
slipped away from them—every time save when the plot was developed on
American territory.
To sink the _Lusitania_, the German Admiralty had argued, was to lower
England’s prestige and to hoist the black eagle of the Hohenzollerns
above the Union Jack. Her destruction, they fondly hoped, would strike
terror to the hearts of the British, for it would prove the inability of
the English navy to protect her merchantmen. It would prove to the world
that von Tirpitz was on a fair way of carrying out his threat to isolate
the British Isles and starve the British people into submission to
Germany. It would be a last warning to neutrals to keep off the Allies’
merchantmen and would help stop the shipment of arms and ammunition to
the Allies from America. It would—as a certain royal personage
boasted—shake the world’s foundations.
Gloating over their project and forgetting the rights of neutrals, the
mad war lords did not think of the innocent persons on board, the men,
the women and babies. The lives of these neutrals were as nothing
compared with the shouts of triumph that would resound through Germany
at the announcement of the torpedoing of the big British ship, symbol of
sea power. The attitude was truly expressed by Captain von Papen, who on
receiving news of the sinking of the _Lusitania_ remarked: “Well, your
General Sherman said it: ‘War is Hell.’”
So the war lords schemed and the plots which resulted in the sinking of
the _Lusitania_ on May 7, 1915, bringing death to 113 American citizens,
were developed and executed in America, through orders from Berlin.
The agents in America put their heads together in a room in the German
Club, New York, or in a high-powered limousine tearing through the dark.
These men, who had worked out the plot, on the night of the successful
execution had assembled in a club and in high glee touched their glasses
and shouted their devotion to the Kaiser. One boasted afterwards that he
received an Iron Cross for his share in the work.
On the night of the tragedy, one of the conspirators remarked to a
family where he was dining—a family whose son was on the
_Lusitania_—when word came of the many deaths on the ship: “I did not
think she would sink so quickly. I had two good men on board.”
WARRIORS AT WORK IN AMERICA
In their secret conferences the conspirators worked their way round
obstacles and set their scheme in operation. Hired spies had made
numerous trips on the _Lusitania_, and had carefully studied her course
to and from England, and her convoy through the dangerous zone where
submarines might be lurking. These spies had observed the precautions
taken against a submarine attack. They knew the fearful speed by which
the big ship had eluded pursuers in February. They also had considered
the feasibility of sending a wireless message to a friend in England—a
message apparently of greeting that might be picked up by the wireless
on a German submarine and give its commander a hint as to the ship’s
course. _In fact, they did attempt this plan._ Spies were on board early
in the year when the _Lusitania_ ran dangerously near a submarine,
dodged a torpedo and then quickly eclipsed her German pursuer.
Spies also had brought reports concerning persons connected with the
_Lusitania_, and had given suggestions as to how to place men on board
in spite of the scrutiny of British agents. All these reports were
considered carefully and the conclusion was that no submarine was fast
enough to chase and get the _Lusitania_; that it was practically
impossible to have the U-boats stationed along every half mile of the
British coast, but that the simplest problem was to send the _Lusitania_
on a course where the U-boats would be in waiting and could torpedo her.
The scheme was, in substance, as follows:
“Captain Turner, approaching the English coast, sends a wireless to the
British Admiralty asking for instructions as to his course and convoy.
He gets a reply in code telling him in what direction to steer and where
his convoy will meet him. First, we must get a copy of the Admiralty
Code and we must prepare a message in cipher, giving directions as to
his course. This message will go to him by wireless as though from the
Admiralty. We must make arrangements to see that the genuine message
from the British Admiralty never reaches Captain Turner.”
That was the plan which the conspirators, aided and directed by Berlin,
chose. Upon it the shrewdest minds in the German secret service were set
to work. _As for the British Admiralty Code, the Germans had that at the
outbreak of the war and were using it at advantageous moments. How they
got it has not been made known; but they got it and they used it, just
as the Germans have obtained copies of the codes used by the American
State Department and have had copies of the codes used in our Army and
Navy. While the codes used by the British officials change almost daily,
such is not the case with merchant vessels on long voyages._
The next step of the conspirators was to arrange for the substitution of
the fake message for the genuine one. Germany’s spy machine has a
wonderful faculty for seeking out the weak characters holding
responsible positions among the enemy or for sending agents to get and
hold positions among their foes. It is now believed that a man on the
_Lusitania_ was deceived or duped. Whether he was a German sympathizer
sent out by the Fatherland to get the position and be ready for the
task, or whether he was induced for pay to play the part he did—has not
been told. Neither is his fate known.
Communication between New York and the German capital, ingenious,
intricate and superbly arranged, was almost as easy as telephoning from
the Battery to Harlem. Berlin was kept informed of every move in New
York and, in fact, selected the ill-fated course for the _Lusitania’s_
last voyage in English waters. Berlin picked out the place where the
_Lusitania_ was to sink.
Berlin chose the deep-sea graves for more than one hundred Americans.
Berlin assigned two submarines to a point ten miles south by west off
Old Head of Kinsale, near the entrance of St. George’s Channel. Berlin
chose the commander of the U-boats for the most damnable sea-crime in
history.
Just here there is a rumour among U-boat men in Europe that the man for
the crime was sent from Kiel with sealed instructions not to be opened
till at the spot chosen. With him went “a shadow” armed with a death
warrant if the U-boat commander “baulked” at the last moment.
BERLIN GIVES WARNING
The German officials in Berlin looking ahead, sought to prearrange a
palliative for their crime. Their plan, which in itself shows clearly
how carefully the Germans plotted the destruction of the _Lusitania_,
was to warn Americans not to sail on the vessel.
While the German Embassy in Washington was kept clear of the plot and
Ambassador von Bernstorff had argued and fought with all his strength
against the designs of the Berlin authorities, he, nevertheless,
received orders to publish an advertisement warning neutrals not to sail
on the Allies’ merchantmen. Acting under instructions, this
advertisement was inserted in newspapers in a column adjoining the
Cunard’s advertisement of the sailing of the _Lusitania_:
=NOTICE!=
=Travellers intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage are
reminded that a state of war exists between Germany and her
Allies and Great Britain and her Allies; that the zone of war
includes the waters adjacent to the British Isles; that, in
accordance with formal notice given by the Imperial German
Government, vessels flying the flag of Great Britain or any of
her Allies are liable to destruction in these waters and that
travellers sailing in the war zone on ships of Great Britain or
her Allies, do so at their own risk.=
_Imperial German Embassy._
_Washington, D.C., April 22nd, 1915._
Germans in New York, who had knowledge that German submarines were lying
in wait off the Irish coast to “get” the _Lusitania_, sent intimations
to friends before the sailing of the ship.
The _New York Sun_ was told of the plot and warned Captain Turner by
wireless after the ship sailed. The German secret service in New York
also sent warnings to Americans booked on the _Lusitania_. One of the
persons to receive such a message signed “morte” was Alfred Gwynne
Vanderbilt. Many other passengers got the same warning that the ship was
to be torpedoed; but they all laughed at it. They knew she had outrun
submarines on a previous voyage and tricked them on another voyage.
Besides, before the horrors of this war, optimistic Americans firmly
believed the world was a civilized place. It was only after the
destruction of the _Lusitania_ that many neutral Americans could credit
the atrocity stories of Belgium.
FATEFUL MAY 1, 1915
So when the _Lusitania_ backed from her pier in the North River on the
morning of May 1, 1915, there was more than the average levity that
makes the sailing of an ocean liner so absorbing. On the pier were
anxious friends somewhat perturbed by the mysterious whisperings of
impending danger. Mingling among them also were men who knew what that
danger was, and who had just delivered final instructions to German
hirelings on board. On the deck of the great vessel, as she swung her
nose down-stream toward Sandy Hook, was not only the man who had
promised to see that the false message in code reached Captain Turner,
but there also were those two friends, good and true, of von
Rintelen’s—men who, in the event that the _Lusitania_ should run into
the appointed place at night, would flash lights from port holes to give
a clear aim to the commanders of the stealthy submarines.
On board the vessel swinging out past Sandy Hook into the ocean lane
were a notable group of passengers, many of them representative
Americans of inestimable value to this country. Besides Mr. Vanderbilt,
there was Charles Frohman, a talented theatrical producer, who had
furnished by his artistic shows genuine amusement to millions; Elbert
Hubbard, talented and inspiring writer; Charles Klein, writer of
absorbing plays; Justus Miles Forman, novelist, and Lindon W. Bates,
Jr., whose family had befriended von Rintelen. Merchants, clergymen,
lawyers, society women, a large list of useful men and women in the
1,254 passengers.
These, added to the crew of 800, made more than 2,000 lives under the
care of the staunch, blue-eyed captain. _Of that number_, 1,214 were
_being rushed over the waves to doom_. And as the ship sped eastward,
submarines leaving their bases at Cuxhaven and Heligoland clipped their
prows under the waves, and made for Old Head of Kinsale on the south
coast of Ireland, where they were instructed to pause, upon sealed
instructions, and obey them to the letter.
Meantime, Berlin, counting almost to the hour when the _Lusitania_ would
near the British Isles, prepared the exact wording for the false
instructions to Captain Turner. This was sent to New York by wireless,
where it was put into British code. The next step was to have this
message substituted for the British Admiralty’s instructions to the
_Lusitania_. The inside details of how this substitution was
effected—can only be surmised. This secret is buried with the British
Admiralty and with the Bureau in Berlin.
BERLIN’S DELIBERATIONS
For such intricate action Germany had been preparing with infinite
patience both before and after the war began. Prior to the outbreak,
representatives of Germany had started the building of the wireless
plant at Sayville, Long Island, by which aerial communication was
established with Berlin. After the war began, the equipment of the
station was increased, and instead of 35 kilowatt transmitters, 100
kilowatt transmitters were installed, the machinery for tripling the
efficiency of the plant having been shipped from Germany _via_ Holland
to this country. Wireless experts, members of the German navy, also
slipped away from Germany to direct the work of handling messages
between the two countries.
Everything was in readiness at Sayville, consequently, to catch the
directions that were flashed through the air. There was an operator
specially trained to take the message coded for the deception of Captain
Turner, and send it crackling fatefully through the air. Everything was
ready and only the request of the operator on the _Lusitania_ for
directions south of Ireland was needed. _All this was in violation not
only of our neutrality laws, but also in disregard of American statutes
governing wireless stations._
Meantime, the vessel had reached the edge of the war zone decreed by
Germany in violation of international law, and Captain Turner sent out
his call for instructions. Presently the order came. It was hurried to
Captain Turner’s state-room.
Captain Turner, carefully decoding the message by means of a cipher book
which he had guarded so jealously, read orders to proceed to a point ten
miles south of Old Head of Kinsale, and run into St. George’s Channel,
making the bar at Liverpool at midnight. He carefully calculated the
distance and his running time, and adjusted his speed accordingly. He
felt assured, because he relied on the assumption that the waters over
which he was sailing were being thoroughly scoured by English cruisers
and swift torpedo boats in search of German submarines.
THE EXPLOSION THAT ROCKED THE WORLD
The British Admiralty also received his wireless message—just as the
Sayville operator had snatched it from the air, and despatched an
answer. The order from the head of the Admiralty directed the English
captain to proceed to a point some seventy or eighty miles south of Old
Head of Kinsale and there meet his convoy, which would guard him on the
way to port. _But Captain Turner never got that message, and the British
convoy waited in vain for the Lusitania to appear on the horizon._
The _Lusitania_ headed north-east, going far away from the vessels that
would have protected her. Swiftly she slipped through the waves on the
afternoon of May 7. Unsuspecting, the ship moved directly toward certain
death. The proud, swift liner steered straight between two submarines,
lying in wait.
The details of what happened after the torpedo blew out the side of the
great ship have been told—told so fully, vividly, so terribly that they
need not be repeated here. As Captain Turner heard the explosion of the
torpedo he instantly knew that there had been treachery. He knew he had
been decoyed away from the warships that were to escort him to his pier.
The manner in which the captain had been lured to the waiting submarines
was made clear at the secret session of the Board of Inquiry that
investigated the sinking of the ship. Captain Turner told at the
Coroner’s inquest how he had been warned, supposedly by the British
Admiralty, of submarines off the Irish coast, and that he had received
special instructions as to course. Asked if he made application for a
convoy, he said:
“No, I left that to them. It is their business, not mine. I simply had
to carry out my orders to go, and I would do it again.”
At the official inquiry, the captain produced the orders which he had
received, directing him to proceed south-west of Old Head of Kinsale.
The British Admiralty produced its message which had directed Captain
Turner to go by an utterly different course. It produced also orders
which had been issued to the convoy to meet the _Lusitania_. The orders
did not jibe. _They showed treachery, and further investigation pointed
to Sayville._
AMERICA REVOLTED AND APPALLED
The indignation and the revulsion of Americans against Germany because
of the destruction of the _Lusitania_ with the appalling loss of life
was a surprise to the Kaiser and his war staff. They apparently had
believed that the warning contained in the official announcement of
Germany, declaring the waters about the British Islands a war zone, and
the advertisement published would be sufficient excuse, and that their
act would be accepted calmly by America. They were not prepared for
Colonel Roosevelt’s invective stigmatizing the act as piracy, or the
editorial denunciation throughout the country. Their effrontery was
displayed by one of their agents, who announced that American ships also
would be sunk. But this agent’s removal from the country and mob
violence threatened other agents was emphatic proof of America’s state
of mind.
Immediately Germany turned as a defence to the argument that the
_Lusitania_ carried munitions of war and other contraband in violation
of the United States Federal statute. But the American laws were quoted
to Ambassador von Bernstorff to prove to him that cartridges could be
transported in a passenger ship. That argument proved of no avail.
Secretary Bryan’s note, written by President Wilson, and forwarded to
Berlin, demanded a disavowal of the sinking of the _Lusitania_, an
apology and reparation for the lives lost. But Germany sought to parley
with a reply that would lay the blame on Great Britain, and asserting
that the _Lusitania_ had been an armed auxiliary cruiser, requested an
investigation of these alleged facts, and refused to stop her submarine
warfare until England changed her trade policy. But this note again
aroused the wrath of Americans.
LIES AND DECEIT
German secret agents began to manufacture evidence to support the
Kaiser’s contentions. Here a hireling of Boy-Ed looms as an obedient
servant of the naval attaché, whether he knew all the facts or not. It
was Koenig, who, using the alias of Stemler, obtained from Gustave Stahl
an affidavit to the effect that he had seen four fifteen-centimetre guns
on the decks of the _Lusitania_ before she left port on her ill-fated
voyage. There were three other supporting affidavits. All these
documents were handed to Boy-Ed on June 1, 1915, and the following day
were in the hands of von Bernstorff, who turned them over to the State
Department in Washington.
It required but little work on the part of Federal agents to establish
the untruth of Stahl’s affidavit. Stahl, a German reservist, appeared
before the Federal Grand Jury, where he again repeated his lies. He was
indicted for perjury and upon a plea of guilty was sent to the Federal
prison at Atlanta.
It was Koenig who had hidden Stahl away after the latter had made his
affidavit, and it was Koenig who, at the command of the Federal
authorities, produced him.
So here again Germany’s efforts to deceive and to justify her piratical
act came to naught, and left her even more damned before the world. Time
came within a few days for President Wilson to reject forcibly the
flimsy defence made by Germany, but before that note was drafted, the
United States authorities by a thorough investigation of Sayville, and a
scrutiny of the German naval officers employed there, discovered that
the fake code message that drove the _Lusitania_ to her grave in the sea
had been flashed out from neutral territory; that the conspiracy had
been developed in America, though the details were not obtainable at
that time as they are presented here.
President Wilson was determined to demand absolute safety for Americans
at sea. Though Bryan resigned, Mr. Wilson sent a note, asserting that
the _Lusitania_ was not armed, and had not carried cargo in violation
either of American or international law. The action of Bryan weakened
the position of America in demanding a cessation of Germany’s submarine
warfare. It gave encouragement to Austria, after Germany had promised to
obey international law, to try a series of similar evasions. It gave
impetus to Germany’s plans to make a settlement of the submarine
controversy and to try to divide Congress on the issue.
The loss to America was 113 lives and a great amount of prestige; to
Germany, a tremendous amount of sympathy. But through it all stand out
the pictures of secret agents, boasters, schemers and reckless
adventurers, one of whom, having aided in the sinking of the _Lusitania_
and the drowning of hundreds of her passengers and crew, had still the
audacity to dine on the evening of this ghastly triumph at the home of
an American victim. One agent high in international affairs, overcome by
the force of the tragedy done in answer to the Kaiser’s bidding, had
still enough decency left to remark:
“Oh, what foul work!”