Recording Campaigns on All Fronts and Collateral Events From
May 18, 1918, Up to and Including June 18, 1918
President Wilson signed the new selective draft bill on May 20,
and issued a proclamation designating June 5 as the day when all
young men who had reached the age of 21 since June 5, 1917, should
register. Figures given out by the War Department on June 15
indicated that 744,865 men had responded. On May 23, Major Gen.
Crowder announced that an amendment to the law, compelling men not
engaged in a useful occupation either to apply themselves to some
form of labor contributing to the general good, or to enter the
army, would become effective July 1.
On May 27 President Wilson addressed the Congress urging the
enactment of a new revenue bill during the present session.
Hearings were begun at once by the House Committee on Ways and
Means.
The German Government on April 20 offered to free Siegfried Paul
London, an alleged American, held in custody by the Germans in
Warsaw, in exchange for the release of Captain Franz von Rintelen,
and threatened reprisals against Americans in Germany in case the
offer was refused. Secretary Lansing, on June 4, sent a reply
through the Swiss Minister, flatly refusing to comply with the
demand, and indicated that if reprisals were undertaken the United
States would retaliate.
Indictments charging conspiracy to commit treason against the
United States and to commit espionage were returned on June 7
against Jeremiah A. O'Leary, John T. Ryan, Willard Robinson, Emil
Kipper, Albert Paul Fricke, Lieutenant Commander Hermann Wessels,
and the Baroness Maria von Kretschmann, reported to be a kinswoman
of the German Empress. Dr. Hugo Schweitzer and Rudolph Binder, now
dead, were also named in the indictment. O'Leary, who had fled
from justice after being indicted for conspiracy in connection
with the publication of The Bull, was taken into custody in
Washington on June 12.
General Peyton C. March announced on June 15 that over 800,000 men
had been sent abroad.
A supplementary note from the Netherlands Government was delivered
to the State Department on May 22, contending that Secretary
Lansing's reply to the original protest against the seizure by the
United States Government of Dutch merchant shipping in American
ports did not fully answer the objections.
German submarines began to raid shipping off the eastern coast of
the United States on May 25. On June 3 it became known that twelve
ships had been sunk. They were the schooners Hattie W. Dunn, the
Edward H. Cole, the Edward Baird, the Isabel B. Wiley, the Samuel
C. Mengel, the Samuel W. Hathaway, and the auxiliary schooner
Hauppauge, and the steamships Texel, Winneconne, and the Carolina.
Twelve lives were lost on the Carolina. The schooner Edward was
attacked, but was saved and towed to port. Mines were set afloat
by the submarines, and the tanker Herbert L. Pratt struck a mine
off the Delaware Capes, but was raised and saved. Precautions were
taken at once to guard against air raids on New York City and
other places near the coast.
On June 4 the Norwegian steamship Eibsvord was sunk off the
Virginia Capes, and an American destroyer interrupted an attack
on the French steamer Radioleine about sixty-five miles off the
Atlantic Coast.
The British steamer Harpathian was sunk off the Virginia Capes
without warning on June 6, and the next day the Norwegian steamer
Vinland was sunk in the same area.
On June 9 the American steamer Pinar del Rio was sunk seventy-five
miles off the coast of Maryland.
Two Norwegian steamers, the Vindeggen and the Henrik Lund, were
sunk on June 10 100 miles east of Cape Charles, and on the same
day an American transport fired at a U-boat off the New Jersey
coast.
Germany announced on June 9 that seven submarines were operating
in American waters.
The sinking of two Norwegian barks, the Krinsjoa and the Samoa,
off the Virginia coast was announced on June 16.
The American oil tanker William Rockefeller was sunk in European
waters on May 18. Three lives were lost.
The American troops transport President Lincoln, bound for the
United States, was sunk in the naval war zone on May 31. Four
officers and twenty-three men were lost.
The Argonaut, an American ship, was torpedoed off the Scilly
Islands on June 5.
The Irish steamer Inniscarra was sunk on May 24 on the way from
Fishguard to Cork. Thirty-seven members of the crew were reported
missing. Another Irish ship, the Innisfallen, was sunk in British
waters on June 7 and eleven lives were lost. News was received
on June 14 that an Irish fishing fleet of about twenty ships was
torpedoed on May 31 between County Down and the Isle of Man.
The sinking of the British steamer Ellaston was announced on June
6. On June 12 announcement was made that the British transport
Ausonia had been torpedoed in the Atlantic while on her way
westward.
The Köningen Regentes, a hospital ship, was sunk off the English
Coast, June 6.
The Swedish steamer New Sweden was torpedoed in the Mediterranean
Sea on May 30, and on June 14 word was received that the Swedish
steamship Dora had been sunk without warning and nine members of
the crew killed.
An American ship arriving at an Atlantic port from the war zone on
June 1 reported that an American destroyer had sunk two submarines
within a half hour. A British transport, arriving at an Atlantic
port on June 8, reported that she had sunk two U-boats, and two
British ships that reached the United States on June 11, each
reported the sinking of one U-boat. Senator Weeks announced on
June 15 that twenty-eight submarines had been sunk by the American
Navy since Jan. 1.