One of the affidavits is made by Gustav Stahl of 20 Leroy Street, New
York City. He says:
On the day prior to the sailing of the Lusitania, I was
asked by my friend, A. Lietch, who was employed as first
cabin steward, to help him to bring his trunk aboard. In the
course of the evening we went on board, without being
hindered by the quartermaster on guard. After having
remained some time in the "gloria," (steward's quarters,) we
went to the stern main deck. About fifteen to eighteen feet
from the entrance to the "gloria," on port and starboard,
respectively, I saw two guns of twelve to fifteen
centimeters. They were covered with leather, but the barrel
was distinctly to be seen. To satisfy my curiosity I
unfastened the buckles to ascertain the calibre of the guns.
I could also ascertain that the guns were mounted on deck on
wooden blocks. The guns were placed about three feet from
the respective ship sides and the wall could be removed at
that particular place.
On the foredeck there were also two guns of the same calibre
and covered in the same manner. They were placed at about
fifteen to twenty feet from the entrance of the crew's
quarters, and four feet from the ship side, where the wall
could also be removed.
Josephine Weir, who describes herself as a New York boarding house
keeper, provided another affidavit. She swore that Lietch, who is
named in Stahl's statement, told her he was to sail on the Lusitania
as a steward, and when she spoke of the danger from German submarines,
he said:
"Oh, I am not afraid. We have four big brightly polished copper guns."
A man named Grieve has an affidavit that he heard Lietch make this
statement to Mrs. Weir.
In an affidavit furnished by one Bruckner it is stated that he saw a
cannon on the Lusitania. He was standing on the dock in New York at
the time, he avers.
The affidavits were supplied to the State Department by the German
Embassy in order to support the allegation, contained in the German
response to President Wilson's note of May 13, that the Lusitania was
an armed vessel.
By The Associated Press.
WASHINGTON, June 2.--The four affidavits as presented to the State
Department by the German Embassy alleging that guns were carried by
the Lusitania are believed to constitute the evidence to which the
German Government referred in its last note. Should it develop that
the Foreign Office had been misinformed, German diplomatists said, an
acknowledgment of the mistake would not be withheld.
These affidavits were not made public by either the embassy or the
State Department, but the character of the individuals who made them
and their testimony is being made the subject of a quiet
investigation. Those officials who had seen the statements, however,
were confident that they could not be accepted as disproving the
testimony given by Inspectors whose duty it was to search for guns.