Volume 17 , Issue 15

100 Years Ago, 18 May 1915, Tuesday

One hundred years ago today, 18 May 1915, Tuesday, The Guthrie Daily Leader, out of Guthrie, Oklahoma, printed this front page headline a week after the sinking of the Lusitania: "Germany To Justify Torpedo Attack On Liner Lusitania."

Paris, May 18 (1915) -- Germany's reply to the American note on the sinking of the liner, Lusitania will be sent that Thursday in May, 1915. According to the Matin's Amsterdam correspondent, it would justify the torpedo attack on the steamer on the grounds that the submarine commander had affirmed in his report that only one torpedo was fired which convinced him that the second explosion was due to the fact that the ship carried munitions of war.

The report was said to state that the torpedo was fired in such a way that the Lusitania would not have sunk if she had not had explosives aboard.

The Berlin Taglische Rundschau, commented on the the reports that the Lusitania incident had caused a growing insight in America. He said, "This insight probably will lead to the discovery that England really is guilty party because it took ammunition on board a passenger steamer in contravention of the American laws."

After quoting the statue which it argues covers this point, the Taglische Rundschau concluded, "According to American laws, the captain of the Lusitania ought to go to prison."

De Bott said, "America can not make out a case. Germany is clearly within her rights."
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