CHAPTER XVIII THE SINKING OF THE "LUSITANIA" BY GERMAN TREACHERY
How the Dastardly Deed was Planned—Commemoration Medal Prematurely Dated—Sinking Announced in Berlin Before the Vessel was Attacked—German Joy at the Outrage—British Secret Code Stolen—Violations of American Neutrality—False Messages—Authority for the Facts.
So long as the memory of mortal man endures, this dastardly act of German treachery will never be forgotten.
On May 7th, 1915, the SS. Lusitania, a passenger ship of 32,000 tons of the Cunard Line, was sunk by torpedoes, fired at short range from a German submarine off Kinsale. She carried on board 1,265 passengers and a crew of about 694 hands. From this number 1,198 were drowned, including 113 Americans and a large number of women and children.
It is no exaggeration to say that the event staggered the humanity of the world, yet the Kölnische Volkeszeitung on May 10th, 1915, stated: "With joyful pride we contemplate this latest deed of our Navy," etc. The commander of the submarine which struck the fatal blow was decorated, and a special medal was struck in the Fatherland commemorating the event, and dated May 5th—two days before she was actually attacked and sunk.
A copy of it is now before the writer.
It was struck with the object of keeping alive in German hearts the recollection of the German Navy in deliberately destroying an unarmed passenger-ship together with 1,198 non-combatants, men, women, and children.
On the obverse, under the legend "No Contraband" (Keine Banvare), there is a representation of the Lusitania sinking. The designer has put in guns and aeroplanes, which (as certified by United States Government officials after inspection) the Lusitania did not carry, but he has conveniently omitted to put in the women and children, which the whole world knows she did carry.
On the reverse, under the legend "Business above all" (Geschäft über alles), the figure of death sits at the booking-office of the Cunard Line, and gives out tickets to passengers who refuse to attend to the warning against submarines given by a German.
This picture seeks apparently to propound the theory that if a murderer warns his victim of his intention, the guilt of the crime will rest with the victim, not with the murderer.