Nevertheless, Zeppelin died of a broken heart. From a military point of view his campaign has proven a complete fiasco,—just as Americans long ago predicted that it would, and his "frightfulness" gas bags are now on the scrap-heap.
4. TIRPITZ AND THE SUBMARINE MURDERS.
For a submarine to sink a war vessel with all on board is merely war, no more and no less. No one whines about atrocities of that sort. All the world does object, however, and very strongly, too, to the sinking of unarmed passenger steamers, hospital ships, and Belgian relief ships. All such acts of murder as these are the acts of monsters, not of men. Of course we know that Germany sees her doom, and her people are wild over the certainty of defeat. But even a 90 per cent. defeated prize-fighter must not deliver a foul blow.
The submarine murders are so well known to Americans as to require no comment; but a few murder statistics will be worth while, lest we forget.
| March 28, 1915. | Steamer | Falaba | 111 | lost |
| May 7, " | " | Lusitania | 1198 | " |
| June 28, " | " | Armenian | 30 | " |
| Aug. 19, " | " | Arabic | 30 | " |
| Nov. 7, " | " | Ancona | 208 | " |
| Dec. 30, " | " | Persia | 385 | " |
| March 24, 1916. | " | Sussex (Channel boat) | 52 | " |
Hospital Ships Maliciously Destroyed by the German "Navy."
| Portugal. | March 17, 1916 | 45 | Red Cross nurses lost. |
| 40 | of the crew. | ||
| Britannic. | Nov., 1915 about | 50 | lost. |
| Asturias. | March 20, 1915 | 43 | lost. |
| Gloucester Castle. | March 30, 1915 | all wounded saved. | |
| Donegal. | 41 | lost. | |
| Lanfranc. | (152 wounded Germans | 19 | British wounded lost. |
| saved by the British Navy!) | 15 | German wounded lost. |
On a very few occasions, a few German submarine captains have acted humanely, and some even gallantly; but all these acts have been besmirched by the acts of cowardly and brutal men who have deliberately fired upon hospital ships and open life-boats loaded with men attempting to save themselves from drowning. In one celebrated instance a U-boat captain and his crew came out upon their deck, and at close range jeered at drowning men and women who were struggling in icy water.
And here is the latest feat of the brave and gallant German "navy":
On July 31, 1917, 200 miles from land a German submarine engaged in combat and sank the unarmed British freighter, Belgian Prince. They assembled the entire crew of 40 men on the submarine's deck, stripped from them their life-belts, and smashed all their life-boats, with axes. Then the brave Germans went below, closed their hatches, ran on the surface for two miles, then suddenly submerged. Thirty-eight were drowned, but two lived to be picked up and tell the story.