THE ANCONA HORROR.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 November 1915, Page 4

THE ANCONA HORROR.

The sinking of the Italian liner'Ancona adds another to the long list of fiendish cruelties that have marked the enemy's method of warfare. The story is one that seems almost unbelievable were it not for the fact that it is quite in keeping with the cult of frightfulness that has been so conspicuously evident throughout tlie Austro-Gernian operations. This latest horror seems to indicate that there is no limit to the barbaric infamy ot the enemy. Here wc have an outward bound emigrant ship, unarmed and carrying a large number of women and children, chased and shelled by a submarine (either German or Austrian—it matters not which). The submarine overtakes its victim and proceeds to pour hundreds of shells on the helpless vessel, while the shrieks of passengers rend the air. Not content with shelling the ship, the submarine turns her guns on the lifeboats fdled with terrified crowds, and treats those struggling in the waves with derision. No one can read the accounts of this callous and inhuman brutality without being thrilled with a consuming desire for a terrible retribution. These cold-blooded murderers seem to delight in the slaughter of women and children, probably because they can do so with impunity—for the time being, but a day of reckoning will surely arrive. Had these monstern biown up the Ancona straight away and left the victims to their fate the deed would have been dastardly in the extreme, but to hover around the illfated vessel and keep up a continuous shell-fire was an act that could only be perpetrated by such enemies as we are now fighting. Throughout tlie civilised world this foul deed will arouse horror and indignation. We must not forget that it is these fiends who, if allowed to conquer, would over-run New Zealand and what they would do besides can readily be Imagined. As a stimulant to recruiting the sinking of the Ancona should be a lever that v. ill raise the martial spirit in the breast ot every true man.