THE LUSITANIA TRAGEDY

New Zealand Tablet, 8 July 1915, Page 15

THE LUSITANIA TRAGEDY

throughout the United Kingdom indignation was roused to a white heat when the news was received of the torpedoing- of the Lusitania by a German submarine on the afternoon of May 7. ' The cable messages at the time gave us full particulars of the deed which startled the civilised world, and our Irish exchanges publish many pathetic stories from surviving passengers. An inquest on the bodies of five of the victims was held at Kinsale on May 9, the investigations being conducted by Coroner Morgan. The verdict of the jury was to the effect that the said deceased died from prolonged immersion and exhaustion owing to the sinking of the Lusitania by torpedoes fired without warning from a German submarine. ‘We find/ continued the verdict, ‘ that this appalling crime was contrary to international law and the conventions of all civilised nations, and we therefore charge the officers of the said submarine and the Emperor and Government of Germany, under whose orders they acted, with wilful and wholesale murder before the tribunal of the civilised world.’

The Catholic Death Roll.

Although definite figures are not yet to hand (says an exchange), it is evident that a heavy Catholic deathroll is to be expected. Of the crew alone some 60 per cent, were Catholics, and of those lost fully 300 were members of the various Catholic congregations of Liverpool. The outrage has exacted a terrible toll from the dockside parishes particularly. In the parishes of St. Sylvester’s, Our Lady’s, Eldon street, and St. Alban’s, over sixty homes have been plunged into mourning, while St. Alphonsus’ congregation and that of St. Alexander’s, and St. James’, Bootle, have also suffered severely. On Sunday, May 9, prayers for the repose of the souls of those who had so tragically lost their lives were asked from all the Catholic pulpits. Requiem Masses are being said during the present and forthcoming weeks at all the churches mentioned.

Amongst the passengers who went down with the ship is Mr. T. O’Brien Butler, the noted Irish musical composer, whose death will lie a great loss to distinctively Irish music. Dr. McDermott, surgeon on board the ill-fated liner, was also drowned. lie was a member of the parish of St. Alban’s, Discard, and he, with two other members of the congregation who were lost, was prayed for at that church on Sunday. The famous preacher and writer, Father Basil Maturin, is also amongst the drowned.

The Rev. Father C. Cowley Clarke, who was travelling with Father Maturin, in the course of an interview, said one of the officers told him that six of the boilers were out of commission, and that the ship could not go at more than twenty-two knots an hour, and that they saved 1000 tons of coal on the journey by having these six boilers shut down.

Funeral Scenes

The first funeral of the victims took place at Queenstown on Monday. It was of a semi-military character and was attended by representatives of the Cunard Company, the Cork Corporation, the Queenstown Urban Council, and the County and Rural Councils. A Solemn Requiem Mass was celebrated at Queenstown Cathedral, his Lordship the Bishop of Cloync presiding, in the presence of an immense congregation, which included Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Coke, the representatives of the Naval staff. General Hill, Colonel Ducroft, and Major Wade represented the military headquarters staff. Men from a number of Irish regiments lined the route. From the 48th Royal Irish Regiment there was a party of sixty-eight men at the gates of Queenstown Cemetery to unload the coffins; and a party of one hundred were distributed round the cemetery to prevent the public entering. Dense crowds of silent, tearful men and women watched the procession as it passed through the streets. The American victims are not being interred, but the bodies of those identified were sealed up preparatory to being sent back to New York. Photographs of those not identified have been taken previous to the bodies being placed in coffins.

' v A Shocking Crime. At all the Masses at Queenstown Cathedral on Sunday,< f May 9, prayers were offered for the repose of the souls of the victims: - During the 12 o’clock Mass, Rev. Win. F. Brown, Bishop’s Secretary, made some touching references to the calamity. They were assembled, he said, under the shadow of a great disaster.. Not alone were their hearts sad at the shocking occurrence ■which had taken place so near their doors, but sorrow had been brought into the homes of thousands of people. It was strange that a somewhat similar disaster had occurred three years ago, when one of the most beautiful creations of the shipbuilder’s art was destroyed. In that case, the forces of nature accomplished the destruction. It was purely an accident, which no human foresight could have prevented. It was not so in the present lamentable occurrence. This shocking" crime against civilisation had been thought out with fiendish deliberation. People might wonder that the good God "should allow such things to happen ; but God’s ways were inscrutable, and it was not for mere mortals to endeavor to define why He permitted such things to occur. They could only in meek submission bow their heads to His Holy "Will. It was hard to be patient under such circumstances, and, as far as they were concerned, they could only pray that the merciful God would have pity on those who perished, and give consolation to the afflicted that wore left behind, to whom, in common with all Christians, they extended their most sincere sympathy.