The Lexington Leader (Lexington, Okla.), Vol. 24, No. 35, Ed. 1 Friday, May 14, 1915 Page: 2 of 10
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THE LEX INGTON LEADER
ACCUSED OF WHOLESALE MURDER
CORONER'S JURY PLACES BLAME
FOR WHOLESALE SLAUGHTER
OF INNOCENTS
EXPLOSION OCCURED INTERNALLY
President Wilson, In Philadelphia
Speech, Intimates Attitude of
America Toward German
Method of "Warfare."
.
THECUNARD LINER LUSITANIA
TORPEDOES lUSITANiA
Death List of Nearly Fifteen Hundred
Innocent Non-Combatants Latest
German Exploit
VESSEL SINKS IN TWENTY MINUTES
AFTER BEING STRUCK TWICE
Among the Americans Lost Were Many Persons
of Prominence, Including Elbert Hubbard
Alfred Vanderbilt, Chas. Klien.
and Chas. Frohman
WILL DO NOTHING HASTY IN THIS
CRISIS.
President Keeps His Counsel As Hi
Waits For Full Report of
the Facts.
Italy is believed to have finally is-
sued an ultimatum to Austria and un-
less Franz Josef's government ac-
cedes to the demands the German al-
lies will have one more adversary.
DOCTOR LYNCHED REAR NORMAN
DR. B. E. WARD OF NOBLE TAKEN
FROM JAIL BY MOB.
JAILOR WAS FOOLED BY RUSE
London—The Cunard liner Lusltank, which sailed out of New lork
last Saturday with more than 2,000 souls aboard, lies at the bottom of the
ocean oft the Irish eoast. She was sunk by a German submarine, which sent
two torpedbes crashing Into her side while the passengers, seemingly con-
fident that the great, swift vessel could elude the German underwater craft,
.Were having luncheon.
on board when the ship sailed.
The Lusitania was steaming along about ten miles off Old Head Kinsale
nn the lust leg «f her voyage to Liverpool, when about 2 o clock Friday
afternoon a submarine appeared suddenly and, so far as all reports go, n i
ifwoToroedoeB without warning at the steamer. One struck her near the
«.nd the other in the engino room. The agents of destruction tore t ie
vXl s Bide causing terrific explosions. Four torpedoes were fired at the
Ktanla. her offlcefs say but the two of them missed. The steamer was
flying the British flag when she was struck.
Boats which were already swung out on the davits, were dropped °ver
board and were speedily filled with passengers who had been appalled by
•the desperate attack. A wireless call for help was sent out and immediately
I rescue boats of all kinds were sent out, both from the neighboring points
elong the ooast and Queenstown. ... .
But within fifteen minutes, as one survivor estimated, and certa y
■within half an hour, the Lusitania had disappeared.
Where Great Britain's fastest merchant vessel went down—Old Head
"DON'T ROCK THE BOAT''
Chairman Stone of the senate foreign relations committee made
tblS-The6Tragedy Is. of course, profoundly regretted. IT the reports
as to the loss of life are triu', the sympathies of the civilized world
will be deeply stirred. But for us, it seems to me that good sense
dictates that we .keep our heads until we get our bearings It is a bad
time to get rattled &nd act impulsively. Don t rock the boat.
PRESIDENT WILSON WILL GO SLOW
Secretary Tumulty: "Of course the president feels the distress
and the gravity of the situation to the utmost and is considering very
earnestly but very calmly the right course of action to pursue. He
knows that the people of the country wish and expect him to act with
deliberation as well as with firmness.
STAND BY THE FRESIDENT
John Field's paper the Oklahoma City Times:
In this crisis, those to whom the naUon's dentiny is committed
should have the loyal and unquestioning support of people and states
truly united to work for the welfare, not only <fi themselves but of
all mankind.
Klnsale— Is a landmark that has brought joy to many travelers, as it always
stood as the sign from shore that the perils of the voyage on the Atlantic
^^Therrw^re several hundred American citizens on board Among the
most prominent were Elbert Hubbard and wife. Alfred G. Vanderbilt, Chas.
Klein the playwright, Chas. Frohman, the theatrical magnate.
Immediately the news of the torpedoing of the Lusitania was received
at Queenstown the admiral in command of the naval station dispatched to
the scene all assistance available The tugs Warrior. Stormcock and Julia,
together with five trawlers and the local lifeboat In tow of a tug ere
The Lusitania was seen from the signal Btatlon at Klnsale to be In
difficulty at 2:12 p. m. At 1:33 p. m. she had completely disappeared. This
Indicates that the liner wis afloat twenty-one minutes afte' what evidently
waB the beginning of her troubles.
Oklahomans And Texans On Board. —
Mr and Mrs. Isaac Lewis and their daughter, Edith, 5 years of age, who
from August, 1914, until a short time ago made their home in Oklahoma City,
were passengers on the Lusitania, according to Oklahoma City friends. Tney
came to Oklahoma from Liverpool and were returning to their former home.
While In Oklahoma City they resided at 947 West Thirteenth street. Mr.
Lewis was connected with the Williams Cotton Company. They were all
rescued
R J Timmls and R. T. Moody of Gainesville, Texas, two of the largest
cotton buyers Vn Texas and Oklahoma, were also aboard the Lusitania when
8he sailed. Tin mis is reported amon g the rescued.
Washington—President Wilson, up-
on whom the eyes of the world are
focused at the present moment, stud-
ied in quiet seclusion the aspects of
law and fact in connection with the
sinking by a German torpedo of the
British liner Lusitania with a conse
quent loss of many American lives.
The latest reports from the Amer-
ican ambassador, places the American
loss at 115.
The great human tragedy coupled
with the responsibility of the hour
caused the president to deny himself
to all callers, even to members of his
official family, while ha turned over
In his mind the course to be pursued
by the United States government In
one of the most serious crises In Its
history.
The only glimpse of the working of
the president's mind was given when
the White House issued its first formal
comment on the disaster. The an*
nouncement was made that the presi-
dent realized the country expected him
to deal with the situation "with delib-
eration as well as firmness.'
When the German admiralty pro-
claimed the waters around Great
Britain and Ireland a war zone and
warned neutral vessels against the
dangers that lay therein, the United
States did not admit Germany's right
to place hazards in the way of Ameri-
can vessels or lives. There was no
distinction drawn then as to whether
the representations of the United
States covered Americans traveling on
belligerent or neutral craft, but offi-
cials informally disclosed later that
the note had been purposely phrased
so as to cover both contingencies.
The language of the American note
was everywhere recalled as a possible
index of the policy to be pursued. In
a note to Germany the United States
government pointed out that if Ameri-
can lives were lost or on American
vessel sunk, "the government of the
United States weuld be constrained to
hold the German government to a
strict accountability and to take a*iy
steps necessary to safeguard American
lives and property a>nd to secure to
American citizens the full extent of
their acknowledged rights on the high
seas."
Information gathered among officials
of the government and in diplomatic
quarters tended to confirm the belief
that plans for the destruction of the
Lusitania were made several weeks
ago. The German embassy was in-
structed to advertise In the leading
newspapers against traveling on bellig-
erent ships. Anonymous warnings
were then sent to individuals who pro-
posed sailing on the Lusltajiia. Most
significant of all were letters received
here from officials in Germany by pri-
vate persons stating that the Lusi-
tania surely would be destroyed.
At the German embassy here while
no comment was made as to whether it
was known there that the vessel was
to be destroyed, it was said the em-
bassy knew the Lusitania carried arms
and ammunition and being advised of
tho resolution of the German admiral-
ty to attack ships that carried such
contraband, officials had believed she
would be attacked.
Physician Killed Wife "Last Tuesday
While In Drunken Rage.—De-
fense Was "Insanity."
Vanderbilt a Brave Man.
London.—Thomas Slidell of New
York, who was interviewed in London,
said he saw Alfred Q. Vanderbilt on
the deck of the Lusitania as the ves-
sel was going down. Mr. \ anderbilt,
who could not swim, was equipped
with a life belt, but he gallantly took
it off, Mr. Slidell said, and placed it
around the body of a young woman.
Then he went off to seek another life
belt. The ship sank a few seconds
later.
Cotton and Stocks Take A Sudden Big Tumble
New York.—Wall Street shook from
center to circumference Friday after-
noon when confirmation of the sinking
of the Lusitania was received. A gen-
eral collapse followed the news with
such excitement as has not been wit-
nessed since the war began.
The news created a painful Impres-
sion in all circles. International bank-
ers refrained from expressing any
opinion as to the effect ol the tor- j
pedoing of the British liner upon the
duration of the war. The belief was
expressed, however, the situation had
reached a most acute phase so far as
it might affect Washington's attitude.
Bethlehem Steel, which had attained
a new record of 159, was the first stock
to feel the efTect of the wave of selling,
making an extreme decline of 29 points
to 130. Westinghouse Electric, anotbur
war specialty, meanwhile broke 21
points, Amalgamated Copper 12 points
and many other stenif&rd shares as
well as stocks of untried merit from
6 to 10 points.
The cotton market likewise col-
lapsed.
October eontractfs, which had sold
at 10.15 shortly after midday broke to
9.67 In the late trading which made
a decline of $2.60 per bale as compared
with the previous day's closing prices
and of fully $6.50 per bale .'rom the
high rwxr* of April 21.
Norman.—Evidently believing that
the man would be decreed insane and
never forced to expiate his crime, a
mob of a dozen masked white men
from Noble, early Sunday morning
took Dr. B. E. Wara, slayer of his
wife, from the Cleveland county jail
and hanged him to a tree two miles
south or Norman.
The man was strung up, not more
than two feet from the ground and
permitted to strangle. No shots were
fired and no disturbance was made.
Two hours later Mb dead body was
found by Sheriff Claud Pickard. The
mob had disappeared and there were
no clues to the identity of its mem-
bers.
Ward had been practip^g his pro-
fession at Noble for three years. His
death by mob violence followed a crfme
declared never before equaled in the
Mate for cold bloodedness and brutal-
ity. He killed his wife at their home
in Noble at 8 o'clock last Tuesday night
while neighbors were breaking through
locked doors in answer to the woman s
screams for help. They found the man
bending over his wife giving her the
second of two stabs in the heart with
a six-inch knife used by surgeons.
Their 7-months<old child was lying
nearby. He was overcome by the res-
cue party and hurried by the sheriff
to the county jail at Norman to avoid
all possibility of mob violence.
All thought of an attempt at sum-
mary punishment had been given over
by Sheriff Claud Pickard, when he kept
a special guard over Dr. Ward at the
county jail for three days and nothing
happened. Thus it was that there was
no one at the jail but the jailer when
the party, in three automobiles, called
at 1:30 Sunday morning and worked
a clever ruse to get the prisoner.
"This is Leslie with a prisoner," the
leader of the party shouted to Jailer
H. C. Cottrell, rattling on the door.
W. A. Leslie is a deputy sheriff at No-
ble. The jailer was aroused from sleep
put on his trousers containing his
keys and opened the doof for the men
to enter. As they came through the
door two of them seized the jailer,
handcuffed him and topk Wis keys.
The physician was found in a cell,
tied and thrown into a waiting auto-
mobile. The jailer was placed in an-
other and driven two miles south of
town where the keys to the handcuffs
were placed in his pocket, and he was
ordered to walk back to Norman. The
night agent at the Santa Fe removed
the shackles when the jailer got back
to the station half an hour later.
Sheriff Packard was aroused imme-
diately and set off with two deputies
south of town.
They found the physician hanging to
a small elm tree with his feet swing-
ing not two feet from the ground, but
dead for at least two hours from stran-
gulation. There was no bruise or other
mark on the body.
Last Tuesday night Dr. B. E. Ward
stabbed bis wife to death, while he
was in a drunken frenzy. All day
Tuesday lie had been under the influ-
ence of liquor, grbwing gradually
[ worse until about 8 o'clock Sheriff
j Pickard at Norman was notified that
I Ward's condition warranted the man's
1 being placed in jail. Before Sheriff
Pickard arrived in Norman, Ward
I locked himself and Mrs. Ward in a
room of the Ward home.
Mrs. Ward could be heard calling
for help and Ward could be heard tell-
ing his wife that If anyone broke down
the door to the room he would kill her
and them. Neighbor^ finally broke
open the door and when they entered
the room they saw Ward sitting on the
prostrate body of his wife.
In one hand he held a surgeon's
knife, which he sunk into the body of
his wife before the neighbors could in-
terfere. The knife blade was six
inches in length. Dr. Ward stabbed
his wife twice •• 1
London.—The Cunard line steamship
Lusitania, which was sunk last week
off Old Head Klnsale by a submarine,
was struck by only one torpedo, accord-
ig to the testimony of Captain Turner
of the steamer, given at the coroner's
inquest at Klnsale. But this deadly
missile found a vital spot and sent the
liner to the bottom in less than twetny
minutes, carrying with her o'-er a
thousand souls. — .
The evidence of Captain Turner,
which cleared up many other points
concerning the disaster, and that of
other members of the crew of the ves-
sel with a general knowledge of the
situation led the jnry to bring in a
verdict of "wholesale murder" against
the German emperor and his govern-
ment and the officers of the submarine
directly responsible for the sinking of
the ship.
Second Explosion Internal.
Meanwhile the cause for the heavy
loss of life, the absence of any naval
escort for the threatened vessel, and
the suddenness with which she sank,
The coronor's jury which sat at Kin-
sale, Ireland, on the Lusitania victims,
returned a verdict charging William
Hohenzollern, Emperor of Germany
with wholesale murder.
M, E. CONFERENCE DATES SET
AFTER SESSION OF BISHOPS AT
ST. LOUIS.
• ••••J*********"®
• THE VERDICT. •
"We find that the deceased met •
death from prolonged immersion •
and exhaustion in the sea eight 0
miles south-southwest of Old •
Head Kinsale, Friday, May 7, 0
1915, owing to the sinking of the •
Lusitania by torpedoes fired by a O
German submarine. ®
"We find that this appalling •
crime was committed contrary to •
international law and the conven- •
tion of all civilized nations. •
"We also charge the officers of •
said submarine and the emperor •
and government of Germany un- %
der whose orders they acted, with •
the crime of wholesale murder 0
before, tbe tribunal of the civilized •
world. ®
afford room for much speculation.
Captain Turner in declaring that one
torpedo did all the damage, said the
second explosion which the passengers
heard was an internal one and that the
engines having been put out of com-
mission it was impossible to stop the
Lusitannia and permit her boats be-
in glowered properly.
On the question of wny no naval es-
cort accompanied the Lusitania, Mr.
Churchill explained in the house of
commons that the policy of the ad-
miralty is that merchantmen must
look after themselves. This policy is
due to the fact that the admiralty had
not sufficient destroyers to escort all
merchant §hips, they being required
to guard the continuous stream of
transports from England to France and
to protect the English coast from Ger-
man raids.
President Wilson Speaks.
Philadelphia. — President Wilson
gave to a gathering of four thousand
naturalized Americans the first inti-
mation of what oourse the government
will pursue in the situation resulting
from the loss of more than a hundred
American lives on the British liner
Lusitania.
He spoke by implication but his hear-
ers interpreted his remarks as mean-
ing that while the United States would
remain at peace it would seek to con-
vince Germany of the injustice to man-
kind of the tragedy of last Friday.
"America" said the president, "must
have the corfisciousness that on all
sides it touches elbows and touches
hearts with all nations of mankind.
The example of America must be a spe-
cial example and must be an example
not merely of peace because it will not
fight, but because peace is a healing
and elevating inuence of the worldand
strife is not.
I "There is a thing as a man being too
' proud to fight. There is such a thing
as being so right that it does not need
to convince others by force that it is
right."
Frank's Execution June 22.
Atlanta.—Leo M. Frank again was
sentenced to be hung on June 22 for
the murder of Mary Phagan, a factory
girl. Sentence was passed by Judge
Ben H. Hill of the Fulton county su-
perior court. Mary Phagen was killed
on April 26, 1913. Before sentence was
pronounced, Frank made a statement
to the court reiterating his declara-
tions of innocence. No date has been
set as yet by the Georgia prison com-
mission hearing oil Frank's petition
for commutation of the death sentence
| to imprisonment.
Altus and Muskogee to Entertain Ok
lahoma Meetings In
Fall.
St. Louis, Mo.—The bishops of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South,
announced the assignment of bishops*
and their conferences dates for the
next year. The fall meeting of the
college of bishops will be held in Dal-
las, Texas, October 28. The assign-
ments for Oklahoma, Texas and Ar-
kansas and the conference dates fol-
low:
Bishop W. A. Candler, Texas, Mex-
ican mission, Corpus Christi; date to
be announced.
Bishop W. B. Murrah, west Okla-
homa conference, Altus, Okla., Novem-
ber 30; east Oklahoma conference*
Muskogee, November 18.
Bishop H. C. Morrison, German mis-
sion conference, Fredericksburg, Tex.;
October 29. Little Rock conference,
Monticello, Ark., November 17; north
Arkansas conference, Conway, Ark.r
November 24.
Bishop W. R. Lambuth, New Mexi-
co conference, Marfa, Texas, October
27.
Bishop James H. McCoy, west Texas
conference, San Angelo, Texas, Octo-
ber 20; east Texas conference, Long-
view, November 10; central Texas
conference, Corsicana, November 24;
northwest Texas conference, Claren-
don, November 30; north Texas con-
ference, Bonhamr December 1.
Bishop E. E. Hoss, of Nashville*
Tenn, was assigned to conferences
during the ensuing year which will
take him half way around the world.
He will preside at conferences in Chi-
na, Japan, Korea, Cuba and Australia.
It was said sucli a trip was planned for
Bishop Hoss to afford him an oppor-
tunity of regaining his health.
An executive session to discuss
plans for aiding churches in the south-
ern states was held by the church ex-
tension board.
Bishop W. A. Candler will hold con-
ferences in Maxico and Bishop E. D.
Mouzon in Brazil.
The report of the Rev. W. F. Mc-
Murray, corresponding secretary,,
showed a capital fund in the hands of
the board of $671,000, an increase of
$110,000 during the last year. Total
receipts last year were $395,000. The
college of bishops took part in the de-
liberations of the church extension,
board.
r
i
'•j
*4
SITUATION ALARMS THE BRITISH
Villa Controls The Oil Field; Termin-
als In Carranza's Hands.
Washington.—British enbassy off!
cials here seriously are concerned
over the situation in the oil field of
Mexico, upon which the British navy
depends for large quantities of fuel
oil.
Assurances reached the state de-
partment from Tampico that no for
eign owned wells had been set afire
or otherwise damaged at Panuco re-
cently captured by the Villa forces
This served to relieve one source ol
worry at the BritlBh embassy but of-
ficials fear delays and possibly an at-
tempt at double taxation may result
from the fact that while Villa troops
control the producing wells, the Gulf
Terminals at Tampico and Tuxpam
are still in Carranza's hands.
A state department statement said:
"Is is reported from Tampico that
the Panuco river is closed to traffic
above Tamesi. The capture of the
town by General Villa is confirmed
and it is stated that no foreigners suf-
fered any damages."
All Sides Claim Success.
London.—In the fighting that Is In
progress along the battle lines in Bel-
gium and France and in Russia, in the
Carpathians, both the triple entente
and Teutonic allies claim successes at.
various iBolaed spots. None of them,
however, except by Austria and Ger-
many record successes on a great
scale. Even the statements of the
Teutonic allies are reiterations of re-
ports of several days paBt that the
HusBians continue to press back in
Galicia and the Carpathians and that
Hungary is free of enemy forces.
t k
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The Lexington Leader (Lexington, Okla.), Vol. 24, No. 35, Ed. 1 Friday, May 14, 1915, newspaper, May 14, 1915; (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc110673/m1/2/: accessed April 25, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.