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Show BICiS 01 . IP SUNK OFF -" SPANISH GOASTi Italian Steamship Palermo Is Torpedoed; Sailor, Said to Be American, Is Reported Killed. CARGO OF HORSES ON BOARD STEAMER Largest Shipment of High Explosives Also Carried by Steamer on Leaving Leav-ing New York. MADRID, Dec. 5, via Paris, 6 p. m. The Italian steamship Palermo, with twenty-five Americans on board, has been ' torpedoed off the Spanish coast. j One sailor, reported to be an American, was wounded by a shell and died in a hospital at Palafraell, Spam, where' the survivors were landed. Three others were seriously wounded by the torpedo. NEW , YORK, Dec. 5. Tho Italian steamship Palermo left New York Novem- , ber 15 for Genoa and Spczia and was last reported as passing Gibraltar on November No-vember 2S. She carried no passengers, but had on board forty -seven American horse tenders. In addition to horses, she carried a general cargo. The ship was armed, It was said here at ! the offices of Hartfield, Solari & Co., agents of the Navigazione Generale Ital- ' iana, owner of the Palermo. She carried two three-Inch rifles mounted aft. "These guns," said, Mr. Solari, "were carried for defense only." Besides, 85S mules and 163 horses, the Palermo carried 1452 cases of trinitrotoluol, trinitro-toluol, a powerful explosive, and tons of munitions and war supplies. Before the war the Palermo was engaged in passen-ger passen-ger service between Naples and Palermo, Italy, and this port. THOUGHT ARABIA WAS TRANSPORT, SAYS GERMANY WASHINGTON, Dec. 5. A preliminary reply from Germany to the request for information concerning the sinking of the British liner Arabia was cabled to the state department today by the American embassy at Berlin. It said a submarine commander had reported attacking the ship, believing her to be an armed transport, trans-port, and asked that the United States inform the imperial government of any evidence it might have about the incident-and incident-and the character of the vessel. A Similar Case. Secretary Lansing declined to comment upon the communication further than to say that It added nothing to the infor- mation In the haryls of the department. It Is understood t'.on afrie German request ' will be complied tnt'Jiut it is uncertain I whether a statemeTu ot the American gov- , ernment's views will Accompany the in- , formation or be withheld pending a fur- 1 ther communication with Germany. A similar situation exists in regard to the 1 case of the British horse ship Marina, on which six American horse tenders lost their lives, and the character of which : is in dispute. The Arabia, of the Peninsula Penin-sula and Orient passenger line, according to survivors, was torpedoed without warning. warn-ing. One American aboard escaped. A review of facts concerning Germany's recent submarine. activities is in the hands of President Wilson and action on any of these cases at issue awaits word from him. In the meantime officials of the state department are more than ordinarily reticent ret-icent about discussing the situation. Sinking of Chemung. It was announced at the department today to-day that Austria -Hungary had been asked to make an investigation of the sinking of the American steamer Chemung in the Mediterranean November 2S. The question ques-tion of whether the vessel carried more than 50 per cent contraband cargo, Justifying, Justi-fying, in the opinion of some authorities, the sinking of a neutral craft which a captor is unable to take into port, apparently appar-ently is the only point at issue In this case. The Chemiincr was sunk by an Austrian Aus-trian submarine after warning, and the members of the crew in their boats were towed to within five miles of shore. Late in the day a brief consular dispatch dis-patch announced the sinking of the Italian Ital-ian steamer Palermo, with twenty-five Americans aboard, eff the Spanish coast. It gave no details. News dispatches showing show-ing that the ship, armed with defense guns and loaded with horses and munitions for the allies, was shelled before being torpedoed led officials to believe that she had attempted to escape after being warned, and thus had lost her Immunity from attack. MODIFY ORDERS ON SUBMARINES AROUND NORWAY COPENHAGEN, via London. Dec. 5. A dispatch to the Politiken from Stockholm Stock-holm says that Norway has agreed to modifv the reecnt decree concerning tlie operations o? belligerent submarines In Norwegian territorial waters. Also that she has agreed to supply Germany with 15 per cent "of her entire catch of fish, as compared with 30 per cent heretofore. Germany, in return, according to the dispatch, agrees to supplv Norway with more coal and fishing tackle. Land Steamer Crew. LISBON. Dec. 4. via Paris. Pec. 5, 11 : 1 5 p. m. (delayed). The English liner Yc-'na has landed here eighteen men of the -rew of the Portuguese fteamer Sao Nieolau. (Continued on Page Two.) - t I Hi Sill" 1 SUMKEN SHIP (Continued from Page One.) 1 formerly the German steamer Dora Horn, sunk by a submarine. The fate of the remainder re-mainder of the crew is unknown. The Sao Nieolau was of 2670 tons gross. She was last reported at St. Vincent, Cape Verde islands.. PALERMO SINKING IS REPORTED TO THE GOVERNMENT By International News Service. WASHINGTON, Dee. 5. Slate department depart-ment officials were advised tonight of the destruction of the Italian steamer Palermo by a submarine off the Spanish coast. Twenty-five Americans were unofficially unof-ficially reported to have been on the vessel, ves-sel, one of whom is said to have been killed, and officials are awaiting with deep concern the details of the vessel's sinking. Oflicials at the department refused to make tonight's dispatch public, but said , information so received did not make it i clear whether the submarine complied ; with the promise given by the Berlin government to the United States in re- i gard lo the submarine warfare. It was learned tonight that the ad- I ministration is preparing an inquiry to the Austrian government regarding the sinking of the American vessel Chemung, ! also torpedoed off the Spanish coast. In-1 formation in their possession makes it appear ap-pear that the Chemung . carried contraband contra-band and that none of the rules of international inter-national law or warfare were violated when the vessel was destroyed. The one : American on board the Chemung was rescued res-cued Willi tiie balance of the ship's company. DUFFY DECLARES CHEMUNG SINKING ENTIRELY UNJUST VALENCIA. Spain, Dec. 4, via Madrid ! and Paris. Dec. 5, 10:30 a. m. Captain John T. Duffy of the American steamship steam-ship Chemung, which was recently sunk by; a submarine off Cape Gata, Spain, j said to the Associated Press today: j I consider the torpedoing of the j Chemung absolutely unjust. We carried car-ried a general cargo worth S2.UO0.0OO and had no contraband whatever. Jacobsen, the third mate, was on the bridge. He sighted the submarine subma-rine at a distance he judged to be two miles. We received no warning or any signal. The submarine began firing. The first shot missed the ship. The second shattered the bow. The Chemung hove to. The submarine subma-rine approached and ordered the first officer of the Chemung to come aboard with the ship's papers. After a brief inspection, the submarine approached ap-proached and ordered the crew to take to the boats, giving ten minutes for the purpose. The crew, without baggage, got into the two boats. The submarine fired two shots and immediately im-mediately afterward a torpedo, which struck the ship. The submarine then conducted the boats to within five miles of the Spanish coast, where it . left them. A little later the Spanish steamer Glner took them aboard and brought them to Valencia. The American consul at Valencia reported re-ported to the state department on November No-vember 29 that the Chemung was sunk by gunfire and a torpedo from a German submarine. |