Salt Lake Tribune | 1916-03-05 | Page 1 | Austria must Apologize to this Country

AUSTRIA 1ST APOLOGIZE TO ISJIlTRf United States Preparing to Make Formal Demands as Result of Attack Upon Petrohte NOTE WILL BE SENT WITHIN FEW DAYS Story of Submarine Com mander Disproved by Am davits of Captain and Crew of U S Vessel WASHINGTON March 4 The Ln ted States s prepar ng to make formal demands upon Austr a Hungary as a result of the atta k by an 4.us tr an submarine upon the Amer can tank steamer Petrol te A note on the subject w 11 be dispatched within the next few days It was author tat velv stated ton ght that the Un ted States would stand by Its or ginal contentions and ask for an apology for the attack pun shment of the submar ne commander and repara t on for the damage done to the vessel and injur es nfl cted on a nember of the crew who was h t by a p ece of shell Austria s Excuse In reply to the f rst American com mun cat on on the subject Austria in formed the 6tate department that ts vers on of the affair was that the sub mar ne commander thought the Petro lite an enemy sh p d sg used with the I Amer can flag that he f red on the vessel because he believed t waB about to ram h s sh p and that the command er of the Petrohte voluntar ly furn shed prov s ons when asked to do so The state department s nee has secured n format on from the capta n and crew of the Petrolite d rectly contradictory to the Austr an vers on Story Refuted They have declared in aff dav ts that the Petrol te was stopped in the Mediterranean by an Austr an subma nne which f red a number of shells at her that the submar ne commander asked for food wh ch the commander of the Petrol te refused to g ve h ra and that the commander ot the sub mar ne then held one of tl e members of the tanker s crew as a hostage wh lo h s men went aboard the sh p and took such stores as they desired