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Show Canadian Liner Is Torpedoed . Wthoutttaming Hesperian Keeps Afloat, However, and all on Board Are Saved. Twenty Injured I Washington, Sept. 5. oniclal Washington received nows of the torpedoing of tho Allan liner Hesperian Hesp-erian by n German Bubmarlno with unconcealed surprise, though there was nono of tho gravo anxiety that followed tho sinking of tho Arabic. Whllo comment was withheld at both tho White- Houso and the. state department de-partment pending detailed reports on tho attack It wbb learned tliat high olllcials regnrded It as Inconceivable that, after tho assurances given by tho German government last week, a German submarine commander bad without warning launched a torpedo at a peaceful passenger vessel. President Wilson and Secretary Lansing heard of the Incident Hrst early today through Associated Press dispatches. Later cabled reports from Ambassador Pago at London and Consul Con-sul Frost at Queenstown announced the torpedoing of tho Hesperian. Two Amorlcans wero said to nave been among the members of tho crow. The reports as mado public by tho state department mado no mention of whether the vessel was warned or attempted to escupo but It Is known that other advices lndlcnteJ whllo tho British admiralty bclloved there had been no warning It would not announce It as a fact. Somo significance was attached to Cansul Frost's statement that tho Hesperian carried mounted and visible visi-ble on her stern a 4.7 inch rlflo. Whllo International law permits merchantmen mer-chantmen to havo guns for defensive purposes, particularly when thoy aro of small calibre and mounted aft, It was pointed out that If tho Allan Un-or Un-or acted at all suspiciously after being be-ing approached tho presence of this gun probably would llguro prominently prominent-ly in tho submarlno commander's ex-nlanatlon ex-nlanatlon of tho torpedoing. London, Sept. 5. Tlio Allan lino steamer Hesperian with 350 passengers passeng-ers and a crow of 300 aboard hound from Liverpool for Montreal, was attneked without warning by a German Ger-man submarlno off tho Irish coast Just as darkness was fa'llng Saturday evening. Although tho torpedo found Its mark tho vessol remained afloat and according to n stntemont Issued by tho company tonight ovcry-ono ovcry-ono aboard was saved. No submarlno was seen and probably proba-bly It was too dark to observo the wako of a torpedo, but all tho passengers passen-gers nnd members of tho crow who arrived at Queenstown in tho rescuo Bteamors todny ngroe that tho nttack was mado by a German undersea boat basing their opinion on tho force of tho shock nnd tho great volume of water thrown into the air. This dropped drop-ped back on tho dock, drenching the passengers who wero tnklng nn after dinner promenado, feeling qulto safe In tho belief that thoy had passed tho danger zono. Twenty Passengers Injured Tho forco of tho explosion was tremendous tre-mendous nnd of tho passengers landed land-ed at Queenstown, many of them scantily scan-tily clad, about twenty wero Injured. Thoro woro no American passengors aboard, so far as tho American consul con-sul could learn tonight, but two members of tho crow were American citizens and thoy wero both saved. About thirty Canadian soldiers, who wero wounded In bnttlo In Flandors, woro going homo to rccupernto, Most of tlio other passengers wero Canadians Canadi-ans returning from a visit to Eng- lnnd or English pcoplo on their way to Canada to sottlo. Deny That Liner Was Armed Montreal. Sept. 5. Olllcials of the Allan lino hero' tonight doubt th" statoniont of American Consul Frost at Queenstown, who In a dispatch to Washington .said that tho Hesperian carried a 4.7 Inch sun. "So fnr as wo know," said ono of tho ofllolals of tho company, "tho lies-porlan lies-porlan did not carry a Bun." Cables received by tho Allan Hnr stated that tho Hesperian', badly down by tlio hoad, wns proceeding to Queenstown by her own steam. Two Biltlsh destroyer's, ono mossago said, had taken off sovontyftour passengers passen-gers and nil hut tho captain and twenty twen-ty of tlio crow. |