The Cunard liner _Lusitania_ was yesterday torpedoed by a German submarine and sank. The _Lusitania_ was naturally armed with guns. Moreover, as is well know here, she had large quantities of war material in her cargo. BERLIN OFFICIAL REPORT, _May 8, 1915._ This report is not correct. The _Lusitania_ was inspected before sailing, as is customary. No guns were found, mounted or unmounted, and the vessel sailed without any armament. COLLECTOR PORT OF NEW YORK, _May 9, 1915._ The sinking of the British passenger steamer _Falaba_ by a German submarine on March 28, through which Leon C. Thrasher, an American citizen, was drowned; the attack on April 28 on the American vessel _Cushing_ by a German aeroplane; the torpedoing on May 1 of the American vessel _Gulflight_ by a German submarine as a result of which two or more American citizens met their death; and, finally, the torpedoing and sinking of the steamship _Lusitania_, constitute a series of events which the Government of the United States has observed with growing concern, distress, and amazement. FROM UNITED STATES NOTE TO GERMANY, _May 13, 1915._ [Illustration] _THE LUSITANIA--HEROD'S NIGHTMARE_ "_Are they crying 'Mother'--or 'Murder'?_" This represents not merely piracy, but piracy on a vaster scale of murder than old-time pirates ever practiced. This is the warfare which destroyed Louvain and Dinant and hundreds of men, women, and children in Belgium. It is a warfare against innocent men, women, and children traveling on the ocean, and our own fellow-countrymen and countrywomen, who are among the sufferers. It seems inconceivable that we can refrain from taking action in this matter, for we owe it not only to humanity, but to our own national self-respect. COL. THEODORE ROOSEVELT. _May 7, 1915._ [Illustration] _VICTIMS OF GERMAN KULTUR_ Whatever be the other facts regarding the _Lusitania_, the principal fact is that a great steamer, primarily and chiefly a conveyance for passengers, and carrying more than a thousand souls having no part or lot in the conduct of the war, was torpedoed and sunk without so much as a challenge or a warning, that men, women and children were sent to their death in circumstances unparalleled in modern warfare. UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT'S NOTE TO GERMANY. [Illustration] _THE VERDICT_ "_It is the Hour, come_" We find that this appalling crime was contrary to International law and the conventions of all civilized nations, and we therefore charge the officers of the said submarine, and the Emperor of the Government of Germany, under whose orders they acted, with the crime of wilful and wholesale murder before the tribunal of the civilized world. We desire to express our sincere condolence with the relatives of deceased; the Cunard Company; and the United States of America, so many of whose citizens perished in this murderous attack on an unarmed liner.