BAR ALONG CASE, THE

On August 19, 1915, the steamer Nicosian, with a cargo of army mules from America, was torpedoed by a Ger. submarine about 60 m. off Queens town, and a boarding party was sent to finish off the ve el with bombs. The Brit. armed auxiliary Bar along, disguised as a tramp steamer, came on the scene and sank the U-boat with gun-fire. Ger. crew put off in a boat to Nicosian. The Amer. cattlemen, observing that the Germans in the first boat carried bombs, allowed them on board, and then battered in their heads with furnace bars. The second boatload met a similar fate. Nicosian proceeded to Avon mouth. In Noy. the Ger. Government sent a protest to Brit. Government, and adduced sworn statements by cattlemen that the men of Bar along murdered the crew of the submarine as they were struggling in the water. The documents were thoroughly discredited. Germany demanded that the men of Bar along be tried for murder. On Dec. 14 Sir Edward Grey offered to submit the case to a tribunal of Amer. naval officers, provided that Germany agreed to have three incidents of Ger, barbarism investigated at the same time. The offer was declined, and Ger. threatened ruthle zeppelin warfare in retaliation. The agitation was skillfully worked up in ee, as an excuse for more ‘frighte .’