Afterward some persons became visible who were busy about a boat.

Of the crew of the submarine, the only ones on deck were those serving the cannon or those necessary for signaling.  It was impossible for them to engage in rescue work, because the submarine could not take on passengers.

Every word is superfluous in defending our men against malignant accusations.  At the judicial proceedings in England no witness dared raise accusations.  It is untrue that at any time the submarine displayed the English flag.  The submarine throughout the affair showed as much consideration for the Falaba as was compatible with safety.

COMMANDER SCHMITZ’S STORY.

[From The New York Times, May 6, 1915.]

J.J.  Ryan, the American cotton broker who went to Germany on March 30 and sold 28,000 bales of cotton he had shipped to Bremen and Hamburg, returned yesterday on the Cunard liner Carpathia very well satisfied with the results of his trip.  He said:

While I was in Bremen I met Commander Schmitz of the German submarine U-28, which sank the British African liner Falaba off the English coast on March 28.  He told me that he regretted having been compelled to torpedo the vessel, as she had passengers on board.  In explanation, he said: 

“I warned the Captain of the Falaba to dismantle his wireless apparatus and gave him ten minutes in which to do it and get his passengers off.  Instead of acting upon my demand he continued to send messages out to torpedo destroyers that were less than twenty miles away, to come as quickly as possible to his assistance.

“At the expiration of the ten minutes I gave him a second warning about dismantling his wireless apparatus and waited twenty minutes, and then I torpedoed the ship, as the destroyers were getting close up and I knew they would go to the rescue of the passengers and crew.”

I mentioned the fact to the commander that it had been reported by some of the survivors of the liner that while the men and women were struggling for their lives in the icy water his crew were standing on the deck of the submarine laughing.  He looked very gravely at me and replied, “That is not true, and is most cruelly unjust to my men.  They were crying, not laughing, when the boats were capsized and threw the people into the water.”

CASE OF THE CUSHING.

[Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES.]

WASHINGTON, May 1.—­Secretary Bryan today received from American Minister Henry van Dyke at The Hague a report on the attack by German aviators on the American steamship Cushing and said tonight that this report would be immediately cabled to Ambassador Gerard at Berlin for his information.  Ambassador Gerard will bring the matter to the attention of the German Government.  The report from Minister van Dyke was very brief, and read as follows: