War news and more

The headline in the February 7, 1918 The Philadelphia Inquirer read: "1000 American Troops Lost When Submarine Sinks Transport Tuscania; 1100 Are Rescued".  By the 8th the headline read: "Tuscania Missing Drops to 113; 101 Dead Says Dispatch from Ireland".  And by the 9th the headline was: "126 American Dead Recovered; Tuscania Missing...166".

The Evening Public Ledger on February 7 is headlined: "210 Lost, 2187 Rescued From Torpedoed Troop Ship; 145 U.S. Soldiers Missing".

While the figures evolve over the three days, newspapers having only telegraph dispatches to rely on, it is clear that the initial figures were high.  Mary's diary entry on February 8 of "over two hundred of our dear of [sic] soldiers who were on their way lost their lives" suggests that her source was the Evening Public Ledger from the day before.  It is not always clear how much of her information was directly from the newspapers or by word of mouth from her sisters or others.  Her spelling, particularly of proper names, is inconsistent and in this case instead of referring to the Tuscania, she wrote "Crustiania".

Review of the 1940 U. S. Census indicates that Mary had an 8th grade education.  Her sisters, based also on documentation in the 1940 U.S. Census, reportedly all had four years of high school.  Her education being limited to 8 years might account for Mary's spelling challenges.  It is not clear why she only achieved 8th grade.  Was it related to problems with learning, or could the family dynamics have changed or did Mary suffer a major depression when her oldest sister died of tuberculosis around the time Mary would have entered high school?