On May 7, 1915 The RMS Lusitania, a large passenger British ocean liner, was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat off the coast of Ireland in Germany’s declared “Zone of War.”  The sinking took 18 minutes and in total 1,197 passengers and crew died, 128 of them Americans, and 763 were rescued.  One known victim and one survivor are buried at Mount Auburn.

Leslie Lindsey Mason (1886 – 1915)
Lot 6462, Cherry Avenue

Leslie Lindsey Mason, 28, traveled on the Lusitania in April 1915 for her honeymoon following her marriage to Stewart Mason of Ipswich, England.  They planned to settle in England.  Leslie and Stewart both died in the sinking of the Lusitania.  Her body was recovered and returned to Mount Auburn.  Her memorial at Mount Auburn is marked with the hymn title “The King of Love my Shepherd Is.”  Although remembered in the Lindsey family lot at Mount Auburn, Stewart Mason was buried in England.

The jewels that Leslie Lindsey mason was wearing at the time of her death, rubies and diamonds given to her by her father, William Lindsey, as a wedding gift, were sold to fund the construction of the Leslie Lindsey Chapel of the Emmanuel Church.  Additionally William Lindsey donated 560 musical instruments to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts to create the Leslie Lindsey Mason collection to honor Leslie’s strong appreciation for the arts.

Charles E. Lauriat, Jr. (1874 – 1937)
Lot #6598, Goldenrod Path

Charles E. Lauriat Jr., 40, was a bookseller in his father’s firm Charles E. Lauriat Company and a survivor of the sinking of the Lusitania.  Lauriat was on the ship for a routine business trip to England.  After the attack he remained on deck to help women and children with their life belts before he was forced into the water.  He was pulled aboard by one of the nearby lifeboats and picked up by a rescue boat.  Once ashore he helped other survivors find food, clothing and medical attention, using his own funds to do so.

After returning to Boston, Lauriat wrote his account of the disaster, The Lusitania’s Last Voyage.  He went on to become president of the Charles E. Lauriat Company, the largest book-importing firm in New England.