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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (April 20, 1912)
THE liLK: O.V1AU-. Allh'UAV. Ai'Kil- Jk 1DJJ. UYES ARE GIYEN FREELY Crew and Cabin Passengers Exhibit Unsurpassed Heroism. BAUD FLAYS FAMOUS OLD SONG Tilortaoiln Go ta Death as Ski' Striae Ban Sends Oat Strata of "Nearer M Gad -to Tae. ... i-. -" ..vm aV. ""-aw -W Tf v, .-.. Ov One er ton (Continued from Kighth rage.) with the costliest of fur cloakee, ascend ing the ships side. As such joy as the first sight of our ship may have given them had disappeared from their fares and there were tears and signs of falter ing as the women were helped up the ladders or hoisted aboard tn swings. For lark of room to put them, several or the Tltantlc's boats, after unloading, were set adrift. "At our. north was a" broad ' tee field, the length of hundreds of -parpathias. Around us on other .sides', were sharp and glistening peaks. One. black berg, seen about 10 a. m. was' said-to be that which sunk th Ttta-iilcj - Wtrelaee-Oaeratar- Basy, "In his tiny house over 'the second cabin smoking room, was , Herald Cotton, the Marconi operator, a ruddy English youth whose work at his post, on what seemed ordinary1 duty, ' until almost mid night, had probably saved the Uvea of the huddling hundreds below. "Already he was knitting his brows over the ' problem of handling the mes sages which were coming la batches from the pursers office. The haste which these Marsonlgrama were prepared by their senders was needless. In view of the wait, of two days and two night for a land connection. "The California, a cattle ship, came near' us and though It gave no sign of having any of the Titanic refugees on board, Its presence In the vicinity gave hop to many women who were encouraged In the belief that the California might have picked up their loved one. ' - - "lrv John Jacob Aator and . the tontess ot Homes bad beta taken to state rooms soon- after their arrival on " ship board. Those who talked with Mr. A st or said she spoke often of her hus bands ahilffy, as an ear-man and said he could save himself if he had a chance. That he could have had such a chance. she seemed.- -hardly to hope. - "To anotner stateroom a tall dark man had been conducted, his head' bowed, anguish la his face. He was Uruce la may, head Of the. International Mercan tile marine and chief ownof .the Ti tanic and' her slsterhip, the Olympic He has made the maiden voyage on each of fits .'company's great - ships. He re mained. In his room In a physician's care - during the voyage back to New York Captain Kostron, his only caller, was not admitted to see him until Tuesday evening. "Robert Hlckenn, one of the six sur viving quartermasters of the Titanic, the man who was on duty at the wheel when the ship struck the Iceberg, told me the story of th wreck on tho Car ' pathia Thursday. Story' of Foarto Officer. "Save for th surviving fourth officer, Beahalh. whoso lips are sealed, Hlckens ' saw Sunda iilglna 1 tragedy : at, closer. 1 range than any man now living. HI tory waa:;. f .- " '1 went on watch at S o'clock Sunday night and stood by the man at the wheal until 19. At U I took' th wheel fur two hours. On tho bridge from 10 o'clock were First Officer Murdock, Fourth Officer Boxhall and Sixth Officer Moody. In the crow's nest (lookout tower) were Fleet and another man whose nam I do not know. " 'Second Officer IJghtoller. who was on watch while I stood by, carrying messages und the like from to 1. sent me soon after to tell the carpenter to look out for tho fresh water supply as It might be In danger of freeslng. The temperature waa them about It degrees. He gave th crow' nest a strict order to look out for small Icebergs. " 'Second Officer Ughtoller was re lieved by First Officer Murdock at 10 and I took the wheel then. At 11:46 three gongs sounded from tho -crow's nest, the signal for 'something right ahead.' " 'At the same time one of the men in the next telephoned to the bridge that there was something right ahead. As Officer Murdorks hand was right on the lever to stop the eng-nes the crash came. He stopped the engines, then Immediately by another lever closed the watertight doom. Captain t ome oa Deck. " 'Th skipper (Captain Smltht, cams from the chart room onto the bridge. His first words wer Clo th-emergency doors.' " They're already closed sir,' Mr. Mur dock replied. " 'Send to the carpenter and tell h In to sound the ship.' waa the skippers next order. The mesasge was sent to the car penter. The carpenter never' came up to . report. He was probably th first man on that ship to lose his life. " The skipper looked at the commua ator, which show In what direction the ship Is listing. He saw that ah carried five degree list to starboard. " The ship waa then rapidly settling forward. All th steam sirens were Mow ing, lly the skipper order ien In the next few minutes the engines were put to work st pumping out the ship, distress signals acre sent by Marconi and Ho. k ets were sent up from the bridge by vuartermaeter Howe All hands were or dered on deck and Ufa belts wer sewed on to every passenger. "The stewards and other hands helped the sailors In getting the boats out. Th order for women and children first, was given and enforced. There was no panto. " 'I waa at the wheel until It was my duty to stay there until relieved. I was not relieved by anyone else, but was simply sent away by Second Office IJghtoller, who told ma to take coarse of a certain boat and load it with women " I did so. and there were thirty-two women, a sailor and myself in the boat when It was lowered some time after 1 o'clock; I can t be sure ot t'me. The TUante had sixteen lifeboats and two collapsible boats. All of them got away loaded, except that one of lb col lapsible did not open properly and was used as a raft Forty sailors and stew ards, who wer floating in the water, got on thia raft, and were picked up by the different boau. Some others were floating; about on chairs when packed up. " 'Every boat, so far as I saw. was full when It was lowered, and every boat that set nut reached the rarpatr..L The green i:xht of the boat helped to keep us together, b-lt there mere other ii&nts. One as an electric flashlight that a gentleman had carried In his pocket. f Our beta was yards array wbea th snip went dowx. The suction thereby must have been terrible, but wo were only rucked Somewhat. " 'I heard two revolrer shots, as every one did. I cannot say wbo fired any of them. 1 have only told what I know and What I (bail tell any marine court that may examine me. " Mlewa Off Oeek ar EauJaoloa. tJ. Tfhlteman of Palmyra, N. J, the Titanic barber, was lowering boats on deck after the collision and declares tho officer on the bridge. Second Officer Murdock promptly worked tn electrical apparatus for closing the water-, tight compartments. He believes that they were In some way so damaged by th crash that tin front com part menu failed to close tightly, although the rear ones were secure. "Whlteman's manner of escape was unique. Ho waa blown off the deck by the second ot tho two explosions of the boilers, and waa tn the water more than two hours before ho waa picked up by a raft. " The explosions,' White-man said, were caused by the rushing In of th fey water on the boilers. A bundle of deck chairs, roped together, was blown oft the deck with me. and I struck my back, Injuring my spine, but It served as a temporary raft. " The crew and passengers bad faith in tho buikbead system to koto th ship and wa were lowering a collapsible boat i all confident th ship would get through IMRil Of Hartford In its accident department alone, on the Victims Hundreds of thousands of dollars more straight . life insurance was also carried by4his great insurance company increasing the total liabilities to approximately one and one-half million dollars a - This telegram tells the story: This is the largest amount of insurance loss ever incurred through a single calamity and the Travelers, because of its lead in the in surance world, bears several times the losses of any other company For either life or accident insurancethe safe company for every man Moral: "Insure in the Travelers.' TOM S. KELLY, General Agent TRAVELERS INSURANCE CO. of Hartford Suite 1331-35 City National Bank Building. : when she took terrible dip forward and (lie water rushed up and swept over th deck and Into th engine rooms. "Th bow want clean down and I caught the pile of chairs aa I waa washed up against the rail. Then cam th ex plosions sad blw m fifteen feet. Kerrrard Casaaartsaeat Fills. "'After th water bad filled tn for ward compartments the ones at the stern could not sav It. They did delay th ship s going down. If it wasn't for the compartments, hardly anyone could have got sway. " The water was too cold for , me to swim and I was hardly more than lot feet away when the ship went down. The suction was not what on would expect and only rooked the water around me. 1 was picked up after two hours. 1 am don with toe a.' "Once on tho deck, many hesitated to enter the swinging lite boats. The grassy sea. the starlit aky, the absence for th few moments of intense excitement, gave them the feeling that here was only some slight mishap that those who got into the boat would have a chilly half tour below and might later be laughed at. .ifesaagt Baadage to djspepeia, liver eon-claims and kid ney trouble is needles. Electric Bitter t th guaranteed lesuedy. Only 50c For sal by Beaton Drug Co. Insurance was of the Hartford, Conn., April 17, 1912 Tom S. Kelly, General Agent The Travelers Insurance Company, Omaha, Neb. The.Travelers have over one million dollars accident insurance at risk on Titanic passengers, and the net losses will greatly exceed all previous calamity records. Losses which would embarrass many companies will be paid by the!, Travelers without delay. JOHN L. WAY, Vice-President Ismay is Blamed for Stifling Messages to the Newspapers NEW YORK. April ll.-That the inter ference ot amateur wireless operator bad little or nothing to do with Ihe diffi culty which the shore stations have ex perienced during the last two days In getting news from the Carpathla. Is the opinion expressed by William Marconi, the Inventor. "Any explanation of the reason wny detailed news of the disaster did not come from the Carpathla lies with the ship's captain or Mr. fcmay." said Mar coni. They are responsible for the silence. The wlrele.-s was not to biaius. Prtvate massage and messages regarding the buslneas of the line passed promptly and continuously. The wireless situation in Xcw York lias been unusually active. 'of course, but there was no s- riotis in terference with leKitimite business. There dt-tibtleas were reasons which promptc-i the Carpathla's officials to defer sending out news of the disaster. The wireless was read if- to carry such business- if it bad beau forthcoming." Mr. M arrant believes- that steamship owners will b furced by Ute Titanic carried by the 1SU1AMC disaster to k.stall greatly Improved wire leu outfits. "Every passenger carrying vessel should be equipped with up-to-date wireless P? paralua. Borne ot that now In use needs Improvement and modernisation. If the Carpathla had met with a disaster similar to that whleh struck the Titanic, mes sages sent from her would not have reached other vessels. The wireless system on the Carpathla has a range of about tno) miles only. The Mauretanta and other large vessels have wireless systems wttr. a rsnge of at leant 0 miles. rnder such conditions the genersl public would hsve been early informed of most of the C: talls of the ca strop he. Peter D. Daly of New York Swims for Six Hours NEW YORK, April 19.-Peter D. Daly! f w York junii-ed from th dlt of' ti.f Titanic afttr it a announced that; there Wf-r only bunts enough for women I and children. As j.e raw tlie ship set- : tliiu; xnidujlly he an am vvay wall all his might to prevent being carried Jon with the su tio-n tf the sinking i-'nor. "Kur six hours 1 beat the water with ha&tis and, 'eel to keep warm," lie said lives of the Titanic 'Then I was picked up by on ot the Carpathian boats which was cruising around looking for survivors. I wss numb with the cold after a fight which I can scarcely bear to discuss. "Even after I recovered from th chill and shock I waa practically prostrated by the nervous strain and every mention of the disaster send a shiver through DM. 'There was no violent Impact when the vessel collided with toe Ice. I rushed to the deck fiom my berth, got a life preserver and when things began to look serious, thrsw myself Into the water. The boat had already begun to settle." Lady Duff-Gordon Says Man Was Shot NEW YORK. April IS. -Lady Cosmo Duff -Gordon, who left In one of the last of the Titanic s boats, said that name had begun to seise some of the remain ing passengers by the time her boat was lowered sa-ay. "live-rone seemed to be rushing for that boat, nearly the but of all. A few men crowded In and were turned back at the point of Captain Hmith's revolver. Several were felled before order wss re stored. "I recall that I was pushed along to ward one oX th boats and helped is. Thai i i i-.x . boat was lowered port way down ea tab davits. Just as We were about to clesfr th ship a man mad a rush to get aboartt and so shot. He waa apparently killed Instantly and his body fell Into th bosk at our feet. No ana made an effort- to move the. body and It remained benench our feet until w wer picked up by th Carpathla. "I saw bodies in th water In all dlres Hons. The poor souls could not ham lived long, for the water was terribly cold." . - ' - V.-ti Taft Will Reply.. - to Roosevelt in ; Newark Speech WASHIXOTOX. ArU .-Presiaeir Taft ha decided to abandon his attitoda of silence under the serere -rltlrlsma which Colonel Roosevelt has made oT him In campaign speeches, and In sorh of his next public addresses will reply t the colonel, probably mentioning htm by name. ' This ws! poslttvei stated today by thoas tn close touch. The president' ne-xl public utterance will be made probabl next week in Newark, ' N. J., and la I-niladelpaU. ij Uv win aBoaa Fermi ta. i cents.