Titanic Disaster.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 259, 2 May 1912, Page 5

Titanic Disaster.

THE SCENE BETWEEN DECKS.

RECOVERING THE DEAD. "DISTORTED WITH TERROR." THE FATAL ICEBERG. By Cable—Press Association—Copyright Received 1, 10.30 p.m. London, April 1. A etoker states that when the Titanic struck the iceberg her starboard side came in with a noise like the explosion of a big gun, and there was a rush of water into his section, which was a third of a ehip's length from the bow. All hastily retreated into the next section, dragging Shepherd, whose leg was broken, with them. He believe that the whole of the ship's side was ripped from the bow to the stokehold. The stokers went on deck, but the engineers remained and kept the suction pumps going. 'They died at their posts. Halifax, May 1. The steamer Mackay Bennett found 106 bodies 1 , including those of 18 women. One hundred and sixteen were buried, owing to their being in an advanced ■tate of decomposition and lack of accommodation. The remainder were landed 1 , ninety coffined and 100 coffinless, all of which are awaiting identification. Two thousand five hundred dollars were found in Astor's pockets. Many bodies were mutilated, the arms and legs being shattered 1 , probably due to the explosion. i The men's watches stopped at ten minutes past two. There was evidence of a fierce struggle for life, the faces of the dead being distorted with terror. The steamer found an immense black : berg, badly shattered, which was the. cause of the disaster. NO HIGH-SPEED CLAUSE. A DELAYED WIRELESS.

New York, May 1. Boxhall gave evidence that he heard the captain say. twenty minutes after the collision: "The Titanic is doomed." Andrews so informed the Captain, after examining the ship and finding the hull ripped open.

Mr. Ismay, recalled, denied that the mail contract contained a high-speed clause, though a stipulation existed for a minimum speed of sixteen knots. It had been his intention to try tlie Titanic for five or six hours on Monday to see what she could do. He advised the New York office of the sinking early on Monday. The message was not received till Wednesday. * The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission at Pittsburg has struck a gold medal, inscribed, "The Titanic's heroes and heroines." It will be deposited in the Washington Museum.

VALUABLE JEWELLERY. Loudon, April 30. Lloyds learn that Mrs. Widener's necklaces, one worth £BI,OOO and two worth £30,000 apiece, were saved from the Titanic. THE PRESS STORIES. ASTOR'S WILL. New York, April 30. Marconi, correcting himself, said that he instructed the Carpathia's operator to send news of the disaster, but he did

not reply. Mr. Sammis gave evidence that each operator received 750 dollars for the press stories. Colonel Astor's will provides for both his first wife, who divorced him, and his second wife, but the bulk of his immense fortune is left to his son William Vincent Astor. The property amounts to £30,000.000. Mrs. Robins, whose husband was lost in the Titanic, is suing the White Star Company. Subpoenas to Messrs. Ismay, Lightoller, Boxhall, and Bride have been issued, to give evidence before the Admiralty Court.

STREWN WITH THE DEAD. PITIABLE SIGHTS. Ottawa, April 30. The steamer Maekay Bennett has arrived here. She states that bodies were found over an area of forty miles, among them being several women in night clothes. A group of thirty, including women, was found alongside an overturned lifeboat, which is believed to have been afloat for some time after the Titanic's foundering, as a red skirt had; been attached to an oar as a signal.

SURVIVORS' STORIES. "OOLD-BLOODED MURDER." LAST WOMAN TO LEAVE SHIP. Sydney, April 23. The following are some of the details of the great shipping tragedy given in the cables from New York to the Australian newspapers:— Mrs. Henry B. Harris, widow of the millionaire theatrical manager, one of those lost in the Titanic, speaking to a press interviewer, said:—"The 1500 people who were lost were not drowned; they were murdered, cruelly and foully: The true story of the wreck which I will tell, and all will second, will make the world awaken to the horror of this disaster. I was the last woman to leave the ship. Our husbands were torn from us that room might be made for the crew. Before I left the ship I learned of the carelessness with which the Titanic had been handled, and which amounts to cold-blooded murder. The men who were responsible for this crime must pay for it." Mrs. Harris is suffering severely from the effects of her shipwreck experience, and the doctors say that it will he weeks before she will be well enough to give evidence before the Committee of Investigation. SAILORS WHO WOULD NOT ROW. A Mr?. Smith, a young widowed bride, who was saved, tells a surprising story of mis-statements and censorship aboard the lifeboats and the Carpathia. She

says that there was plenty of room [ aboard many of the lifeboats, sufficient I to have permitted the husbands to have accompanied their wives. | _ Mrs. Smith also states that the sailors in the boat in which she was refused to take a turn at the oars, and allowed the women to row. More than this, she had, so she alleges, to borrow money to pay for wireless message fees, and these were not delivered. The passengers aboard the Carpathia were, according to her story, all asked to sign a paper agreeing not to talk to any newspaper men when they landed. A Mr. Hogue, a clergyman aboard the Carpathia, declares that he learned from j survivors that every lifeboat could have carried more people, but the officers stood with drawn revolvers and forbade the men to go into the vacant places. "The crew," he says, "were brave enough, God knows, hut a week's drilling would have saved-scores of lives."

THE CHIEF STEWARD'S STORY.

Mr. Wheelton, the chief steward of the Titanic, says:—"On Sunday evening it was quite clear, although a slight fog commenced to rise later on. Many passengers were on deck, while others were in the saloon, where there was dancing and music. Suddenly there was a crash amidships, but no immediate commotion occurred among the passengers, who. did not realise the extent of the danger. The officers have assured us since that they didj' not realise the danger either until the ship began to fill and settle down by the head. "The officers then thought it was time to commence to lower away the boats. On the starboard side ten men were allowed to accompany their wives into the boats, hut on the port side only women and children were allowed in the boats. Men bade their wives and children 'good-bye' just as if they were separating for a short while only. I heard Colonel Astor tell his wife lie would meet her in New York. "I also saw President Taft's chief military aide-de-camp, Major Butt, who was' very calm. He gave orders and controlled the men who were inclined to give way to panic. The ship's musicians played selections from the operas during the excitement following on the first alarm. Later they played, 'Nearer, my God, to Thee!' The people must have been in the boats for about two hours at last when suddenly I saw the boat lurch upward and sink."

A PROPHETIC UTTERANCE. Colonel Archibald Gracie says that before retiring on the night of the wreck he was chatting with Mr. Hays, president of the Canadian Grand Trunk Railway, who said that the Cunard, White Star and Hamburg-American steamship lines were devoting their attention and ingenuity to the attainment of supremacy in the matter of luxury, and in the putting up of speed records. "The time will come," said Mr. Hays, "when all this strenuous effort will be capped by some appalling disaster."

FATE OF CAPTAIN SMITH. Mr. Lawrence Beasley, another of the survivors, said: "Captain Smith was at his post on the bridge until the water was lapping his feet. As wo rowed round the ship we could see him giving his orders to the crew, and there he stood until he quietly jumped into the water. Not much fear was aroused when the sailors said it would be better to place the womenfolk in the boats. It was thought that this was going to be done only as a precaution. Some of the men were nervous, but they had no idea that the ship would sink." Mr. Beasley said that the iceberg with which the Titanic collided was about 90ft above tlie level of the sea. Another passenger says that Captain Smith was washed oil' the bridge, and that he swam back to it, and was there when the vessel went down. It is stated that Captain Smith, when he was washed off the bridge, swam to the rescue of a drowning baby. He then made for a lifeboat, where he surrendered the child and returned to the bridge of the Titanic. Quartermaster Moody declares that the first officer, realising what a stupendous disaster had occurred, shot himself. . v .. ■

DEEDS OF HEROISM. Many stories are told of the heroism displayed not only by men but also by women and even children. Sailors who might have eiijured their own safety deliberately stood aside in order to save the women. On board the boats that put off from the ship were many women who were tugging at the oars. Towards daybreak some of the women attempted to jump into the sea, and had to be forcibly restrained/.

Children who' were old enough to realise the seriousness of their situation did much to cheer their parents, and in this way many of them proved real heroes.

A thrilling story of the disaster is told by an Irish girl, one of the steerage passengers. She says she saw four men from the steerage a lifeboat. An officer jumped forward and shot the whole four of them. The bodies were then thrown into the ocean.

Time and again, the girl says, the officers dragged men out of the boats to make way for the women. One child on board had scarlet fever, and another was suffering from meningitis. An epidemic of measles broke out on board during the voyage.

A BRISK REVOLVER FIRE. Miss Slater, another passenger, says that none on board the ill-fated Titanic deserved more credit and praise than the ship's orchestra. "I was ordered back to bed," she said, "when the first alarm was given. But half an hour later a general order was given to don the lifebelts. The scene on deck was indescribable. A number of the steerage men attempted to seize a boat, but a brisk revolver fire kept them back. Many men fell. "The prompt action of the officers scon restored order."

A BRAVE STEWARD REFUSES A BELT. Mrs. Mayers, who was also a passenger, declares that the officers of the Titanic behaved remarkably well, and acted with wonderful presence of mind in a terrible situation. Strangely enough, the boat in which Mrs. Meyers was rescued was practically empty when it left the sinking vessel. There were only an English girl, a sailor and herself in it. They rowed about for four hours and a half in the darkness. "All the officers of the Titanic," remarked Mrs. Meyers, "behaved wonderfully. Even the stewards displayed great heroism. One of them was seen without a lifebelt, and was asked why he did not have one on. The brave fellow's reply was, "I don't think there are enough to go round."

A NEW ZEALANDER'S ESCAPE. Anions those who had a providential escape from being involved in the Titanic disaster was Mrs. Albert Goldie, better known as Dulcie Deamer, a New Zealandcr. Mr. Goldie, who was formerly the advance agent for the Hugh Ward Comedy Company, and his wife had booked passages by the Titanic. They changed their minds, however, and sailed by another of the. White Star liners, the Olympic, thus narrowly escaping a catastrophe in which they might have perished.

1 STEAD'S STRANGE PARALLEL.

THE OCEAN AS A GRAVE. The following extract from a recent article, "How I Know the Dead Return," published by the late Mr. W. T. Stead in the Review of Reviews, has a peculiar interest now—since the writer's death through the foundering of the Titanic. To support his argument that he knew spirit communication with the other world was possible, Mr. Stead wrote in this article:— In order to form a d finite idea of the problem which we are a liout to attack, let us imagine the grave as if it were the Atlantic Ocean as it appeared to our forefathers. In order to make the parallel complete, it is necessary to suppose that the Atlantic could only be traversed by vessels from east to west, and that ocean currents or easterly gales rendered it impossible for any yoyager from Europe to America to return to the Old World. If Columbus had been unable to sail hack across the Atlantic Europe would after a time have concluded that he had perished in an ocean which had no further shore. If innumerable other voyagers had set out on the same westward journey, and had never returned, this conviction would have deepened. It would have been impossible to convince those they had left behind of their continued existence, and their friends and relations would have mourned the brave! 'Who went hut who return not."

The coincidence of the supposition with ■the circumstances of the writer's death is curious.