The Forrest City times., 1912-04-26

5 Beasley of London. ono of the pas sengers on the ill-fatsd steamer:
 The voyage from Queenstown had been quite uneventfui; very fine weather was experienced and the sea was quite calm. The wind had been westerly to southwesterly the whole way. but very cold. particularly the last day: in fact. after dinner on Sun day evening 1t was almost too cold to he out on deck at all. I had been in my berth for about ten minutes. whom. at about 11:1b D. m, felt a slight Jar, and then. soon after, a second one. but not sufficiently large to cause any anxiety to any one. however nerv- ous they may have been. However, the engines stopped immediately aII- ervards. and my first thought was She has lost propeller l went up on the top fboat deck in dressing gown and found only few people there. who had come up similarly to inquire why we had stopped. but there was no sort of anxiety in the minds of any one.
 CARD PLAYERS SAW ICEBERG.
 We saw through the smoking room window game of cards going on and went in to inquire if they knew any thing; 1t seems they felt more of the Jar. and looking through the window had seen huge iceberg go by close to the side of the boat. They thought We had just grazed it with a glaneing blow and the engines had been stopped to see if any damage had been done. No one, of course. had any conception that she had been pierced below by part of the submerged lee berg. The game went on without any thought of disaster, and I retired to my cabin to read until we went on again. l never saw any of the players or the onlookers again. A little later, hearing people going upstairs. went out again and found every one want ing to know why the engines had stopped. No doubt many were awak- ened from sleep by the sudden stop ping of . vibration to which they had become accustomed during the four days We had been on board. Natural. 1y. with such powerful engines as the Titanic carried. the vibration was very noticeable all the time. and the sud den stopping had something the same effect as the stopping of loud tick ing grandfather's clock in a room
 "On going on deck again I saw that there was an undoubted list down wards from stern to bows. but, know ing nothing of what had happened. concluded some of tho front compart- ments had filled and weighed her down. went down again to put on warmer clothing and as dressed heard an order shouted:
 LIFEBoATs ORDERED.
 "'All passengers on deck with life belts on
 We all walked slowly up with them tied on over our clothing. but even then presumed this was wise pre- caution the captain was taking, and that We should return in a short time and retire to bed There was a total absence of any panic or any expres- sions of alarm. and suppose this can be accounted for by the exceed fngly calm night and the absence of any signs of the accident. The ship was absolutely still and except for a gentle tilt downward. which don't think one person in ten would have noticed at that time. no signs of the approaching disaster were visible. She lay just as if she were waiting the order 10 go on again. when some trihing matter had been adjusted But in a few moments we saw the covers lifted from the boats, and the crews allotted to them standing by and curling up the ropes which were to lower them by the pulley blocks into the water
 We then began to realize 1t was more serious than had been supposed. and my first thought was to go down and get more clothing and some money. but seeing people pouring up the stairs decided it was better to cause no confusion 10 people coming up by doing so. Presently We heard the order:
 WOMEN TORN FROM HUSBANDS.
 "'All men stand back away from the boats and all ladies retire to next deck below,-the smoking room deck or deck. The men all stood away and remained in absolute sl- lence. leaning against the end railiugs of the deck or pacing slowly up and down. The boats were swung out and lowered from A deck When they were to the level of B deck. where all the ladies were collected the ladies got in quietly. with the exception of some who refused to leave their hus- bands. In some cases they were torn from them and pushed Into the boats, but in many instances they were al- lowed to remain because there was no one to insist they should go.
 Looking over the side, one saw boats from aft already in the water, slipping quietly away into the dark ness. and presently the boats near 10 me were lowered and with much creaking as the new ropes slipped the pulley blocks down the s~h