River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1912-04-25
Graphic Description Given
BY a Reporter.
LIPS Lives Lost In This Most
Appalling of All Sea Tragedies
Boat Strikes Berg and Then
Boilers ExpIode-Braye Men
and Women Meet Death With
Undaunted Courage.
Az CARTER p. HuRp.


rived on the Carpnthta.
Copyright, 1912, by Pulitzer Publish
ing Company; all rights reserved.
Any violation of this copyright VIII
he vigorously prosecuted by the N.
Y. World.
New York, April 19-Seventeen
hundred lives-the figures will hardly
vary in either direction by more than
a few dozen-were lost in the sinking
Of the Titanic which struck an Ice
berg at 11:45 D. m. Sunday and was
at the oceans bottom 2 hours and 80
minutes after.
The printed rolls of first and Sec
ond cabins, compared with the list OF
the survivors on the Carpathia, show
that of BAL first-cabin passengers, 2l2
were saved, 154 Of them women ana
children: and that of 262 second
cabin passengers, 115 were saved, 1O2
of them women and children. Of the
third-class passengers, 800 In num-
Der, 1876 survive, of whom SO are
women and children.
OF 9S5 officers and crew, 1879, In
GLIDING % women, reached the Car
pathia. A few in each class doubtless
escaped enumeration on the Carpa-
thia.
1888 Are Unaccounted For.
Accepting the estimate of the Car
pathia's officers that TOO survivors
reached the ship, comparison with the
total, 1888, shows that 1858 are un-
accounted for.
There is but the faintest hope that
any of these reached any other ship.
Reports that the California, cattle
ship, may have rescued few persons.
have given merciful respite from ut
ter despair to some of the women.
Cause, responsibility and similar
questions regarding the stupendous
disaster will be taken up in time by
the British marine authorities. No
disposition has been shown by any
survivor to question the courage of
the crew, hundreds of whom saved
others and gave their own lives with
a heroism which equaled. but could
not exceed that of John Jacob Astor,
Henry B. Harris. Jacques Futrelle and
others in the long list of the first
cabin missing.
Officers Knew Icebergs Were Near.
Facts which l have established by
inquiries on the Carpathia, as posi-
lively as they could be established in
view of the silence of the few surviv-
ing officers, are:
That the Titanic's officers knew,
several hours before the crash, of the
possible nearness of icebergs.
That the Titanic's speed, nearly %
knots an hour, was not slackened.
That the number of lifeboats on the
Titanic was insufficient to accommo-
date much more than one-third of the
passengers, to say nothing of the
crew. Most members of the crew
say there were Is lifeboats and two
collapsibles; none say there were
more than 20 boats in ALL The 700
who escaped filed most of the 16 life
boats and the one collapsible which
got away to the limit of their capac-
ity.
"Women First" Rule Enforced.
That the women first" rule. in
some cases, was applied to the extent
Of turning back men who were with
their families, even though not enough
women to fill the boats were at hand
on that particular part of the deck.
Some few boats were thus lowered
without being completely filled, but
most Of these were soon filed with
sailors and stewards, picked up out
OF the water, who helped man them.
That the bulkhead system, though
probably working in the manner In
tended, availed only to delay the
ships sinking, the position and length
of the ships wound ION the starboard
quarter) admitted Icy water which
caused the boilers to explode, and
these explosions practically broke the
ship in two.
BuII<heads Rendered Ineffective.
Had the ship struck the iceberg
head-on, at whatever speed, and with
whatever resultant shock, the bulk
head system Of water-tight compart.
ments would probably have saved the
vessel. AS one man expressed 1t, 1t
was the impossible" that happened
when, with shock unbelievably mild,
the ships side was torn for a length,
which made the bulkhead system in
effective.