Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1912-04-24
BAND PLAYED HYMN AS
GREAT SHIP WENT DOWN
Tragic Scene Marked by Hero,
ism of Brave Men.
Crash That Sunk Great Steamer Titanic
Ripped Her Open From Bow
to Engine Rooms.

1
world, crept to her pier in the North,
river at s AS tonight and discharged
to the hysterical embraces of hum
dreds of their crazed friends and,
relatives no survivors of the SO, Goo,
600 Titanic, which went to the bottoms
of the Atlantic ocean on Monday
morning.
The expression of human emotion.
from %, 600 people on shore and from
those rackeG souls who lined the
ships rail reached far beyond the.
limits of written or spoken descrip-.
tion.
The closing chapter of the greatest
of all sea tragedies was enacted
amidst the most stupendous and over
whelming sorrow. Joy at seeing
again loved kin or dear friends was
alleged by grief for the fate of one
equally close who parished
IN SEARCHLIGHT's GLARE.
The search lights of twenty boats,
placed the scene in lurid spotlight.
Women, who had been first cabin
passengers on the Titanic, stumbled,
down the gang plank and were rushed
to waiting limousines or taxlcabs and
hurried to mansions or hotels; men
and women of the steerag9 were
received by customs officials and
entrusted to the care of physicians
and nurses and members of the stock
exchange. who carried in their hands
$25. 900 for the immediate relief of
the needy.
MRS ASTOR MET BY FATHER.
Eye witnesses told of brave DEATH
in the sea that had been in his life
Capt. Smith Mrs. John Jacob Astor
came haltingly down the gang plank
and was rushed away to the home OF
her parents by her fatherless in
law, Vincent Astor. Later she was
reported to have died, which was
absolutely falsB. There were no dead
on slip board. Five bodies had been
buried at sea.
STORIES OF CRASH AGREE
All accounts of the disaster agreed
in the main There was a crash at
midnight on Sunday; a concer ted
rush to the deck to learn the troubles
return TO berths only TO be- sum-
moned back an hour later; fearful
partings at the vessels rail as men
tore their wives from them and thrust
them into the lite boats; the escape
to the ocean waste; the sinking of
the Titanic short time afterward /:
the terrible hours of drifting before
being picked up by the Carpathia.
And first in every description Of
the disaster was the story of how the
Titanic's band sank beneath the
waves with the strains of ''NeaTer
Ny God to Thee coming from their
! instruments.
Travelling at twenty three knots an
hour the Titanic. struck the berg,
which was seventy five feet out of the
water.
STRUCK CHANGING BLOW
The blow was glancing and ripped
the boat from the bow clear to the
engine room. The extent of the
calamity was not realized. The blow,
was so slight that not until the boat.
began to settle did the officers fear
for her safety
The officers and crew busted them
selves rousing the passengers. and ID
was decided to place the women and
children in the life boats.
The sailors, working silently and
without excitement, yet fast as their
hands could move, began to remove
the tarpaulins from the life boats and
-terseIy, without excitement-came
the order repeated on every side:
Women and children in the life
boats. -
The sailors helped the nearest
women and children into the boats
And-it was the beginning of excite
ment-other sailors began to lower
the boats.
NO THOUGHT OF PERIL
Thus far the men. standing idly
by, failing entirely to grasp the
significance of the moment, had
helped the sailors Many of the
passengers report that the men were
laughing.
''We'll be safer here on the ship
than in that cockleshell, one man.
cried to his wife as she was helped
over a rail.
But the Titanic began to settle in
the ocean, and it was difficult for the
men to remain on their feet. Then