New-York tribune., 1912-04-19
SHIPS BAND PLAYS
AS TITANIC SINKS
Mrs. Colin Campbell Cooper Tells
of Magnificent Bravery
of the Men.
FORCED THE WOMEN TO GO
Women First!" Command of
Passengers as Well as Off
GERS When Lifeboats
Were Sent Away.

The band played on the Titanic an in
stant before the ship went down.
Mrs Colin Campbell Cooper, who was
passenger on the Carpathia, told The
Tribune last night that the men had
shown themselves brave beyond compare.
that the women In the lifeboats were per-
factly calm and disnifed when tsken on
board the Carpathia. and that the il1ren
had behaved superbly. She told how Mrs.
r. 3. Harris, wife of the theatrical man.
acer. who was lost he'd struggled against
leaving her husband. and, with Mrs.
Thorne remained on deck untn the men
prevailed on them to jump into collapsible
Nfeboat, the last TO leave the Titanic.
The men told Mrs. Harris and Mrs.
Thorne that they wanted them 70 go: that
the Titanic. they believed. would have a
better chance II all who could leave her
would do So said Mrs. Cooper
Mrs. Jacques Futrelle had departed in
q lifebost a few minutes before. She too
at first refused ito leave her husband. but
he induced her to change her mind by say
fns he wanted her to do so on account Of
their two children in New York
All the Men Brave.
were brave beyond anything When her
coiiapsible lifeboat had gone about a hum
dred yards from the Titanic, not more, the
Titanic sank. She saw crowd Of men.
and knew her husband was one of them
Z rush toward the stern. in an effort to save
sthemselves when the bow began TO sink
: The band was playing. There were waves.
but no suction
caid 'po ana
9had any fear that the Titanic would go
down. Women refused to go into the life
Z boats. They heard the command. Women
Z sarstl' and yet they did not realize the dan
ger. At first many OF the nfeboats were
only partly filed because of the belief in
the minds of all on board that the Titanic
! could not sink,
"All the men stood back. The men were
) ordered to go below; women to the upper
: deck. The men went below without word.
4 Mrs Isidor Straus refused for long time
fto take to the nfeboat-
1.-The theory grew that although the
Titanic was badly injured she would float
indefinitely. Some men and women even
went back to bed. Other men smoked on
the deck. Among many men and women
there was q strong preference displayed 20
stay on the Titanic. Many women did not
go into the hfeboats until they were or
dered. and even then, they told me, they
expected 10 be called back to the Titanic
after little while.
Women Mourn tho Loss Of Men.
THE whole talk of the women after they
got on board the Carpathia was that too
many men had sacrificed themselves. My
life is finished, said one survivor to me-
and these useful men stood without muir
MIR
1.-TWO hundred stokers with black faces
and almost without clothes came up from
below ard saw a lifeboat. Two men
Jumped in and started TO lower It. The
captain cried: Go back TO your place every
one of your And every one OF those men
turned back and filed below without a word
They said they thought all the women had
been put off.
1.-The men saved were not towards. The
women repeatedly said they felt that more
men should have been given a chance
when the women reached the Carpathia
many of them were in low neck gowns and
white slippers and nearly all had heavy
wraps. Some were in night dresses, with
kimonos and coats. Some of the women
had not thought II was necessary to make
preparations, and had remained in their
staterooms. They had heard the Titanic
couldn't sink
Hours in tho Lifeboats.
when the women boarded the Carpathia
they did 80 in the best OF order. They
were almost frozen They had been four
or ite hours in the nfeboats. The ice
made the air bitter cold
1T was astonishing how quiet all those
people were.
Women VINO an hour before had been
walking the deck In white slippers sup
ported the emigrants. a few OF whom be-
came hysterical while in the lifeboats.
zone OF the stewards the last TO leave