The daily sentinel., 1912-04-17
SCENES OF INDESCR|BABLE AGONY DURING THE
LAST HOUR OF THE GREAT LINER,
T|TAh|C'S LIFE

New York, Apr. l7.-In the
worlds histories of heroic deeds will
live forever the scenes upon the
doomed Titanic. Men faced death
bravely, while religious services were
held and the prayers of the laymen
mingled with those of two Catholic
priests and two Protestant ministers
aboard the ship.
Wireless messages relate a story of
bravery in the face of death surpass-
ing any other ever written of the sea
in fact or in fiction.
When II became known that the
Titanic was doomed. and that only
a few of the passengers and crew |
could be saved, the men aboard. as |
one, demanded that the women and !
children be saved The parting of
the wives from their husbands, as
limited in the brief messages. was a /
scene to rend the heart. and in every
case the husband assisted the crew
of the steamship in dragging the
women away to the lifeboat Wives
became hysterical and many of them
tainted when told that they must
leave their husbands. With tears
streaming from their eyes, husbands
and wives locked in the last embrace
upon this earth, the husband with
the Anglo-SaXon blood running
strong in his veins bore up under
the terrible odreal and assisted in
unwinding his wife's arms from
around his neck.
When the boats drew away with
their wives the man gazed after them
and then, with hearts of a stole, re-
turned to assist the other women and
children to the boats
At last, when all the ships boats
had been filled with women and chill
dren, with officers and crew of the
Titanic only necessary to man the
boats in them. the boats pulled away
from the sinking ship. Captain Smith
of the Titanic issued orders to his
| men in each boat to proceed as rap
| idly as possible away from the ves-
| sci, for he knew that when she took
her final plunge into the Atlantic
| that the suction of the mighty levia-
| than would engulf all boats that
were not far away.
The orders of the captain were
| carried out to the letter. the men
| left aboard the the boat watched each
boat as 1t disappeared in the dis
| tance over the rolling waves. and
| then they turned to the captain.
II was realized by every man
| aboard that his final hour had come.
Out across the ocean there was no
sign of a ship coming to the rescue,
| although up in his cage the wireless
| operator received messages from a
| half dozen ships that they were
rushing as fast as steam could bear
| them to the aid of the stricken tt
| tanic. 1t was realized though b.
the men that none of the hurrying
vessels would reach them in time to
| save them. They knew that when
| the ships arrived there would be
| nothing left but a bit of the floating
| wreckage to tell where 100000 600
vessel had gone to her grave.
Religious services were started in
a half dozen different sections of the
mighty vessel. Practically everybody
aboard had come to the decks and
they Joined in the religious services;
in the singing of Nearer My God to
Thee" Rock of Ages" and other
of the old time hymns. Between the
hymns. and during their progress,
men knelt upon the deck of the sink
ing ship and offered up prayer to
God. while the two priests absolved
from sin those upon the vessel. The
Protestant ministers aboard prayed
with the priests, while Bibles were
passed around to be read alond by
those to whom they were handed
As the religious services continued
the ship sank deeper and deeper in
to the ocean. In the presence of
death to themselves those men whose
wives had gone in the life boats
prayed fervently for their safety, for
getting themselves in their love for
their wives Those who were alone
prayed for the folk at home. ming
ing these prayers with their own
to God.
Up in his cage the wireless oper-