The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1912-05-28


his Graf. His indifference 20 danger
Vas one of the direct and contrlhut'
ing causes OF thus unnecessary trag-
edy, while his own Willingness to
die was the expiatins evidence of his
fitness to live: those OF us who knew
him we'll not in anger, but in sor'
row-file one specific charge against
him. oycrconfidence and neglect to
| heed the ott.repeated warnings OF
his friends: but, in his horrible dis
may, when his brain was afire vita
| honest letribution, We can still see,
IN his manly bearing ard his tender
! solicitude for the safety of women
and children, some traces OF his lofty
spirit.
The mystery OF his Indifference t.
danger. when other and less preten-
tiou, vessels doubled their lookout
OF stopped their engines. finds no
reasonable hypothesis in conjecture
or specuaton: science in shipbuild.
! ing was supposed to have attained
! perfection and to have spoken her
last word: mastery of the ocean had
at last been achieved. but overcon'
fidence seems to have dulled the fac
ulties usually so alert. With the at
mos phere literally charged with warn
| ing signals and wireless messages
registering their last appeal. the
stokers in the engine room fed their
fires with fresh fuel registering in
that dangerous place her fastest
| speed
Nature gave warning of ap-
preaching peril so significant thar
passengers in stateroom and steerag"
shut ont the chill and spoke to one
another of the sudden cold Sailors
off the Grand Banks know the IN
| portance of the THERMOMETERS, which
is almost as necessary to their safety
as is the compass. Even the quar-
termaster, FIlchens, who regularly
| took the temperature Of the water
| from the sea, said: 1T certainly seems
bitter cold. and added that the first
order received by him from Second
OAccr Hightoller at s o'clock Sun.
| day evening was TO take his compli
ments down to the ships carpenter
and inform him to look to his fresh
water that it was about to freeze '"
Senator Smith declared that the
command of the officer Of the watcn
to avert the disaster actually exposed
the most vulnerable part of the OF
the Titanic 10 the tee when the
shock came. \
Distracted by the su5uen appear
ance of danger" said the speaker,
'he sharply turned aside the prov.
the part best prepared 20 resist COLI
sion exposing the temple to the
DlOW, dl lllc lulH VI lnt DliSe lhO
steel encasement yielded to a glanc-
ing blow so slight that the impact
ship. although representing an ener.
gy of more than million foot tons
said to be equivalent TO the com
bined broadsides OF 20 of the largest
guns in our hattleshir fleet fired at
the same moment, with a blow so
! deadly many of the passengers and
crew did not even know of the col.
lision until tardly advised of tn"
| danger by anxious friends and even
then official statements were clothed
n such confident assurances Of safe
| ty as to arouse no fear.
Senator Smith said that the awful
| force of the impact must have indf-
Gated to master and builder that the
ship was doomed. He commented
caustically upon the failure of the
| ships officers immediately 10 give
! general alarm or to establish some
orderly routine Concerning the con
duet OF the ships officers, he said:
"Haphazard, they rushed by one
another, on staircase and in hallway.
while men of self control gathered
! here and there about the decks,
helplessly staring at one another or
| giving announcement to those less
J CONTAGIOUS than themselves. Life
betsNweer finally adjusted to all and
| the lifeboats were cleared away, and
! and although strangely insufficient in
number. were only partially loaded
| aud in all instances unprovided with
| compasses and only three OF them
had lamps They were manned so
! had1v that in the absence of nrOmnt