The Nevada County picayune., 1912-04-26

of the staterooms and only two or three congenial groups remained in the public rooms.
 Sudden Sound of Guns.
 "In the crow's-nest or lookout, and @n the bridge. officers and members of the crew were at their places await ing relief at midnight from their two hours watch.
 At 11:45 came the sudden sound of two guns-a warning of immediate danger
 The crash against the iceberg which had been sighted at only quar ter of mile-came almost simulta neously with click of the levers op. erated by those on the bridge which stopped the engines and closed the water-tight doors. Capt. Smith was on the bridge a moment later. giving orders for the summoning of all on board and for the putting on of life 1 preservers and the lowering of the l lifeboats.
 The first boats lowered contained more men passengers than the latter ones, as the men were on deck first and not enough women were there to fill them.
 When a moment later. the rush of frightened women and crying children to the deck began, enforcement of the women first rule became rigid Off eers loading some of the boats drew reyolvers, but in most cases the men, both passengers and crew. behaved in way that called for no such restraint.
 Members of the crew diseredit all reports of suicide. and say Capt. Smith remained on the bridge until just before the ship sank, leaping only after those on the deck had been washed away It is related that when a cook later sought to pull him aboard q lifeboat he exclaimed
 "Let Me Gon'-And Sank. " Let me go-' and. jerking way, went down.
 What became of the men with life preservers is a question asked since the disaster by many persons The preservers did their work of support ing their weare7s in the water until the ship went down. Many of those drawn into the vortex despite the pre- servers did not come up again.
 "Decd bodies floated on the surface as the last boats moved away.
 ITO relate that the ships string band gathered into the saloon near the end and played Nearer My God to Thee sounds like an attempt to give an ad- ded solemn color to a scene which was in itself the climax of solemnty. But various passengers and survivors of he crew agree in the declaration that they heard the music. To some of the hearers with husbands among the dy- ing men on the water and at the ships rail. the strain was brought in through he words:
 So by my woes, I'll be
 Nearer my God to Thee, Nearer to Thee
 "In the loading of the first boat re strictions of sex were not made, and it seemed to the men who climbed be side the women that there would be boats enough for all. But the ships officers knew better than this, and as the spreading fear caused an earnest advance toward the suspended craft the order, Women first" was heard, and the men were pushed aside,
 "To the scene of the next two hours on those decks and in the waters be- low such words as dramatic and tragic do but poor justice. With the knowledge of deaS!y peril gaining greater power each moment over those men and women, the nobility of the greater part, both among cabin pas sengers officers, crew and steerage asserted itself.
 Mrs. Straus a Heroine.
 'Isador Straus. supporting his wife on her way to a lifeboat, was held back by an ineXorable guard. Another officer strode to help her to seat of safety, but she brushed away his arm and clung to her husband, crying; I will not go without you
 "Of Maj. Archie Butt, aide to Presi dent Taft, a favorite with his fellow tourists: of Charles NJ. Hayes. presi dent of the Grand Trunk; of Benja min Guggenheim and of William r Stead. no one seems to know whether they tarried too long in their state rooms or whether they forebore to ap proach the fast-flling boats; none oi them was In the throng which, weary hours afterward, reached the Carpa thia-