Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-19
Band Plays In Ragtime.

Il
| Band Plays in Ragtime.
| suddenly felt passion not to let that
/ man die a decent sailors death. wished
| he might have stretched rope or walked
| a plank | did my duty. l hope | I'm
| ished him. | don't know. We left him
on the cabin floor of the wireless room
| and he was not NOV ng.
/ From aft came the tunes of the band.
| 1t was ragtime tune. l don't KNOW
| what. Then there was Autumn Phil
lips ran aft and that was the last ever
| saw of him.
| / went to the place l had seen the col
lapsible boat on the boat deck, and to my
| surprise l saw the boat and the men still
trying to push it off. ] guess there WASH
| a sailor in the crowd. They couldn't do It,
went up to them and was just lending
hand when a large wave came awash of
/ the deck.
The big wave carried the boat OIL.
/ had hold of an oarlock and, |. went On
/ with it. The next l knew / was in the
/ boat ~ .-'
But that was not ALL was in the, boat
and the boat was upside down and l was
| under it. And l remember realizing was
wet through, and that whatever happened
| must not breathe, for was under
| water. i....s.D - S
Hundreds in the Water.
/ knew l had to fight for it and I did.
| How I got out from under the boat l do
not know, but / felt a breath OF air at
last.
There were men all around me-hun-
dreds of them. The sea was dotted with
them all depending on their life belts. l
/ felt / simply had to get away from the
ship. She was a beautiful sight then.
Smoke and sparks were rushing out OF
L har
| explosion, but we had heard none. We
| saw only the big stream Of sparks. me
/ ship was gradually turning on her nose
| Just like duck does that goes down for
Ito get away from the suction. The band
was still playing. l guess all of the band
went down.
They were playing Autumn" then. |
| swan with all my might. suppose l :as
| 80 feet away when the Titanic. on her
nose. with her after quarter sticking
| straight up in the air. began to settle
| slowly.
| rudder there wasn't the least bit Of sue
/ ton could feel. She must have kept 60
| ing just as slowly as she had been.
/, I forgot to mention that. besides the
herman boat don't know wi1ich-and
| told them how We were We ajso spoke
| the Baltic. l remembered those things
as I began to figure what ships would be
| coming toward US.
Pulled on Board Boat.
| / felt, after q little while like sinking.
| l was very cold. / saw a boat OF some
kind near me and put all my strength
into an effort to swim to 1t. 1t was hard
work. i was all done when hand reach
ed out from the boat and pulled me
| aboard 1t was our same collapsible.
The same crowd was on 1t.
There was just room for me to roll on
the edge lay there not caring what
happened. Somebody sat on my legs
were being wrenched ! had not the heart
left to ask the man to move. 1t was a
terrible sight all around-men swimming
and sinking.
wrench my feet out Of shape. Others
came near. Nobody gave them hand
The bottom-up boat already had more
men than It would hold and 1t was sink
ing.
At first the larger waves splashed over
my clothing. Then they began to splash
over my head and l had to breathe when
/ I could
Some splendid people saved us. They
had a right-side-up boat. and it was fun
| to its capacity. Yet they came to US and
/ loaded us all into it. ] saw some lights
off in the distance and knew a steamship
was coming to our ala.
| / didn't care what happened.I just lay
| and gasped when I could and felt the
i pain in my feet. At last the Carpathia
i was alongside and the people were being
4 taken up a rope ladder. Our boat drew
i near and one by one the men were taken
of Of 1t.
/ One Dead on the Raft.
One man was dead I passed him and
went to the ladder. although my feet
panied terribly. The dead man was Phil
lips. He had died on the raft from ex-
posture and cold, I guess. He had been
all in from work before the wreck came
He stood his ground until the crisis had
passed. and then he had collapsed, l
Il guess.
But / hardly thought that then. l
didn't think much Of anything. I tried
the rope ladder. My feet panied terribly.
but / got to the top and felt hands
reaching out to me The next l knew
a woman was leaning over me in a cabin
and I felt her hand waving back my
hair rubbing my face
/ felt somebody at my feet and felt
the warmth Of jolt Of liquor. Some
body got me under the arms. Then /
was hustled down below to the hospital.
That was early in the day. l guess. 1
lay in the hospital until near night and
they told me the Carpathia's wireless
man was getting queer and asked
would help.
After that / never was out of the wire