Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1912-04-19
ALL OBEY ORDERS TO GIVE
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST
PLACE IN BOATS.
OFFICERS AND SHIPS CREW
BEHAVED sPLENDIpLY
Boat Was Known to 30 Doomed
Ono Of Rescued Passengers Dc.
seribss Catastrophe and Launching
Of Life Boats.

New York. April 19.-Following is
OF the Titanic disaster:
The voyage from Queenstown had
been quite uneventful; very fine wealth
e. was experienced and the sea was
quite calm. The wind had been west
eriy to southwesterly the whole way,
but very cold, particularly the last
day: in fact after dinner on Sunday
evening 1t was almost too cold to be
out on deck at all. had been in my
berth for about ten minutes, when, at
bout HE p. M, felt a slight jar.
md then, soon after, second one, but
not sufficiently large to cause any anN-
iety to any one. however nervous they
| may have been. However. the engines
! stopped Immediately afterwards. and
my first thought was She has lost
propeller. l went up on the top tboaO
! deck in a dressing gown and found only
a few people there. who had come up
similarly to inquire why we had
i stopped, but there was no sort Of anxi-
ETY. in the mind of any one.
Card Players Saw Iceberg.
We saw thru the smoking-room
window a game of cards going on and
| went in TO inquire if they knew any
| thing: it seems they felt more Of the
| jar. and looking thru the window had
/ seen a huge iceberg go by close to the
! boat They thought We had just graZed
! it with a glancng blow and the en-
sines had been stopped to see If any
| damage had been done. No one, or
| course, had any conception that she
had been pierced below by part Of the
submerged iceberg The game went on
| without any thought of disaster, ana l
| retired to my cabin TO read until we
went on again. ! never say any OF the
| PLAYERS or the onlookers again. A little
later, hearing people going upstairs,
| went outside again and found every
| one wanting to know why the engines
| had stopped. No doubdt many were
awakened from sleep by the sucdeh
| stopping of vibration to which they
had become accustomed during the
four days we had been on board. Nat
uraly. with such powerful engines as
the Titanic carried, the vibration was
very noticeable all the time. and the
sudden stopping had something the
same erect dS lIl%e Skipping oi q i'NN'
ticking grandfather's clock in room
ION going on deck again I saw that
; there was an undoubtedly list down
wards from stern to bows. but. know
ing nothing of what had happened
concluded some of the front compart-
rnents had filled and weighed her down
went down again to put on warmer
clothing and as ] dressed heard an or
der shouted:
Lifeboats Ordered.
".All passengers on deck with life
belts on
We all walked slowly up with them
tied on over our clothing. but even then
. presumed this was wise precaution
the captain was taking. and that we
should return in short time and retire
. to bed There was a total absence OF
: any panic or any expressions OF alarm,
and I suppose this can be accounted for
j. by the exceedingly calm night and the
absence Of any signs Of the accident.
The ship was absolutely still and ex-
i. cent for a gentle tilt downward, which
II don't think one person in ten would
have noticed at that time, no signs Of
the approaching disaster were visible.
She lay just as if she were waiting
INP OTdST W go VII d6ciAi, SOAi'S
trifling matter had been adjusted. But
in a few moments We saw the covers
lifted from the boats, and the crews al
lotted to them standing by and curling
up the ropes which were to lower them
by the pulley blocks into the water.
I'VE then began to realize it was
more serious than had been supposed.
and my first thought was to go down
1t
but seeing people pouring up the stairs
decided it was better to cause no con-
fusion to people coming up by doing so.
Presently we heard the order:
Women Torn From Husbands.
"'All men stand back away from the
boats and all ladies' retire 70 next deck
below!-the smoking room deck or B
; deck The men all stood away and re-
, manned in absolute silence, leaning
against the end ratings Of the deck or
pacing slowly up and down. The boats
were swung out and lowered from A
deck. When they were to the level Of B
deck, where all the ladies were COL
1ected, the ladies got in quietly. with
the exception Of some who refused to
leave their husbands. In some cases
they were torn from them and pushed
: | lHLO Tie DOdLS, Dut III many instances
they were allowed to remain because
there was no one to insist they should
go.
Boats Slip Away in Darkness.
Looking over the side, one saw boats
from aft already in the water, slipping
quietly away into the darkness, and
presently the boats near to me were
. lowered and with much creaking as the
. new ropes slipped thru the pulley
/. blocks down the ninety feet which sep
{ arated them from the water. An Off.
Ger in uniform came up as one boat
went down and shouted: When you
J. are afloat, row round to the companion
/ ladder and stand by with the other
!. boats for orders
. "-Aye, aye, sir came UP the reply
. but I don't think any boat was able t
obey the order. When they were afloa,
and had the oars at work the condition
of the rapidly settling boat was %
h much more q sight for alarm for those
in the boats than those on board thai
|. in common prudence the sailors sav
they could do nothing but row from thu
. sinking ship to save, at any rate. some
lives They no doubt anticipated tina
!. suction from such an enormous vesse
. would DO more than usually daugefoul