Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1912-05-03
COFFIN SHIP" ARRIVES
WITH TITANIC DEAD

WIFI illANlC DEAD
HALIFAX. n. s., April S0.-With
1876 bodies aboard. victims of the
great Titanic disaster, the Maekay-
Bennett, the coffin ship" returned
here today from its grewsome trip,
The bodies of two women are among
the number.
The eorpses were taken of at the
rate of one per minute The body
which was supposed to have been
that of George B. Widener, the Phil
adelphia millionaire, may prove not
to be his. Captain Roberts of Col
onel John Jacob Astor's yacht, con-
ferred with Captain Lardner Of the
Mackay-Bennett. Later Roberts de-
ciared that he wcs satisfied that AS
tors body was aboard. He said that
possibly the body believed to be
Widener's was that OF the million
aires valet. He pointed out that
Wallets usually wear their masters
clothing without removing the name
tags. Widener's body was identified
by tags.
The head of the body supposed to
be that of Wldener was crushed and
| It is impossible to positively identify
It by the features,
The bodies of Colonel Astor and
Isador Strauss were placed in cofhns
as soon as recovered The Mackay-
Benefits crew say that none of the
bodies found bore bullet marks, but
that all were in horrible condition.
Many were frozen. discolored and
battered, absolutely unrecognlzable.
Those buried at sea were In the
worst possible condition.
coffin was pulled from a pile
and opened on the deck. Captain
Roberts gazed at the body for mo-
ment, then turned away, saying
THAT is Colonel Astor."
Captain Lardner explained that
positive identification was impossible
but that marks on the clothing led
to the belief that the body was that
of Widener.
The unidentified dead included the
body of baby girl about two years
old. 1t was found floating on some
wreckage Its face and head had
been battered into an unrecognizable
mass.
At II o'clock, the removal oil
corpses continued. The captain o.
the Mackay-Bennett is paying tie OK
penses of burial for the unidentified
dead. He will be reimbursed by the
White Star company,
Captain Lardner OF Mackay-Ben
nett stated that he arrived near the
scene of the disaster on the Saturday
night following the sinking of tie TT
anic. BY midnight, he said, he haC
sighted number of corpses Or
Sunday 81 bodies were recovered
The body of Colonel Astor, Cap
tain Lardner said, was sent to the
Curling rink with the others. Fifty
seven identified bodies were buriet
at sea. These had been crushed be
tween huge cakes OF ice and wer,
identified only by the names seweC
into the pockets of coats. Explain
ing why a number of victims were
buried at sea, Captain Lardner said
"Those buried at sea were mostly
members of the crew. and we founC
it impossible to care for them. Wher
we left Halifax we took all the EN-
balming fluid we could find in the
city. That was sufficient to care
for 20 bodies / did not expect tC
find the corpses of So many victims
The undertaken we carried along die
not think the bodies we buried a
sea would keep more than three
days, and as we expected to be a
sea for two weeks, we had to bur!
them. The Rev. Mr., Hind an Epis
copalan minister, offclated at The
services"
Captain Lardner continued, Mon
day we found only 26 bodies. Or
Tuesday numerous bodies were sight
ed and we recovered ninety corpse
before noon. Then a storm came M
and we recovered only 20 more dur
ing the afternoon.
Il found no two bodies together
all were floating separately. AT on
place | saw bodies scattered on tn,
surface Of the sea resembling SCI