The Washington times., 1912-04-21

| seeks It's solace were sung by the
men and women. The necessity for
| prayer and religious demonstration
came TO all, and when the crashing
and grinding of the ship seemed to
| foreten the doom of the vessel, all
were on their knees in the steerage,
and each immigrant was invoking
safety and succor from the Throne Of
Grace.
This continued for some minutes. until
humanity and the exigencies of the dis
aster demanded that the doors be flung
aJar, and that all hudde In the ship
nave an even chance for life and free
dom from the overmasting clutch of
death. Once the officers threw wide the
steeraRe door, hell broke loose. The sig
ma! OF the swinging door came to those
| foreigners as the one hope of safety and
rescue. Men. crazed by fear and dom
mated by that one law of self-preserva-
| uon' started In a rush for the doors.
| Women were trampled beneath the feet
or the maddened men as wheat falls
| before the blow Of the storm. Childrens
| lives were snuffed out by the cruel
shoes of the fleeing men, and no chival-
rous impulse seemed to sway one man
| among the crowd.
But this storm broke in its fury for
but few minutes. The first rush OF the
fear. flying feet was the signal for
other officers to rush down to hold at
mob and to silence those who refused
to hear the command for order. II was
necessary to for the coadjutors-revolv-
ers, they were-to aid the officers. The
first time these messengers barked-ther
fiame-fringed message the deathknell for
Ia coward and the requiem for. a knave-
the mob checked It's mad rush. and
| swayed backward. Again and again
| spoke these messengers of death, and
their flashing tongues stiled the tu-
mutt.
| Forty-three Saved.
Six hundred and sixty six of those who
were in the ships steerage were
drowned. Forty-three were saved, and
| the loss of life-a terrible toll-was di-
| rectly traccable 10 the sinister story of
| that inferno IN the bowels of the boat.
Not all OF those who remained behind
! when the sixteen lifeboats swung away
! from the abandoned vessel were swal-
lowed In the death that engulfcd the
| Titanic. once the women were in safe
| ty. and the last lifeboat had carried
its human burden away from the sink
Ing ship, men plunged overheard. TAX
ing their chances of death in the waters
rather than face the uncertainty of life
| on the broken and bruised vessel
But the conservative aboard-conserv-
| ative, the mockery of the word-believed
| still in the ineradicable faith of the cap
tain that the Titanic would still ride the
| deep-a conqueror. But as this hope
seemed TO grow and blossom into con-
! vlotion and belief, the last shred of
chance was torn away by two ex-
plosions.
The icy waters pouring into the sides
OF the bent ship had finally struck the
vessel. The boilers were cooled to such
an extent they exploded, and this dan
ger, atop the crash. settled the fate of
the Titanic. Twin explosions blew the
lx- t..s-
| fragments that settled and sank almost
simultaneously.
Death. certain and swift, lurked in
| these explosions for some. But to others
| II meant miraculous escape. One man,
barber. living at Palmyra. n. j.. tells
a story that for strangeness Is not
| rivaled by any romance of the sea
portrayed by a master. He was stand
ing aboard ship and believed that he
was safe and that the Titanic would
| ride successfully out of danger. when
| the explosions occurred.
U Blown Into Water.
The barber was blown into the water
by the conclusion. and as he struck the
chilling seas, a lifeboat rolled past and
brought him out of the embrace of the
ocean. His life was saved, but all of
his savings of lifetime had been
swept away. as the barber had expend-
ed 5000 to ht up his studio" in keep
ing with the luxurious appointments of
this mistress OF the ocean.
1t required but a few minutes after
these twin aids to the collision for the
Titanic to reach her death throes. She
sank, and with her went those hardy
souls and brave spirits who yielded their
lives as sacrifice on the common
altar of humanity. In the sinking OF
the Titanic there was born a grave dan
ger for those in the lifeboats. The
eddies and swirls that sprang into be-
ing as a result of the whirlpools formed
by the sinking vessel became a menace
and danger that threatened death to
the refugees of the ship.
Here, too, was an opportunity for
womanhood to again demonstrate her
remarkable valor and neroism in face
of death. Women of wealth and sta
ton, whose, life ashore was a con-
tented existence of rosebud hue, grap-
pied with death as valiantly as the he
roes who had gone down in the vessel
Women like Mrs: Carter and Mrs.
Thayer, of Philadelphia, grabbed an
car and rowed their hands to blisters
, in the desperate and successful efforts
to keep their craft away from that
deadly sucking of the eddies.
Twenty-Five minutes past l o'clock
J death came to the Titanic. She had
! lived in her agonies one hour and forty
minutes, the plaything of an tcebarG
J and the victim of the seas. Ten mil
! lion dollars worth of vessel had SUI
/. Vived the fatal accident 100 minutes.
Faced New Peril
When the vessel sank and the life
craft remained along on the breast o!
the seas, a new peril faced the sur
vivors. The ice-tinged breath of the
night sent a chill penetrating through
their scanty garb. There was hunger
to be faced. there was thirst to be
. faced, there was privation on every
} hand, and the possibility of death on
the deep, despite the escape in the
; laundering.
All unknown to those refugees sucCoI
= was riding the waves. That fiutterinG
l messenger for nelp. the Marconigram
that flashed its way through the air
} had reached a destination. On the
wireless ears of the Carpathia fell the
message for help, the prayer for as.
sistance Cottam, wireless operator
sacrificed ten minutes sleep and saved
10 lives.
For Cottam, In charge of the Marcon
system on the Cunarder, had planned