Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1912-04-25

[ who stood sentinel at the doors. The committee refused to permit anyone inside the room except witnesses, survivors and the representatives of ] the press.
 Senator William Alden Smith, the chairman, announced after a meeting with his colleagues that the British witnesses would be called as rapidly as possible before any more passen- gers were examined.
 Frederick Fleet, lookout on the Ti- tanic, was recalled as the first wit ness of the day.
 Senator Burton asked:
 When you were on the Titanic, were your eyes examined?'
 "Yes, frequently
 Gan you distinguish colors?'
 "Yes, sir
 Did you, when in the Titanic s crows nest see light?"
 "No; I saw no light until I got in the lifeboat Then I saw bright light on the forward bow. I don't know what it was. Mir. LighthOlder saw it before we got off the Titanic and told us to pull toward it. It fi- nally disappeared. We never made out what it was.'
 When you have binoculars, what share of time do you have the glasses to your eyes while on the lookout?"
 eff we fancy we see anything on the horizon" said Fleet, then we use the glasses to make sure.''
 Fleet said he had helped in loading of the lifeboats and that he was ex- perienced in this work. He said he l saw no lifeboats loaded other than No. G.. the boat in which he pulled away with about 30 passengers. He said no women were left on the decks and none responded to calls. He said that there were a number of men on the decks but that none of them sought to be taken on.
 l Fleet told of the appearance in the boat of stowaway who had hidden beneath seat. The man, an Italian, was of no assistance because of an in- iured arm. His boat. Fleet said. ask ed for and got another man from lifeboat to which they tied up. Heard Faint Cries.
 Did you hear any cries for help?' asked Senator Smith.
 "Yes, but they were very faint
 Did you go back to help?' "No, sir; some of the passengers wanted to but the quartermaster, who was in command, ordered us to keep on rowing
 "How far were you from the IT. tanic when it sank?'
 "Oh. it must have been a mile.''
 "As to your experience in trying to estimate how far the Titanic was from the iceberg when you sighted 1t, l should say you did not have any juds- ment of distance" Senator Smith commented.
 "No more, haven't" Fleet answer ed and then was excused.
 Senator Smith then arose and for mally announced that he wanted to answer an inquiry that had arisen as to the purposes of the committee.
 "It is to get all the facts attending this catastrophe he said. The sur viving officers and men of the ship are not shipbuilders, and if we can get from them what they know, 1t Is all that we can expect. Nova word as to the plan. It is the intention of the committee to inquire of all sub iects of Great Britain who may te in this country and who may know any thing of the disaster and to hold them here until we have learned all that we can.
 "This course will be pursued when the committee has concluded it has acquired all accessible and useful in- formation for proper understanding of this disaster.
 <Now a word about the difficulty. To the credit of most of the officers and members of the crew. we have experienced little difficulty in secur- ing such witnesses as we thought ne-