The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1912-04-26

the gates of death, the 745 survivors OF
the Titanic were landed by the Car
pathia, which rescued them two hours
and half after the great White Star
steamer hurled itself against an ice.
berg last Sunday night
Disfgured by calamity and misery
and oppressed by awful sorrow, the
women and children and the few men
who escaped from the worlds great
est sea disaster are in better physical
condition than the most optimistic
had hoped for
Out of the great company that wait
ed for hours in bitter cold among the
grinding bergs, many OF them thinly
clad, many bruised and hurt by the
collision which destroyed their ship,
few needed the ministrations of ply
sictans when they put their teet on
Land in sight of the vast crowd that
had been waiting in almost unbear
able uncertainty.
Survivors Well in Body.
Many, it is true, were weak and
nervous and hysterical from an expert
ence that had left the world void and
empty for them. But-and thousands
thanked God for it as they watched
the majority Of the sad and bereaved
company were well in body.
Only one Of the Titanic's survivors
died while the Carpathia was driving
through fogs and storms to this port.
Four of the Titanic's people had per-
ished trying to get aboard the Car
pathia and another Titanic passenger
lost his life by the overturning OF a
boat. One woman, a second cabin pas
senger who was landed, was suffer
ing from a broken arm.
Thrty-Nine Women Widowed.
The Carpathia reported that there
were 10 saved out of passenger list
which the White Star line figured at
2,180, making a loss Of 1,470 lives. The
Titanic's passengers say there were
745 rescued out of a passenger list
of 2,340.
The list of names furnished on the
| Carpathia>on its arrival show 1873 first
| class cabin passengers saved, lis in
the second cabin, 17S third class, and
| 206 of the crew, a total of 687 saved
| heard from the ships doctor that 1875
OF the passengers and 210 of the crew
| had been saved and that SO women
| lost their husbands. Six of these were
| brides.
The worlds annals has provided
| few more intense and dramatic mo-
ments than when all that was left of
the great company that sailed so gay
| ly on the Titanic appeared on the
! Cunard pier.
! Tragedy in Their Faces.
The tragedy of the Titanic was writ
| ten on the faces of nearly all of her
! survivors. Some, it is true, who were
saved with their families, could not
repress the joy and thankfulness that
filled their hearts, but they were few
compared to the number of the res
cued. These others bore the impress
of their time of darkness when their
people passed in an accident that
seemed like an insane vision of the
night. Their faces were swollen with
weeping. They had drunk as deeply
OF sorrow as is ever given to human
kind.
But many, whose spirits were faint
ing from despair, walked firmly
enough down the gang plank. Some
walked unseeing in a kind of dread
full somnambulism Of despair
Officers Shoot Men Down.
1t was with difficulty that the
| tongues of many were loosened to
speak of the scenes of agony and fear
that fell over the Titanic's peaceful
company when it became swiftly
known that the ship must go down
Some told haltingly, with dread still
frozen in their eyes, of men who
strove and struggled against women
for the lifeboatS and Of officers shoot
ing them down. One woman saw an Off
Ger shoot two men, she said, and 9TH
er passengers recalled how officers
had stood with drawn pistols while the
women and children were being guild
ed into the boats
No one seemed to know the exact
fate of the Titanic's captain, E. J.
Smith, There was a story that he
had committed suicide, but the Titan
les passengers did not know that was
true. Many of them had heard shots
fired. They believed some Of the fir
ing was done to warn back steerage
passengers
Praise for Titanic's Crew.
For the Titanic's officers and crew
the rescued seemed to have nothing
but praise. These men acted calmly
and coolly in the face of certain found
ering, was the report brought here by
the rescued.
The unhappy company so marvel
ously torn from the grip of the sea
was received solemnly and with re
markable quiet by the enormous
crowd which gathered near the CunarC
piers and by the few hundreds tina,
penetrated by right of relation OF
friendship or merciful business to the
interior of the pier.
There was no cheering, no upraisins
Of voices in salute of the living, fol