Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1912-05-28
Fixes Blame
for Titanic Disaster
Continued from First Page,

circumscribed their endeavor. and wnen
this vessel took it's place at the head OF
the line every modern Improvement III
shipbuilding was supposed to have oeen
realized: so confident were they that Doth
ownor and builder were eager to go upon
the trial trip.
.sANhen the crisis came a state of abso-
iste unpreparedness stupefled both pas
sengers and crew, and in their despair
the ship went down, carrying as needless
n sacrifice of noble women and brave men
ms ever clustered about the Judgment seat
Ia any single moment of passing time.
Raps British Trade Board.
sWe shall leave to the honest judg-
nient of England It's pninstnlting chas-
tfspment of the British board or
Trade. to whose Iaxity Of regulation
and hnsty Inspection the world IL
largely indebted for this awful fatal
.t,. OF contributing causes there were
very many. In the face OF warming
sig speed was Increased an"
messages Of danger seemed 10 stiih"-
Int her 10 action rather than 10 per-
nuade her 10 fear.
.arhe Titanic rushed onward on her
t,t,e eourse-one recognized as appro'
urlate and agreed upon by mariners az
the international highway for westpouhn
~,sse1. vet dangerous at this season OF
the year. when the Labrador current may
~. hearing vast masses of ice across the
,rack of ships-scores of these towering
glaciers planted themselves In the very
pathuay of this ship and were so large
and so numerous that, in the absence OF
fov they should have been easily dis-
,cernjble by the lookout, If. as he says In
his testimony, he had been supplied with
gla sses.
.acantain Smith knew the sea, and his
clear eve and steady hand often guided
his ship through dangerous paths; FOR
forty wears. storms sought In vain to vex
,bim or menace his craft. His indifference
no danger was one of the direct and con
~tributing causes of this unnecessary
tragedy. while his own willingness to die
was the expiating evidence or mis- htness
10 live. Those of US who knew him well
mot In anger, but In one
wpecihc charge against him, over
confidence and neglect to heed the OH
repeated warnings Of his friends; but, IN
his horrible dismay, when his brain was
afre with honest retribution, we can still
sec, in his manly bearing and his tender
solicitude for the safety of women ana
little children, some traces of his lotty
spirit.
CAPTAIN smith O~vercon6dent.
HThe mystery of his Indifference to
danger, when other and less pretentlous
vessels doubled their lookout or stopped
their engines finds no reasonable hypo-
thesis in conjecture or speculation;
science In shipbuilding was supposed to
have attained perfection and to have
spoken her last word mastery of the
ocean had at last been achieved, but
o~yerconhdence seems to have dulied the
faculties usually so alert. With the
atmosphere literally charged with warn
ling signals and wireless messages regis
itering their last appeal, the stokers in
the engine room fed their fires with fresh
fuel, registering In that dangerous place
Iher fastest speed.
Mature gave a warning of approach
ing peril so significant that passengers
In stateroom and steerage shut out the
ichill and spoke to one another of the
sudden cold. Sailors off the Grand
Banks know the importance of the Their
monfeter, which is almost us necessary
to their safety as Is the compass. Even
the quartermaster Kitchens, who regu-
larly took the temperature of the water
from the sea, said 1T suddenly became
bitter cold,' and added that the first
order received by him from Second on
Ger Lightoller at 8 o'clock Sunday eve
ming was to take his compliments dow
to the ships carpenter and inform him
to look to his fresh water, that 1t was
about to freeze"
Senator Smith declared that the COM
! nand of the officer of the watch to
avert the disaster actually exposed the
most vulnerable part OF the Titanic to
the ice when the shock came.
; DISTRACTED by the sudden appearance
Of danger" said the speaker, che sharp
ly turned aside the prov. the part best
temple TO the blow; at the turn Of the
biIge the steel encasement yielded to n
Elancing blow SO slight that the impact
was not felt In many parts of the ship.
aithoug gin representing an energy of
more than n million foot tons, said to be
THE equivalent of the combined broad
sides of twenty of the largest guns in
iour battleship feet Aired at the same mo-
Dient. with IA blow so deadly many of
the passengers and crew did not even
know of the collision until tardiiy I'D
lvised of the danger by anxious friends,
and even then official statements were
lclothed In such confident assurances of
safety as TO arouse no fear"
Senator Smith said that the awful force
Of the impact must have indicated to
master and builder that the ship was