Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1912-04-26

New York.-It is reported by wire
Tess from Cape Race that at least 1874
persons went to their death in the sink
ing of the Titanic, which from now on
will be known as the greatest marine
disaster Of modern times. The liner,
bearing the proud title of the largest
vessel afoat, is at the bottom OF the
Atlantic with all of her crew and prac-
tically all of her male passengers. Prob
ably 500 women were taken Of the liner
after her appalling collision with a sub
merged iceberg, and they are on the Car
pathis, making for either Boston or
New York.
It is feared that not one of the
Titanic's passenger list of distinguished
and wealthy men is alive. 1t is believed
that not a man of the crew of the
Titanic is left to tell of the epochal sea
horror. As mute evidence of the disas-
ter that overwhelmed the Titanic on her
maiden trip is the comment of the cap
tain Of the Carpathia in q wireless mes
sage received;
I'VE found only a sea covered with
wrcckage and debris"
Vessels Rush to Aid.
The Carpathia's captain also said he
had picked up the survivors in the boats
and had sheltered them on board.
The giant boat, racing for America in
an attempt to delight its distinguished
passengers with a trip that would strike
che world, hit the iceberg with terrific
force. The impact was sufficient to tear
great seams in the vessels PROV and
open one or more water-tight compart-
ments.
Fighting a losing battle, the pride Of
the maritime world went off to her
doom.
From the steamship Bruce, bound for
Sydney, comes the first detailed reports
of the sinking of the Titanic and the
appalling scenes attending her end. The
Bruce obtained her story of the disaster
from wireless messages picked up from
several of the ships which had been in
closest touch with the last hours of the
mammoth White Star steamship and
which we're afterward in the zone OF
communication with the Bruce's appa-
ratus.
When the Titanic struck the mountain
of ice that sent her to the bottom within
four hours after the impact she was
steaming at the rate ot IS knots an hour.
The shock almost demolished the proud
vessel which her builders AID her cap
tain had believed nothing could master.
Hitting the impenetrable ice mass fair
ly with her towering bows, the ship Yves
almost rent asunder at the first blow.
Her decks were ripped and torn, her sides
and bufkheads were split and shattered
as with the hammer of some titan from
the bew to a point almost amidships.
Her upper works and some of her boats
were splintered, while a shower of debris
from her spars fell upon the decks like
giant hail. Though the ship had struck
the monster obstruction head-on, as her
bow rose clear of the water, smashed
to an unacceptable mass of bent and
shivered steel, the vessel listed heavily
to port and threatened to turn turtle
before the recoil slide of what was left
of her proud form back to an ever keel.
The Titanic had forced her giant bulk
up on a submerged sput of the iceberg.
Filled From Bottom.
A phenomenon which is not infrequent
in the most disastrous collision was the
ghost-lke sentinels of the banks. In
mounting up on the jagged ice spur and
sliding back from her position the ship
had tern out many of her bottom plates
from the midship section forward to the
bow. As a result her compartments from
midship forward were speedily flooded.
She teek in water at a rate that defed
all the efforts of the pump and soon
began to settle by the head, listing heav-
lily to port and rolling in tie trough of
the seas as she became gradually olsen
gagged from the ice, many tons of which
had fallen upon her upper decks, contrib
uting to the demolition and inextricable
conf rSi0n.
The force of the blow had been so ire
mendoas that the vast ship was started
in her every joint, and evedything NOV
able throughout her superb equipments
OF luxurious cabins and salons was
tossed into heaps like discarded junk.
But British steamship and discipline
prevailed, and it did what little might be
done as well as dauntless men could do
it. Every officer and man leaped to his
post, while Capt. Smith, m~egaphone in
hand, shouted his orders over the rolling
hulk that an hour before had been the
~proudcst ship in Christendom. Sufficient
order was maintained to launch safely
most Of the boats; the srs&t6r zzmber
remained seaworthy despite the ordeal
through which they had passed. While