Milford chronicle., 1912-04-26
Men Passengers and Crew Give
Lives to Save Women
LINERS SIDES RIPPED OPEN
Was Speeding 2I Knots When
She Hit Iceberg.

The Titanic disaster as written into
history by many of the 705 survivors,
accounts for the loss of 1929 persons
at sea off the Banks of Newfoundland
early on Monday morning, April 15,
and the subsequent death of six per-
sons who had been rescued, bringing
the total of lives lost to 1885.
These official figures magnify very
greatly the estimates which had come
by wireless, and the narratives which
survivors tell make certain, as had
already been judged from the meager
wireless reports, that the disaster is
the greatest that ocean travel ever has
known.
The big fact which came to the sur.
face in the flood of narratives are that
1895 persons perished, that there is
hardly the shadow of hope that this
grand total will be curtailed by sin
gle additional survivor; that many
men of wealth and world prominence
are, as had been feared for several
days, among those who perished; that
practically the only women who we're
not saved were those who chose to
die in their husbands embrace; that
nearly all of the survivors saw the Ii
tanic sink and heard the band playing
"'Nearer, My God, to Thee" and the
shrieks of those whom the sea had
claimed as the vessel sank in 1000
fathoms of water.
The Titanic struck an iceberg
about ninety feet high, which ripped
the liners sides open and made the
Water-tight compartments useless, and
while the vessel was gradually sink
ing the icy water reached her steam
ing boilers. causing an explosion that
broke her in two and sent her to the
bottom.
Among the hundreds on her decks
to the last we're Colonel John Jacob
Astor and Major Archibald Butt, Pres
ident Taft's military aide; Benjamin
Guggenheim, Jacques Futrelle, George
D. Widener, G. Duane Williams and
John B. Thayer, of Philadelphia, and
Henry B. Harris and scores of as well
known persons. Isidor Straus was
among them also, with Mrs. Straus, !
who refused to leave her husband be.
hind when she had the opportunity to
save her life.
Colonel John Jacob Astor stood with
his knees awash and waved farewell
to his girl bride. George D. Widener
and his son stood with arms entwined
and smiled upon the wife and mother.
Isidor Straus stood with his aged wife
in close embrace. John B. Trayer
hurled his young son from the vessels
side, but himself stood with that gal
liant line. And so they died. Young
Thayer was rescued.
Butt and Astor Heroes.
Major Butt is reported to have been
one of the heroes. With an iron bar
in his hand he is said to have stood
at the steerage passage and defended
the women and children from the mad.
dened men in that part of the doomed
ship.
Colonel Astor is also said to have
met his fate bravely, after seeing his
young bride to a lifeboat, drawing
aside to watch other women step to
safety and to await his own fate.
It was only because the maximum
capacity of the steamers lifeboats
was barely one-third the complement
of the ship in crew and passengers
that hundreds had to be left to their
fate.
The survivors of the Titanic disas-
ter, still suffering from exhaustion
and several hours exposure in unpro'
Visioned lifeboats on water icy cold,
arrived in New York on the Carpathia,
releasing at the moment the rescue
shin docked a series of narratives so
long and numerous that many are yet
untold. The world had clamored foE
several days in vain by wireless for
more than the faintest outline Of what
had really happened.
The surviving passengers are unan
imous that the unbelievable" hap
Dened. The voyage had been pleasant
and uneventful except for the fact
that it was being made on the largest
and most magnificent vessel that ever
sailed and for the keen interest which
the passengers took in the daily bulle
tins Of the speed.
The Titanic had been making good
time, and all accounts agree that on
the night of the disaster she was ap
parently going at her usual rate-from
twenty-one to twenty-five knots an
hour.
J.. H. Moody, the quartermaster, who
was at the helm, said that the ship
was making twenty-one knots and that
the officers were under orders at the