New-York tribune., 1912-04-19
Women Ordered Into Boats
Pending Repairs, They Were
Told, SO Left Husbands.
MEN WENT BY CHANCE ONLY
Ritter Cold and Terror of the
Catastrophe Added to Hor-
rors on Night of the
Disaster.

narcnt warning, last sunday night, ran
into a monster iceberg with a shock that
threw every one off his feet and some
ont of their berths. This occurred at
11.15 D. m. At 2:3O Monday morning
the vessel sank.
Frightened women rushed on deck. but
we're reassured by the officers who told
them no irreparable damage had been
done. and instructed them to return to
their staterooms, put on their heaviest
wraps and return imm mediately to the
deck This is the story brought by the
survivors of the Titanic disaster Of
whom 705 were brought in by the Car
pathia at $50 last night.
No panic prevailed, according to these.
The officers were calm, and the men
among the passengers behaved like
heroes, obeying every command of the
ships officers, assisting the women and
then standing back, awaiting their fate.
That few men were saved was due
solely to accident. The passengers were
told that it was necessary to tighten the
ship that they were to go in the life
DOdlS only 10 await IlS lOpe1iiAHS VI 'AN
ship. to which they would then be per-
mltted to return.
Many wives and sisters, believing i'm
plicitly in the officers, went into the
lifeboats with this understanding.
Men Ordered Into Boats.
The officers worked rapidly, and as
the women were getting their clothing
and wraps a few men were ordered
into the lifeboats to complete their com
plement. Only those so ordered were
saved. and not a single navigating Of
fcer Of the Titanic survived
Sixteen boats in all were lowered over
the side. and as the last Of these left
the ship the fears of the passengers be-
gan TO increase. 50 that those women
who refused TO leave the ship without
their husbands were lost
Among those who refused TO leave
their husbands was Mrs Isidor Straus.
Another. a Spanish bride, was lifted
into the boat by force. Being unable tQ
speak English, no one has been able to
comfort her and since being rescued
she has wept continuously.
Those passengers who were last to
leave the ship are still too dazed to
talk. and when asked questions can
only sob. 1T was all so awful, so horri-
BILE" and they begin to sob afresh.
Floating about on the calm sea, the
starlight iceberg looming up beside
them and adding TO the bitter cold, most
of those in the lifeboats eagerly eX-
pected the signal to return to the ship,
whose stanchness they never doubted.
When 10 their horror they saw her stern
rise out of the sea and she plunged
down by the bow, only then did the
majority realize their plight or the fate
Of those they had left behind.
The cold was bitter, and few were pre-
pared even for the few hours they were
compelled to wait before the appearance
Of the Carpathia.
Dazed by Cold and Terror.
God was merciful to u.s." said one
woman. We were so cold we were soon
dazed and began to wish that We too,
might die How long before we were
but IL seemed like days. When the ship
came to rescue us / only wanted to be
let alone | begged them not TO move
me"
The horror Of IL was so awful we
could not think" added this woman's
daughter. II will never cross the sea
sgain, though my home is in England"
Passengers say there were only twelve
passengers in the last boat to leave, but
cannot explain why.
One collapsible life raft, assert those
rescued, collapsed the moment 1t struck
the water and before any one could be
placed on it,
When the Carpathia began to pick up
the Titanics lifeboats one was found
which contained four who had died from
exposure. three adults and an infant.
The boat was permitted to drift off with
its lifeless burdens when those living
had been taken out.
Baby Last Survivor of Family.
Among those saved is the infant child
OF prominent family named Allison, of
Toronto. The father and sister went
down with the Titanic, and the mother,
rendered helpless by the cold. was
washed off a lferaft but the child's
nurse clung TO II and saved 1t. Two
maids in the same family were also
saved
From one Of the lifeboats. said to be
the last to leave the ship. r''7 ~as
taken clad only In his undershirt. bon
MS feet were frozen, and he was rushed
10 hospital. as was one woman with
broken leg. on the arrival Of the Car
pathia here. Many were Ill from ex-
posture and were taken to hospitals,
while others. under the care Of doctors,
are confined 10 their staterooms aboard
'ne Cunard liner even to-day.
Since the Carpathia left the place OF
the wreck four persons have died and
been buried at sea- One Of these was
one OF her own stewards, who is said to
nave died from overwork.
Among those whose condition is re-
sarded as serious. but not dangerous, is
MIS- John Jacob Astor, who is within a
month Of expecting an heir and who has
oeen hysterical much Of the time
IL was the most appalling thing l
ever saw" said Mrs. Elizabeth Tarking-
"h' OF Danville, KY, who was a pas
senger on the Carpathia, bound for
Napies. Il went out on deck early In
.ae morning and saw the first boatload
pougnt over the side. Most of them