Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1912-04-24

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splash after splash as passengers and
sailors in life preservers leaped over
and started swimming away to es-
cape the expected suction.
ley Water Brings Death.
Only the hardest Of constitutions
could endure for more than few mo-
ments such q numbing bath, The
first vigorous strokes gave way to
heartbreaking cries Of Help! Help!'
and stifened forms were seen, the
faces relaxed in death. ...t.
Revolver shots we're heard In the
ships last moments. The first report
spread among the boats was that Cap.
tain Smith had ended his life with a
bullet. Then 1t was said that a mate
had shot a steward who tried to push
his way upon boat against orders.
None Of these tales have been veri-
fed, and many of the crew say the
captain, without a preserver. leaped
In at the last and went down, refusing
a cooks offered aid.
Last lifeboat Is Capslzed.
The last Of the boats, a collapsible.
was launched too late to get away,
and was overturned by the ships
sinking. Some of those in tall, say
some witnesses-found safety on q
raft, or were picked up by lifeboats.
In the Marconi tower, almost to the
last. the loud click OF the sending in
strument was heard over the waters.
Who was receiving the messag., those
In the boats did not know, and they
would least OF all have supposed that
Mediterranean ship in the distant
South Atlantic track would BE- their
rescuer.
Music Was Sacrament.
AS the screams in the water multi
piled another sound was heard, strong
at first, then fainter In the distance.
It was the melody of the hymn,
"l1earer, My God, to Thee" played by
tho string orchestra in the dining
saloon. Some of those on the water
started to sing the words, but grew
silent as they realized that for the
men who played, the music was a sac
rament soon to be contaminated by
death. The serene strains OF the
hymn and the frantic cries of the dy-
Ing blended in symphony of sorrow.
Titanic Goes to Bottom.
Led by the green light, under the
light of the stars, the boats drew
away, and the bow, then the quarter,
then the stacks, and at last the stern
of the marvel-sh1p of a few days be-
fore passed beueath the waters. The
great force Of the ships sinking was
unaided by any violence OF the ele-
ments, and the suction, not so great
as had been feared, rocked but mildly
the group of boats now a quarter OF a
mile distant from 1t.
Sixteen boats were in the foriorn
procession which entered on the terri.
BILE hours OF rowing, drifting and sus-
pense. Women wept for lost hus-
bands and sons. Sailors sobbed for
the ship which had been their PRIDE
Men choked back tears and sought to
comfort the widowed. Perhaps, they
said, other boats might have put off in
another direction toward the last.
They strove, though none too sure
themselves, to convince the women of
the certainty that rescue ship would
appear.
carpathla Brings Joy.
Early dawn brought no ship, but not
long after a. m. the Carpathia. far
out of her path and making 10 knots
an hour instead of her wonted Is,
showed her single red and black
smokestack upon the horizon. In the
Joy of that moment, the heaviest
griefs were forgotten.
Soon afterward, Captain Rostron
and Chief Steward Hughes were wei.
coming the chilled and bedraggled
arrivals over the Carpath1a's side.
Men Praised by Women.
One Ut the few women able to give
an account of the disaster was Miss
Cornelia Andrews of Hudson, N. Y.
Miss Andrews said she was in the last
boat to be picked up.
1.-THE behavior of the men," she said.
was WOuUS1lu 1-l1l$3 uOot "diVSAOuSa
I have ever beheld."
Did you see any shooting?" she
was asked.
NO." she replied, but one officer
did say he would shoot some of tAe
steerage who were trying to crowd in
to the boats. Many jumped from the
decks. I saw a boat sink"
Miss Andrews was probably refer
ring to the collapsible boat which
overturned. She said that the sinking
of the ship was attended by a noise
such as might be made by the boilers
exploding. She was watching the ship,
she said, and it looked as If it blew
up; anyhow. it broke in two.
Henry Stengel Of Newark said It
was only the forethought Of member
of the boat crew who was quick-wit.
ted enough to snatch up three green
lights that saved a number of the
lives of those adrift in the tiny life.
boat.
These green lights" he said,
shining through the darkness en-
abled the other boats crews to keep
close together In the ice filled wa.
ters."
Mr.. Stengel put his wife In toat
and then followed. He said that early
the next morning, shortly after they
had been picked up, they saw floating
far away gigantic iceberg, with two
peaks shining in the morning sun
This was the berg that sent the II
tanic to the bottom. he thought.
were required to embark befo,e lower
inR boats. thus endan8erfnx the opera-