The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1912-04-26

New York, April I5-The following
account Of the sinking Of the Titanic
and the rescue Of 745 of it's passen-
gers and crew was given by Mr..
Beasley OF Lo1don, one Of the pas
sengers on the Inflated steamer:
The voyage from Queenstown had
been quite uneventful; very fine
weather was experienced and the sea
was quite calm. The wind had been
westerly TO southwesterly the whole
way, but very cold, particularly the
last day; in fact, after dinner on Sun
day evening 1t was almost too cold to
De out on deck at all. / had been in
my berth for about ten minutes, when,
at about HE , m, / felt a slight
jar and theE. soon after, a second
one, but nor adficiently large to cause
any anxi-sf TO any one, however nerv-
GUS Their may have been. However,
the engines stopped Immediately aft
erwa"t5, and my first thought was
fShe sas lost a propeller | went up
on tie top (boat) deck in dressing
gsun and found only few people
there, who had come up similarly to
fE9uire why we had stopped, but
there was no sort of anxiety In the
minds Of any one.
CARD PLAYERS SAW ICEBERG
I'VE saw through the smoking-room
window, a game Of cards going on and
went III to inquire if they knew any
thing; It seems they felt more Of the
Jar, anC looking through the window
had seen a huge iceberg go by close
TO the SIDE Of the boat. They thought
we had Just grazed it with a CHANGING
blow and the engines had been
atopped to see If any damage had
been done. No one, of course, had any
conception that she had been pierced
below b5 part of the submerged ice
berg. TIC game went on without any
Thought OF disaster, and l retired to
my cabin to read until we went on
0gain. ] never saw any OF the players
en- the o1.ookers again. A little later,
Nearing people going upstairs, l went
ont again and found every one want
fug to s7ow WIZ the engines had
Btoppea Yc @9:c0t many were awak-
ened from sleep by the sGdden stop
ping Of a vibration to which they had
become accustomed during the four
days we had been on board. Natural
i2. with such powerful engines as the
Titanic carried, the vibration was very
noticeable all the time. and the sud
den stopping had something the same
effect as the stopping of loud tick
frg grandfather's clock in a room.
"On going on deck again | saw that
there was an undoubted list down
wards from stern to bows, but, know
Ing nothing of what had happened,
concluded some of the front compart-
ments had filled and weighed her
down. 7 went down again to put on
warmer clothing and as l dressed
heard an order shouted:
LlFEBOATS ORDERED.
All passengers on deck with life
belts on
Eve all walked slowly up with them
tied on over our clothing, but even
then presumed this was a wise pre-
caution the captain was taking, and
that we should return in a short time
and retire to bed. There was a total
absence of any panic or any express
siOns of alarm, and I suppose this
Sdn De accounted IOF Dy I1e &XCeeu-
ingly calm night and the absence of
any signs of the accident The ship
was absolutely still and except for a
gentle tilt downward, which I don't
think one person in ten would have
noticed at that time, no signs of the
approaching disaster were visible.
She lay just as if she were waiting
the order to go on again, when some
trifling matter had been adjusted.
But in few moments we saw the
covers lifted from the boats, and the
crews allotted to them standing by
and curling up the ropes which were
to lower them by the pulley blocks
fr&o the water.
I'VE then began to realize it was
n1Sre serious than fasl been supposed,
a-I my first thought was to go down
and get more clothing and some
money, but seeing people pouring up
the stairs decided it was better to
cause 10 confusion to people coming
u? by Hoing so. Presently We heard
sAe order:
WOMEN TORN FROM HUSBANDS
All men stand back away from
the boats and sill ladies retire to
next deck below the smoking room
Geek or deck. The men all stood
sway and remained in absolute 81
fence, leaning against the end ratings
cT the deck or pacing slowly up and
Gown. The boats were swung out
md l1wered from A deck When they
Nern to the level of B deck, where all
tho ladies were collected, the ladies
rot in quietly. with the exception of
svrle who refused to leave their hus-
fsnds. In some cases they were torn
f>oIn them and pushed into the boats,
fgt - many instances they were al
lowed to remain because there was
no one to insist they should go.