The Mena weekly star., 1912-04-25

ttic pVdtS drew reviewers, but in
most cases the men, both passen-
gers and crew, behaved in a wav
thal called for no such restraint.
revolver shots heard by many
passengers shortly before The end
OF the Titanic caused many rumors'
one was that Capt. Smith shot him
sell; another was that First ON
GER Murdoch ended his life. Smith
murdoch and Sixth officer Moody
are known to have been lost The
surviving officers are pittman
Bothall and Lowe.
Members of the crew discredit
all reports OF suicide and saw Cant.
smith remained on the bridge un-
III just. before the ship sank, lean
ing, only after those on the deck
mad been washed away. 1t is re-
lated that when a cook later sought
TO pull him aboard a life boat he
! exclaimed Let me 60 and. Jerk
ing away, went down.
What became of the men with
ne pfeserNers IS a question asked
since the disaster by MANY nersons'
Inc preserVers did their work of
supporting their wearers in the
water until the ship went down.
Many OF those drawn into the vor-
tex despite the preservers did not
come up again. Dead bodies floated
on the surface as the last boats
moved away.
Nearer My God TO Thee"
TO relate that the ships string
band gathered into the salon near
the end and played Nearer My God
TO Thee sounds like an attempt to
give an added solemn color to a
scene which was in itself the eli
max of selomnity. But various
passengers and survivors of the
crew agree in the declaration that
they heard this music. To some of
! the hearers with a husband among
the dying men on the water and at
the ships rail, the strain was
brought in through the words:
SO, by my woes, I'll be
Nearer my God to Thee;
Nearer to Thee.
In the loading of the first boat
/ restrictions Of sex We're not made
and it seemed to the men who filed
in beside the women that there
would be boats enough for all. But
the ships officers knew better than
TINS, and as the spreading fear
caused a nearest advance towards
the suspended craft the order 'wO-
men first was heard and the men
were pushed aside. To the scene
OF the next two hours on those
decks and in the waters below such
words as dramatic and tragic do
but poor justice. With the knowl-
edge of deadly peril gaining greater
power each moment over those men
and women, the nobility of the
greater part of passengers, officers
and crew and steerage asserted it.
, self.
One Wife Stayed by Husband.
'Isador Straus, supporting his
wife on her way to a life boat, was
held back by an memorable guard.
Another officer strove to help her
to seat of safety, but she brushed
away his arm and chung to her hus-
band, crying I'll not go without
YOU
"Of Maj Archibald Butt, favor
lite with his fellow tourists, Chas.
NJ. Hayes, president of the Grand
Trunk, of Benjamin Guggenheim
and Of William t. Stead no one
seems to know whether they tar
ried too long in their stateroomS or
whether they forebore to approach
the fast filling lifeboats: none of
them was in the throng which,
weary hours afterwards, reached
the Carpathia.
simultaneously on all the upper
decks, as the ropes creaked with
the lowering of boats as they
reached the water, those in the
boats saw what those on the deck
could not see-that the Titanic was
listing rapidly to the starbord
that her stern was rising at a por-
tentOus angle. A rush OF steerage
men toward the boats was checked
by officers with revolyers in hand.
Some of the crowded boats
drifted for a time. None had pro-
visions or water, there was lack Of
covering from the ice and air and
the only lights were the still un-
dimmed arcs and incandescents of
the settling ship, save from one of
the boats. There steward who
said to the passengers he had been
shipwrecked twice before, appeared
carrying a green light. That light,
many of the survivors says, was to
the shipwrecked hundreds as the
pillar OF fire by night. Long after
the ship had disappeared and while
confusing false lights danced among
the boats, the green lantern kept
them together.
"As the end of the Titanic be-
came manifestly but matter of
moments, the oarsmen pulled their
boats away and the chilling waters
began TO echo splash after splash
as passengers and sailors in life
preservers leaped over and started
swimming away to escape the ex-
pected suction.
Only Hardest Could Endure.
only the hardest of constitu-
tions could endure for more than
few moments such a numbing
bath. The first vigorous strokes
gave way to Misunderstanding cries of
Help, Help and stiffened forms
were seen floating, their faces re-
Taxed in death.
Revolver shots were heard. The
first reports received among the
boats were that Capt. Smith had
ended his life. Then it was mate
had shot a steward who tried to
push his way upon a boat against
orders. None of these tales have
been verified.
''The last OF the boats, collap-
sible. was launched too late to get
away and was overturned by sue
tion. Some of those in it-all say
some witnesses found safety on a
raft or were picked mp by a life
hoai