The Washington times., 1912-04-21
MISTRESS OF OCEAN
WAS CONQUERED BY
MASTER OF THE SEA
Beneath Words, Titanic
Sank" Is the Tale of
........ a Tragedy.
Continued from First Page.)

Continued from First Page.)
formed the population of that floating
village.
Finance lent the name of a Guggen-
helm and an Astor to give hallmark
to that phase of the Titanic's trip.
Literature loaned Stead and Futrelle.
One a veteran publicist and journalist,
known and respected for forty years.
The other, a youngster I'm the fertile
fields to which he had escaped afte:
hhm-drumming in a newspaper. and In
which he was steadily mounting the
ladder of success. There was ma
tional character to the assemblage, for
Major Archibald Willingham Butt, aid
10 President Taft, was returning to
America from Rome, where he had been
commissioned with a message to he
delivered at the vatican.
Ersland's coronets found repre-
sentative in Lord Cosmo Gordon. who,
with his wife, Lady Dun Gordon, was
returning to America after a Partisan
trip. Isidor Straus, one of the greatest
Iphilanthropists and merchant princes Of
the era, was aboard, and with him
was Mrs. Straus.
Saloon a Gay Scene.
Within the saloon there was such
scene as society always gives to her
fetes. Jewels worth a kings ransom
flashed from women who seemed carved
of marble. The hair of the daughters of
wealth seemed to be alive, as the lights
brought forth the sparkle of the gems
that they wore in the coiffures.
Hnge ropes of pearls that formed a
priceless collar for necks that rivaled
the swans in their contour were seen,
smashing for the nonce the ever-brilliant
sparkle of diamonds, diamonds. and
more diamonds. Twenty million dollars
worth of wealth flashed and sparkled
and shimmered and shone in that saloon,
while women, fair and beautiful saw
'languidly In that great surcease from
care and trouble, the handsomely ap-
pointed chairs of an ocean liner.
Society was disporting itself In its
varied ways and according to its varied
moods. The orchestra was playing it's
usual nocturnal concert, the strains run
ming all musical gamuts, from the lifting
rag" TO the exquisite sonata. Society
listened either in languid interest or
passionate devotion to the God of Har-
mony.
Not all the concourse that made that
saloon a living, vital thing dallied with
either the music or wooed the muses..
Small tables, covered with the badge of
the game, the green baize, were scat
tered at convenient distance from one
another. Here the evening clothed mil
lionaire played bridge and matched his
cards and his science against the twin
factors possessed by the travelling man
with a bankroll or one of his own set
who was endeavoring, too, to find a
satisfactory pastime, one that held
financial interest as we'll as individual
pleasure.
Women, too, women whose names
adorn the social register Of the elect,
took their hazard in the inevitable game
of bridge whist. They played with all
the zest and zeal of typical and inordi-
nate gamesters, and the scenes around
these tables, where the players quietly
and studiously employed their time In
the game, were in marked contrast to
those about.
Care and Trouble Banished.
by the two handmaidens of frivolity.
music and game. Those to whom age
meant a respite from these things that
and necessity left the saloon for their
staterooms within a reasonable hour.
The great drawing room of the liner
was thinning in its ranks. and by IL
clock only those who were devoted
- music or immersed in the game, with
q scattering of the idle loungers. still
stayed in the vast room The orches-
ira was winding up it's portion of the
collective entertainment, and was pre-
pairing to give the instruments to the
custody of their cases. That was the
scene in the saloon when the Titanic
was almost at A.l0 north latitude.
Aboard ship, where those in whose
safety and keeping had been instrusted
the lives of those on board, there were
the usual scenes. Capt. Edward j.
Smith, commander of the Titanic and
commodore of the White Star fleet, was
below engrossed in conversation with
some of those whose names spelled
wealth, fame, and fortune. The first
officer, Murdoch, a clean-shaven, up
standing young Briton, was on the
bridge, the subaltern who was in direct,
though not active, command Of the ship.
In the crows nest. where the lookout
is stationed to peer straight ahead and
TO watch on every hand to see what 8
dead ahead, a young Englishman whose
name has perished, too, was stationed,
fulfilling his part OF the duty that goes
TO each and every man aboard ship.
The petty officers. whose stations were
at various points OF the ship, were on
duty.
Above the beautiful heavens. spark
ling in their celestial light, below the
emerald and turquoise waters. this was
the setting for one of the worst dis
asters that man records since time be-
gan.
This is not the story that will deal
with either hypothesis or analysis-it
will deal with facts as they stand cor
related to the tragedy of sea. The tt.
tanic was steaming along AT a rate OF
twenty-three knots at this time wher
the pail of tragedy begins to sink over
the life of vessel and the existence ot
1855 souls. those who gave to the seas
their 1.-THE of conquest.
Three Sharp Bells.
At the very moment when secure In
their belief that everything was happy
as the marriage bell, three sharp jansie:
burst on the night air. They came from
the man in the crows nest hridRs and