The Alaska citizen., 1912-05-20
lndisputsble Facts.

NO uIsposilioh hdS been sho~h by any survivor to question the courage of the crew. hundreds of own lives with heroism which equaled, but could ot exceed that of John Jacob Astor. Henry B. Harris. Jacques FutrelIe and others, in the long list of the first cabin missing. Facts which have been established by inquiries on the Carpathia. as positively as they could be estab- lished. in view of the silence of the few surviving officers. are:
 That the Titanic's officers knew, several hours before the crash. of the possible nearness Cf icebergs.
 That the Titanic's speed. nearly 23 knots an hour. was not slackened. That the number of lifeboats on the Titanic was insufficient to ac- commodate much more than one-third of the passengers to say nothing of the crew
 Only Sixteen lifeboats. Most members of the crew say there were sixteen lifeboats and two collapsibles; none say there were more than twenty boats in all. The 700 who escaped filled most of the sixteen lifeboats and the one collapsible which got away. to the ! limit of their capacity.
 That the women first" rule. in some cases was applied to the extent of turning back men who were with their families. even though not enough women to fill the boats were at hand on that particular part of the deck. Some few boats were thus lowered without being completely filled, but most Cf these were soon filled with sailors and stewards, pick ed up out of the water, who help ed mann them.
 Bulkheads' One Weak Point.
 That the bulkhead system, though probably working in the manner in tended, availed only to delay the ships sinking. The position and length of the ships wound Con the starboard quarter) admitted icy Wa ter which caused the boilers to ex- plode, and these explosions practi- cally broke the ship in two Had the ship struck the iceberg head on. at whatever speed. and with what ever resultant shock. the bulkhead system of watertight compartments would have saved the vessel As enc man expressed it, it was the impossible" that happened when, with a shock unbelievably mild, the ships side was torn for a length, which made the bulkhead system in effective.
 Capt. Smith Waived Succor.
 Revolver shots heard by persons shortly before the end of the Iii tanic, caused many rumors; one was that Captain Smith shot himself.
 The surviving officers. Lightoller. Pittman, Bothall and Lowe, have made no statement Members of the crew discredited reports of sui eide and say Captain Smith remained on the bridge until Just before the ship sank, leaping only after those on the decks had been washed away. It is also related that when a cook later sought to pull him aboard a lifebCat. he exclaimed: Let me go," and jerking away, went down with the band playing a hymn.
 What Became of Men? What became of the men with life preservers. is a question asked since the disaster by many persons The preservers did their work of support ing their wearers in the water until the ship went down. Many of those sucked under when the ship sank, despite the preservers, did not come up again. Dead bodies float ed on the surface as the last beats moved away.
 Agonizing Separations.
 lsador Straus, supporting his wife on her way to a lifeboat was held back by an memorable guard. an, other officer strove to help her to a seat of safety but she brushed away his arm and clung to her husband, crying, T will not go without you" Another woman took her place and her form, clinging to her husbands s arm, became part of a picture now drawn indelibly in many minds Neither wife nor husband, so far as any one knows, reached place of safety.
 Colonel Astor, holding his young wifes arm, stood decorously aside as the officers spoke to him, and Mrs Astor and her maid were given seats. Mrs. Henry B. Harris, part, ed in like manner from her husband saw him last at the rail, beside Col onel Astor. Walter M Clark of Los Angeles, nephew of the Mon tana senator, joined the line of men as his young wife sobbing, was placed in one of the crafts.