The Washington herald., 1912-12-05

cast from the deck OF the sinking Ii
taniC.
Col. Gracie's wife and daughter, Miss
Edith Temple Oracle. were with him
wien he died. He was fifty-four years
old. The funeral will be held tomorrow
afternoon at . o'clock at Calvary Church,
New York.
President Taft received a letter yester-
day morning from Col Oracle dated }
a. m, December >. Col. Oracle was in a
depressed state of mind because of his
i'll health, and one of the President
frst tasks yesterday morning was to
write a letter of encoura cement to him.
The letter was mailed before the news
of his death was received at the White
House.
Cot Oracle. who was a personal friend
of Mr.. Taft, visited the White House
shortly after the disaster to give the
President Information of the death of
Mai. Archibald W. Butt.
On November . Col Oracle recounted
TO the members of the University Club
his experiences on the night OF the dis
aster. and at that time spoke OF having
developed trouble with the ears and
throat from the cold suffered during his
escape, and said that he expected he
would have to undergo an operation.
Well Known in Capital.
Col. Oracle was we'll known in both
Washington and New York, dividing his
time between the two cities When in
WASHINGTON he lived at his home at I527
Sixteenth Street Northwest. and in New
York he lived at the Union Club. He was
engaged in the real estate business there
and had offices at 1876 Broadway
The debut of Miss Oracle, which took
place Thanksgiving Day at the Hotel
fv-r
ington. There was large assemblage Of
society and army people at the coming
out party.
The Oracle family was originally
Scotch. but had been in the United States
since Revolutionary days, and in New
York was known as one of the old Knick-
erbocker lines. Archibald Oracle. the
grandfather of Col. Oracle. settled in
New York after leaving Scotland. and
became one of the trio of big merchants
that made that city a commercial CEN
ter in the early part OF the nineteenth
century.
Col. Gracie's father went to New Or
leans four years before the opening of
the civil war. and fought through the
four years of the war as a general, COM
handing the largest division of the Con-
federate forces, Bushrod Johnson's divi-
sion.
AuthOr OF some Note.
Mrs. Oracle was Constance E. Setback,
of Danish descent. Col Oracle was an
author of some note. At the time Of
the wreck he was returning from Eng
land. where he had been gathering data
for a book on the war of 1872 The
loss of the manuscript was accounted by
him his most grievous loss. He had also
written The Truth About the Battle OF
Chickamauga," and The Truth About
the Titanic" was soon to have gone to
press.
In his story of his escape from the I'll
tanic. Col. Oracle said:
Then down l went into the waters
below, drawn beneath by the suction.
How great was the depth to which 1
went l cannot say. Had 1t been of
greater extent than twenty-five feet, I'M
doubtedly the blood would have rushed
from my nose and ears My chief con-
Germ was TO escape from being boiled, as
at this time expected the water to
boil from the engines below
when I reached the surface, finally,
there was nothing to be seen about me
but a great field of wreckage of every
sort and description. 1 learned later that
one of the tunnels had fallen from the
ship before 1 reached the surface, and
splashed its waves over young Mr.. Thay-
er and the second officer, who thought
that the funnel would fall upon him.
My first efforts were devoted to get
ting toward a mass Of wreckage consist
ing principally of crate-shaped mass of
wood, but when 1 saw a short distance
beyond a boat upside down. with men
struggling on it, 1 struck out in that d.
rection, took hold of one mans hand, and
lifted my legs over and secured a position
thereon with members of the Titanic's
crew" =.