Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1912-06-12

~ feet second, had hurled It.
self at an iceberg. Had the impact
been received by perpendicular wall
the elastic resistance of bending plates
and frame would have overcome the
momentum with no more damage to
the passengers than severe shaking
up and to the ship than the crushing
in of her bows and the killing. to
man. of the watch below. She would
have backed off and, slightly down by
the head. finished the voyage at re-
duced speed, to rebuild on insurance
money and benefit largely In the end
by the consequent advertising Of her
indestructibility. But a low beach,
possibly formed by the recent over
turning of the berg, received the
Titan, and with her keel cutting the
ice like the steel runner Of an iceboat
and her great weight resting on the
starboard bilge she rose out Of the
sea. higher and higher, until the pro-
pellers in the stern were half exposed:
then, meeting an easy, spiral rise In
the ice under her port bow. she heeled,
oyerbalanced and crashed down on her
side to starboard.
The holding down bolts Of twelve
boilers and three triple expansion en-
gines, unintended to hold such weights
from a perpendicular flooring, snapped,
and down through maze of ladders.
grating and fore and aft bulkheads
came these giant masses of steel and
iron, puncturing the sides Of the ship,
even where backed by solid. resisting
ice. and filing the engine and boiler
rooms with scalding steam. which
brought a quick though tortured death
to each Of the hundred men on duty In
the engineers department
Amid the terrifying roar of escaping
steam and the beelike buzzing Of
nearly 5000 human voices. raised in
agonized screams and callings from
within the inclosing walls, and the
whistling of air through hundreds of
open headlights as the water. entering
the holes of the crushed and riven
starboard side, expelled it, the Titan
moved slowly backwar and launched
herself into the sea. where she foated
low on her side-a dying monster,
grooming with her death wound.
A solid. pyramd-ike hummock of
ice. left to starboard as the steamer
assembled. and which projected close
alongside the upper or boat deck as
she fell over, had caught in success
sion every pair of davits to starboard,
bending and wrenching them, smash
ing boats and swapping tackles and
gripes, until. as the ship cleared her
self, it capped the pile of wreckage
strewing the ice in front of and
around it with the end and broken
stanchions of the bridge. And in this
shattered, box-Iike structure. daZed by
the sweeping fall through an arc Of
seventy foot radius, crouched Row.
land, bleeding from cut in his head
and still holding to his breast the little
girl, now too frightened to cry.
By an effort Of will he aroused him,
self and looked. To his eyeslght,
twisted and fixed to shorter focus by
the drug he had taken. the steamship
was little more than blOtch on the
moon whitened fog, yet he thought
he could see men clambering and
working on the upper davits, and
the nearest boat-No. 24-seemed to
be swinging by the tackles. Then the
fog shut her out. though her position
was still indicated by the roaring of
steam from her iron lungs. This
ceased in time, leaving behind it the
torrid humming sound and whistling
Of air. and when this. too, was suddenly
hushed and the ensuing silence broken
by dull, booming reports, as from
bursting compartments. Rowland knew
that the holocaust was complete; that
the invincible Titan, with nearly all of
her people. unable to climb vertical
floors and ceilings, was beneath the
surface Of the sea.
Mechanically his benumbed faculties
had received and recorded the impress.
sions Of the last few moments. He
could not comprehend to the full the
horror of it all. Yet his mind was
keenly alive to the peril Of the woman
whose appealing voice he had heard
and recognized-the woman of his
dream and the mother of the child in
his arms. He hastily examined the
wreckage. Not boat was intact
Creeping down to the waters edge, he
hailed. with all the power Of his weak
voice. to possible but invisible boats
beyond the fog. calling to them to come
and save the child. to look out for q
woman who had been on deck. undel
tie bridge. He shouted this woman's
name-the one that he knew-encour
aging her to swim. to tread water, tt
float on wreckage and to answer him
until he came to her. There was NJ
response, and when his voice had
grown hoarse and futile and his feel
numb from the cold Of the thawing ice
he returned to the wreckage. weighed
down and all but crushed by the black
est desolation that had so far come into
his unhappy life. The little girl was
crying and he tried to soothe her.
* want mammal" she walled.
FLUSH. baby, hush." he answered
YEARLY and bitterly. $50 do 1-mor,
than heaven. But think our chance.
are about even now. Are you cold, lit
tie one? Well 60 inside and I'll max,
q house for u.s."
He removed his coat, tenderl!
wrapped the little figure in it. ant
with the injunction, Don't be afraid
now" placed her in the corner Of tn
bridge, which rested on its forwar'
side. As he did so the bottle Of whisk.
eoll 1,,f rf tho nncknf : II seemed al