Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1912-05-01
PLACE BLAME ON
TITANIC OFFICERS
Mrs. Crosby and Daughter Say
Crew Were Intoxicated.
RESULT OF WINE SUPPER
Champagne Flowing Freely When the.
Ship Crashed Into lceberg-Capt.
Crosby Among Heroes of Disaster
Refused Chance of Rescue.

Milwaukee.-It was while Capt. b.
]. Smith was giving champagne
supper to some of his friends in the
salon of the steamship, while songs
were being sung, toasts offered and
wine flowed like water that the levia-
than of the sea struck an iceberg
and received its death wound, accord"
ing to Mrs. E. G. Crosby and her
daughter, Miss Harriet, upon their
arrival home from New York.
Capt Crosby was drowned, died
bravely, according to reports they re-
ceived, as would be expected by those
who knew him. They did not see
him after the steamship sank, but
passengers on another of the life
boats passed him in the water. At
tempts were made to drag him into
the boat, but he, seeing that the frai1
craft already had it's quota, cried out:
t'Never mind me; 1 guess I'll come
out all right" and kept on swim
ming. He soon drifted out of sight
in the darkness.
Mrs. Crosby felt the huge ship
culver several times as she struck
large cakes of ice, but the speed of
the vessel was not stopped. Capt.
Crosby himself said that they were
proceeding at the rate of twenty-six
miles an hour.
Like the remaining survivors of
the Titanic, both Mrs Crosby and
daughter join in condemning officers
of the boat and hold them RESPONSE
BILE for the great loss of life for not
needing the warnings given by the
lookout, who had notified the cap
tain that they were in the vicinity of
icebergs.
That the officers paid no heed to
the commands given by Capt Smith
was another noticeable feature dur
ing the time the boats were being
lowered.
'tOfficers and members of the crew
were so excited that they did not
know what they were doing in many
instances, and for this reason many
men, women and children were
thrown bodily into lifeboats.
"On the night that the Titanic
struck Capt Smith was giving a din
ner to j. Bruce Ismay, managing di-
rector of the White Star line. Many
of the officers were in an intoxicated
condition and were unable to give
any great assistance in aiding pas
sengers to escape, so that it became
such noble men as Col. Aston, Maj
D,1+f nth 4O f01z oh
issue orders that only women be al
lowed to leave the sinking boat. But
they could not be everywhere at once
and so in consequence many male
passengers were saved"
eve were in the cabin with
friends when the vessel struck the
iceberg" continued Miss Crosby.
1.-THE shock was so light that moth
ing was thought of it at the time
until we were ordered to don life
preservers. Father was with us at
the time and assured us that every
thing was all right and that there
was no danger of the boat sinking.
A few moments later orders were
given to man the lifeboats. While
the boats were being lowered they
were several times held up by plugs
being put in. SO unprepared were
the officers Of the vessel for any mis-
hap, it required some time before
the boats were lowered with their
passengers.
Mother and were forced to stand
in the lifeboat for hours. In the
boat with US was the lookout of the
Titanic who was on watch at the
time the vessel struck the iceberg.
During a conversation with him he
told me that he had warned the cap
tain of the Titanic three times that
the boat was approaching icebergs,
but no heed was paid to them and
the vessel kept on proceeding at full
speed. l know that the vessel was
going at full speed as Mr.. Taylor, a
Philadelphia man, who was rescued,
had been down in the engine room
a short time before the boat struck
the berg, and he stated they were
going under full head of steam.
''The men in our boat were of the
most cowardly kind. Not one would
give mother a seat until four hours
after we were in the boat. Several
of the men were in an intoxicatG4
condition and almost helpless"
Miss Crosby had been in Europe
for the last two years, spending a
greater portion of her time in Lon
don and Paris. She was joined by
her father and mother, who spent the
winter in England with her.