Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1912-04-19

shouted orders and sprang down to
enforce them. The chief mate came on
deck in his underclothes and passed
the word to nan the boats. A thou
sand passengers damned the compan
ionway and strove with panic and un-
human fury to reach the deck.
i "One man clad in a night robe
gained the outside of the press, and,
running swiftly along the deck, fitted
like a ghost over the rail and disap-
peared into the sea. He had gone clean
crazy, perfectly insane in the panic.
"Brownson tied down the siren cord,
and the roar shook the atmosphere.
The tremendous tones rose above the
din of screaming men and cursing sea-
men; and then the master called down
to the heart of the ship, the engine
room.
rs she going?" he asked.
Water coming in like through a
tunnel" came the response. Nearly
up to the CRATES now"
That was all. The man left the tube
to rush on deck, Inc the captain knew
the forward ~bulkheads had gone; had
either damned or burst under that ter
rifle impact. The ship was going down.
"Brownson stood upon the bridge and
gazed down at the human tide below
him. Men fought ~furiously for places
In the small boats. The f1reroom crew
came on deck and mingled with the
passengers. The coal dust showed upon
their white faces, making them seem
strange beings from an inferno that
was soon to be abolished. They strove
for places in the ~life-boats and hurled
the weaker passengers about reckless
ly. Some, on the other hand, helped
the ONE One man dragged two
women with him into a boat, kicking,
twisting and roaring like a lion. He
was a big fellow with a red beard,
n Brownson watched him. The mate
struck him over the head with a hand
spike for refusing to get out of the
boat. and his interest in things ended
at once n forever.
1.-THE crew, on the whole, behaved
well. officers and men tried to keep
some sort of discipline. Finally six
boats went down alongside into the
sea, and were promptly swarmed by
the crowds above, who either slid
down the falls or jumped overheard
n climbed in from the sides. The
sea was as still as a lake; only the
slight swell heaved it. Great fields Of
floating particles of ice from the berg
foated about, INT those who had GOT
ten wet shivered with the cold.
1.-THE Admiral. running at twenty-five
knots an hour, had struck straight Into
the wall of an iceberg that reached as
far as the eye could see In the haze.
1t lowered at least three hundred feet
In the air, showing that it's depth was
colossal, probably at least half a mile.
1t was a giant ice mountain that had
broken adrift from it's northern home,
and, drifting southwark, had survived
the heat of GUNNER and the breaking of
the sea upon its base.
Smith, the second officer, fought
savagely for the discipline of his boat.
His men had rushed to their stations
at the first call. The deck was begin
ming to slant dangerously as the falls
were Stacked off and the lifeboat low
cred into the sea. Smith stood in the
press about him and grew strangely
calm. The action was good for him,
good for the burning fury that had
warped him, scorched him like a hot
blast while he had stood silently upon
the bridge and taken the insults of his
commander. Women pleaded with him
for places in the boat. Men begged
diio wv hOAo VI I'LL OAO ldoSp iuiL
clothed, dropped upon her knees and,
holding his hand. which hung at his
side. prayed to him as If he were a
deity, a being to whom all should de-
fer. He flung her off savagely.
"Bareheaded now, coatless and with
his shirt ripped. he stood there and
saw his men pass down sixteen women
into his craft; pass them down with
out comment or favor, age or condition.
Thirty souls went into his o before
he sprang into the falls and slid down
himself. A dozen men tried to follow
him. but he showed off and they went
into the sea. His men got their oars
out and rowed off a short distance.
"Muttering, praying and crying, the
passengers in his boat huddled them
selves in her bottom. He spoke saw
agely to them, ordered them under pain
of death to sit down.. One man, who
shivered as he spoke, insisted upon
crawling about and shifting his posi-
ton. Smith struck him over the head,
knocking him senseless. Another, a
woman, must stand upon the thwarts,
to get as far away as possible from the
dread and lev element about her. Ha
swung his fist upon her jaw, and she
went whimpering Town into the boats
bottom, lying there and sobbing softly.
"Furiously swearing at the herd of
helpless passengers who endangered
his boat at every movement, he swung
the crafts head about and stood gaz-
ing at his ship. After a little while
the crowd became more manageable
and he saw he could keep them aboard
without certainty of upsetting the
craft. HE had just been debating
which of them he would throw over
board to save the rest; save them from
their own struggling and fighting for
their own selfish ends.
"Brownson stood calmly watching
the press gain and lose places in the
boats. Two boats actually overloaded
rolled over under the immense load of
human freight. The others did not
stop to pick them up. They had
enough to do to save themselves. The
ship was sinking That was certain.
She must have struck so hard that
even the 'midship b~ulkheads gave way
or were so twisted out of place that
the doors failed. The chief engineer
came below him and glanced up,
"As he did $50 a tremendous, roar
ing blast of steam blew the uper-
structure upward. The boilers had
gone.
"Brownson stopped giving any more
orders. Il Silence he gazed down at
the press of human beings. watching,
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