The weekly Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1911-1922, 1912-04-25
Carpathia will ever forget.

Carpathia will ever forget
The tragedy of the Titanic was writ
ten on the faces of nearly all of her
survivors. Some, it is true, who were
saved with their families, could not
repress the joy and thankfulness that
filled their hearts, but they were very
few compared to the number of the
rescued. These others bore the i'm
press of their time of darkness passed
in an accident that seemed like an
insane vision of the night Their
faces were swollen with weeping. They
had drunk as deeply of sorrow as is
ever given to human kind. But many
whose spirits were failing from de-
spair walked firmly enough down the
gang plank Some walked in kind
of dreadful somnabulism of despair.
1t was with difficulty that the
tongues of many were loosened to
speak of the scenes of agony and fear
that fell over the Titanic's peaceful
company when 1t became swiftly
known that the ship must go down.
Some told haltingly,. with dread still
frozen in their eyes, Of men who strove
and struggled against women for the
lifeboats and of officers shooting them
down. One woman saw an officer
shot two men, she said, and other pas
sengers recalled how officers had
stood with drawn pistols while the
women and children were being
guided into the boats.
No one seemed to know of the ex-
act fate of the Titanic's captain There
was a story that he had committed
suicide, but the Carpathia's passengers
did not know that 1t was true. Many
of them had heard shots fired They
believed some of the firing was done
to warn back steerage passengers. For
the Titanic's officers and crew the res
cued seemed to have nothing but
praise These men acted calmly and
coolly in the face of certain founder
ing, was the report brought here by
the rescued.
The Carpathia, steaming on her way
to the Mediterranean, was halted lit
tie after midnight by the desperate
calls of Phillips, the Titanic's wireless
man. The Cunarder slowed, turned
and headed at full speed for the loca-
ton given by Phillips. Captain Ros-
from was told that the Titanic struck
an iceberg at 10:40 on Sunday night.
He heard by fitful dots and dashes
tina the ship was in great peril. Ros-
tron spoke to his officers. outlining
what probably would be required. An
rangements were made as the Car
pathia stormed onward to take care of
1000 people.
The wireless failed at 1917 a. m,
place.
At the Carpathia's best speed, it
was not until a. m. that she made
out the fleet of small boats lying over
the scene of the wreck. The night
had been clear, and there was no diff
ficulty in sighting without glasses the
little boats that were waiting in such
suspense Captain Rostron stopped
his ship while still a good distance
from the boats. He lowered rope lad
ders as well as the ordinary gang
ways and waited for the boats to come
to him. The sailors of the Titanic
who manned these boats rowed hard
and II was only few minutes when
the first of them came alongside. The
appearance Of the survivors in them
was pitiable. Women were clad only
In night gowns and thin hmonos. and
many were wet through. A few Of
the women wore hats. hastily and un-
consciously donned, no doubt, although
they had no heavy clothing.