Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1912-05-01

every now and then and said:
Mamma, why don't we stay on the
big boat? l don't like this little
boat
SHOTS WERE HEARD.
1--WE heard number of shots as
the boats were being lowered, but We
were told it was the officers who
were keeping the steerage passengers
from stampeding the small boats,
which they repeatedly tried to do.
There were no outcrie5 anywhere ex-
cept from the steerage and l shall
never forget the calmness and quiet
bravery that the men on board show
ed as they stood on deck and waited
their inevitable doom.
Occasionally some of them would
peer into the night toward our boats
and wave at us. Then they would
walk back to a group and everything
would grow still again. 1 saw Gug-
genheim, Widener, Thayer and Is
may in conversation with Col. Aston
and Ismay agreed with the others to
remain on the vessel until all the
women and children were safe. But
just after the ship struck the berg
he sneaked away from Col. Astor and
the rest and forced his way to
boat that was being lowered to the
water, jumping into it before the men
on guard could stop him. That is
how he succeeded in having his life.
BOATS HALF FILLED.
There were many others who
might have been saved if the boats
had been properly filled. Several of
the boats were not half full. Two
of the boats were rotten and fell
apart with their burdens of human
ity, throwing their occupants into the
sea-
''Ice and floating bodies were all
around us. All during the long,
weary night the bodies of those we
had known in life drifted around our
little craft until many of the women
put their hands over their faces to
shut out the horrible sight.
"Before the ship split in two and
settled we could plainly see huge
mass of ice and snow on the top of
the vessel which had been broken off
by the impact and later fell on the
sinking vessel with a terrific crash.
cit is true that Mrs. Straus re-
fused to leave her husband, although
he begged her to do so and she had
several opportunities to save herself.
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played until they passed beneath the
water, the last notes dying out on
the still, crisp morning as the sea
closed over them.
''They kept up the one hymn,
Nearer, Ny God, to Thee We want
ed to join them in the singing, but
we were too much overcome with
the sadness of it all.
''The boat we were in was filled
with women and children, and a
stoker, who told.us he was an expert
oarsman and we took him on. Sew
eral of the women asked to be al
lowed to row, to keep warm.
There is one thing | want to say
about the way the Titanic was speed
ing. We had been cautioned that
the icebergs were drifting in the wa
tiers, and some one asked the cap
tain if he meant to slow down. He
said no, that if anything, the boat
would be given more speed.
GA bulletin was posted just short
while before the accident, saying that
the boat was then making the fastest
time of the whole trip, and that if
we kept up the speed we would land
in New York ahead of record time.
DEATHS ON CARPATHIA.
every survivor is full of appre-
citation and praise of the captain and
crew on the Carpathia. Everything
possible was done to make us com
Portable The Carpathia is not
very large boat and it was already
heavily loaded when we went aboard,
and we were all provided with berths
and food by those on board. There
were fourteen deaths on the Carpa-
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