The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1912-04-26

more able to care for itself than the
monster Titanic, nothing afioat more
able to hold it's own against the eIe-
ments-but the realization was driven
home now that the Queen vessel OF
the seas was calling frantically for
help-she no longer could depend up
on herself
The passengers were face to face
with death.
Men Were Heroes.
"All men stand back, away from
the boats, and all ladies retire to the
next deck below" came the order
flung from the bridge. The men
leaned in silence against the rail or
paced slowly up and down. Some
supported women as they hurried to
the deck below. Then came the time
of parting and be it forever written
in the annals of the sea that no more
worthy and brave body of men ex-
listed than those who helped their
wives and sisters and friends into the
boats and then stepped back that
some other women might be saved.
Tnvalids were carefully lowered into
the boats, children dropped in, off.
GERS told off to command, and the
boats quickly struck the water and
slipped away into the darkness
The band still played on.
Distress Levels Distinctions.
Some of the women refused to
leave their husbands and argued until
in some cases they were forcibly torn
away and placed in the boats. Women
in evening gowns with jewels sat be-
side women of the second cabin who
we're scarcely dressed and among i'm
migrants who sat enveloped in shawls
muttering prayers and crossing them
selves.
Some of the weaker men began to
jump overheard as the steamer set
tied lower and lower. At last the
cry went up, Are there any more
women on board?" and there came
no answer. The creaking of the pull
ley blocks told of the lowering of the
last boat, which struck the water
some fifty feet below and casting of
melted away in the gloom
The men were left alone on the
sinking ship. The women and chill
dren were alone in the open ocean
hundreds of miles from land. AS yet
there was no word from passing YES
sells, no answering rocket rose from
the horizon. The wireless had long
since ceased it's fretting. Thoughts of
eternity must have been in the minds
of everyone, the wish to know what
the Almighty would let the next few
minutes bring forth.
Yet the band still played on.
Titanic in Darkness.
What happened after that is only
what the crazed relatives in the boats
can remember. The boats after lesv
ing the steamer tried to keep together
but the ice cakes forced them apar'
} and only by the cries through the
: darkness could be boats trace theii
. course. Every boat had pulled away
several hundred yards from the shiI
. to avoid the vortex, and there the
| men lay on the oars straining theil
ewes toward the few pin lights which
. showed where the wounded vesse
= lay.
: There came cries from the steamer
. which were answered by many of the
women in the boats with screams o
= agony. others sat quietly with thei
| faces buried in their hands awaiting
= the end.
On Eternity's Brink.
Suddenly above the cries and wall
: ing there arose the strains from thu
, band of Nearer My God to Thee
, the pitiful message sent over the wa
tiers telling those in the boats tina
the loved ones on board knew nov
that they were doomed. A few voice
could be heard mingled with the mu
sic, the chorus swelling louder an
y
? louder Suddenly the lights on tn
vessel went out, the music ceased
and, as the breathless crowds in tn
boats held their breath, they saw tn
huge hulk of the steamer rise in tn
air until the stern was plainly visible
There It hung for moment lookin
like huge black finger pointing int
= the sky, then amidst terrifying choru
OF screams and walls, the boat slowl
but steadily slipped out of sight b.
" meath the waves.
. There were calls from the mgr
D. coming from the surface Of the waite
v wave swept onward from the vo
tex caused by the sinking.
> Those in the boats huddled close
B. together to protect some who ha
d tainted. The women and children an
l. few men were alone on deserte
D. ocean.