Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1912-04-25
Heroic Men Die With Band Playing,
Waving Farewell 10 Those Whom
Their Unselfiisllness Had Spared.
Death Toll Of Worlds Greatest Disaster Is Placed
al l,726---Wives Iorn From Husbands
and Forced Into Liieboats.

In wild confusion men, women and
| children rushed about the saloons and
cabins OF the great steamship as
though driven out of their senses. No
one knew what had happened and
| everyone feared that the vessel would
SINK before they could reach the boats
IN wild, apparently ungovernable
mob they poured out of the saloons
to witness one of the most appalling
| scenes possible to conceive. Towering
nigh above the shattered bow of the
great steamship were the glistening
pinnacles Of the monster iceberg
against which the Titanic had hurled
Itself with the force of half hun
dred express trains
| BOW A SHAPELESS MASS.
For hundred feet the bow was in
shapeless mass of bent. broken and
| splintered steel and iron. Cries of the
inquired added TO the panic. A fear
crazed mob of steerage passengers
broke loose from the lower cabins and
| poured upon the deck with cries OF
| fright.
| Women and children we're hurled
aside in the first mad rush for the
boats. Two hundred of the crew lay
crushed to death in the bow of the
great steamship, where they had been
killed as they slept Above all the din
OF the panic were the hoarse orders OF
the captain, repeated by the second,
thlrd and fourth officers down the list,
The remnants of the crew rallied
about the ifeboats, and while some
t back the panic-stricken passen-
gers crowded about them, others pre-.
| pared to lower the boats.
ORDERED TO SHOOT MEN.
Everybody to the boats" was the
| startling cry that was repeated from
end to end of the Titanic.
Women and children first!" was
the hoarse order that went along the
line of lifeboats.
Shoot the first man who attempts to
| get into boat!"
Armed officers with reyolvers in
| throng that poured like an oyerwhelm-
ing flood through the gangways and
upon the upper deck First class pas
sengers who kept their wits amid the
awful confusion Of the first ten min
utes rallied to the support of the
crew and with drawn revolvers awed
| the MOB which fought to climb into
the lifeboats
Then came the shudder OF the riyen
| beA
ship as it slid back from the shelving
ice upon which it had driven, and it's
bow settled deeply into the water.
We're lost We're lost!" was the
cry that rose from hundreds of throats.
The ship is sinking. We must
drown like ratsl"
Women in evening gowns, with jew
els about their necks, knelt on deck,
amid the vast. fear-stricken throng.
crowded about the lileboats and pray
ed for help. Others, clad in their
nlghtclothing, begged the officers to
let them enter the boats.
NO CHOICE BETWEEN CLASSES.
Men whose names and reputation
were prominent In two hemispheres
.
roughly dressed Slavs and Hungarians.
Husbands We're separated from their
i wives IN the battle to reach the boats
fearful leaye-takings as the lifcbcats,
one after another, were filled with sob.
bing women and lowered upon the ice.
covered surface of the ocean were
breaking.
Inn $N vH{1lr
choose. The first woman to step into
a lteboat held her place even though
she were maid or the wife of a
Hungarian peasant. Many women
clung to their husbands and refused to
be separated. In some cases they
dragged their husbands to the boats
and in the confusion the men found
places in the boats.
FLEET DRAWS AWAY.
One by one the little fleet drew
away from the towering sides of the
giant steamship, whose decks were al
ready reeling as it sank lower in the
water
'The Titanic is doomed!" was the
verdict that passed from lip to LID.
I'VE will sink before help car
come!"
Water poured into every compart
ment of the SS0-foot hull, where great
plates had been torn apart and huge
/ riyets were sheared off as though they
We're so much cheese.
Pumps were started in the engine
room. but the water poured into the
great hull in such torrents through
scores of rents that all knew the figh,
to save the steamship was hopeless.
Overhead the wireless buzzed the
news to the other steamships. The
little feet Of iifeboats withdrew u @
safe distance and the 1900 left on
board with no boats waited four lone
hours for the me-c.fu; death p,une.