Semi-weekly herald., 1913-04-17
TITANIC DISASTER RECALLED

NEW IORk, April l4.-Just year
ago more than 1000 persons were
joyful that they had share in the
maiden voyage Of the greatest boat
the world ever knew, playing tennis
on deck, floating in the tempered wa
ttrs of swimming pool, dining in
luxurious salons, chatting in drawing
rooms more regal than kings palace
and listening to the worlds finest mu-
sic. Then came a crash, darkness,
death, heroism, cowardice, the man
ming of lifeboats, the escape of those
who could get away from the sinking
hulk-featured the last moments of
tho Titanic as she sank April Ia, 1912,
and the most frightful sea tragedy
of all time was enacted.
1t was late in the evening when
the craft ground into the iceberg off
the Newfoundland Grand banks, four
days after she started on her first
trip. The night was clear, the sea
smooth. 1t was 11:46 ships time,
or 1913 New York time. The or
chestra was playing on the decks,
tine women of the first cabin were lin
gering in the light and warmth and
gaiety of the dining room where there
was music and bubbling life. The
men were smoking their goodnight
cigars. In the second and third cab
ins, there was like joy, with the pros
pect of home" or new land" but
few hours away.
And then came the towering berg,
| the belated needing of repeated warn
grinding crash and the icy sea. The
whole tale has been often told-how
brides were torn from husbands; how
children were put into boats by fren-
zied parents who hoped that their
little ones might be saved even though
they perished themselves; how the
men, safe for few shameful excep
| tions, stood back and waited for death
while the women were given first
| place in the lifeboats; how the musi-
clans struck up Nearer, My God, To
Thee" and played it until the water
smothered their melody; how the Car
pathia, rushing to the rescue, stood
by and gathered up survivors; how
relatives in New York, in agony of
anxiety, besieged the offices of the
White Star line for the news that was
| three days in reaching, land. That
disaster stands out grim and awful
today, though the world has again
been shocked by tales of cyclone and
flood that have exacted great toll OF
life.
The Titanic, launched May 81, 1911
chitects could build. She was built
for capacity, comfort and speed. She
was 1926 feet long, 92.6 feet beam
was of 1926 tons register and cost
S7,500,000. She carried 1929 persons
including the crew.
OF these, 1,517 we're lost and zoe
were saved. Of the 329 first-clas!
passengers, 199 were saved, or 60 PEI
cent; of the 1856 second-class passen
gers, 119 were saved, or AZ per cent
of the 40 third-class passengers, 164
or 25 per cent, were saved; of thu
crew, "a per cent were saved.
Whether or not this ocean horro
might have been avoided had owner
and officers needed the repeated ic
warnings of other ships soon cease,
to be important. The question afte
the official investigation by the Uni
ted States senate, which ended Ma,
%, 1912, was whether such catas
trophies could be avoided hereafter
After days of investiga ton, the com
mission headed by Sc nator William
Alden Smith of Michigan, recommend
ed drastic changes in the laws relat
ing to ship construction and sys
tenn of vigilance that would eXpedit
the handling of passen gers in time o
peril.
i, Among the Inflated passengers o.
the ship that went down were some o
the prominent figures Of contemporar,
life. They were Col. John Jacob AS
tor, Major Archibald w. Butt, Fran
| siS ~. ulict, tuc ditis u, w imam
Stead, journalist and philosopher
Jacques Futrelle, move list; Benjami
Guggenheim, merchant; Charles Mel
vile Hays, railroad pr esident; Isido
Straus, merchant and .philanthropist
John B. Thayer. railro ad vice presi
dent; George d. Wide ner, tractio
magnate; Henry B. Hal 'ris, theatrica
manager; Clarence Moo re, sportsman
Arthur Ryerson, lawy err Fredericl
Sutton, merchant, ami the gallan
skipper, Captain E. j. Smith. Thes
are but few of the tilt lstrious name
and the story of how each man die
is romance of ITSELF.
One of the most Thrilling expert
ences of the disaster was that of Col
Archibald Oracle of Washington, VIII
was sucked down in the vortex, car
ried up in the swirl in time to seize I
bit of wreckage and was saved. Hi
death short time ago is believed t.
have been a direct result.
Following the disaster. hundreds o