Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-10-29

and women crouching out there In the
sunshine; there were limp. unconsclous
women and half dead children, and over
'astrophe fat with prophecies OF perils
yet to come.
They had gone out from a ship filled
With a monstrous clangor and confusion.
they were returning to a tomblike hulk,
a lonely mass In which echoes would
abound, n thing of signs and silences
the corpse Of mammoth that had
throbbed yesterday but never more.
Up in the curving triangle Of the for
ward deck were two long, canvas-cov-
cred rows. The dead Forty-six tw ST
ed. silent forms lying side BY side, some1
ated beyond all possibility of idenuaca-
ton. Every man In the eng ne room at
he time Of the explosion was now
nangled. unrecognizabIe thing. EnEin-
esrs, electricians, ,; stoissrsmall Of ,ln, them
boiled. shattered. Half a dozen women,
as many children, lay with the silent
men.
The injured had been placed in state
ess Of previous occupancy or subsequent
claim. There IT,. the score and a half
II seriously injured, and there toiled the
hips surgeon and his volunteer helpers
sailor and merchant, worker and idler.
'abin, wealth and poverty shared alike
n the disposition Of quarters and atten-
on. There was no discrimination. One
% was as good as another to the doc
r and his men. the poor mans moan
full OF suffering as that OF the rich
an, the wall Of the steerage woman as
jiteous as that Of her sister above.
Capt. Trigger was one OF the Injured
he swore a great deal when the d vtsr
lrm? Why the devil should he be put
20 bed for something schoolboy would
laugh at? Mr.. Shannon and two Of
the younger officers were killed by the
EXPLOSION that wrecked the br dge and
chart house. Chief Engineer Gray died
n the engine room. Cruise was blown
o pieces in the wireless house, His as
sistant, the cripple with the charmed
| fe. was dead. -..
A few seconds before the first explo-
sion took place he blew out his brains
With a big navy revolver. The last seen
4 Cruise was when he appeared In the
door Of his station, an expression OF
mingled rage and alarm on his face.
assistant as it shot down the steps and
across the deck, he shouted:
Get that man! Get him! For Gods
sake, get him. .
1t all happened in a few seconds Of
time. The. shrill laugh of the fleeing
instant Of stupefaction, and then the
dull, grinding crash.
1t will never be known what Cruise
had heard or seen In the last moments
raine. however. doubted for an instant
that he had discovered, too late, the
truth about his misshapen ass stant
They now knew with almost absolute
certainty the identity Of the odd man
footsteps Percival had heard, the man
who stayed behind to guarantee the
consummation Of the hideous plot. Cow
ard In the end, he shirked the death he
was pledged to accept. He knew what
rades, he took the simplest way.
The count began. Late In the after
noon It was completed. There were
forty-slx known dead on board the Do
crew: Seventeen persons were missing,
chiefly from the steerage. Twenty-nine
| seriously injured were under the doc
tors care. Some Of them would not re-
cover. A. hundred or more persons suf-
fered from shock. bruises, cuts, and ex.
posure, but only a few Of them required
or demanded attention. In spite Of their
INJURIES they fell to with the spirit that
makes for true heroism and d'voted
themselves. to the care Of the less for
tried officers and men who strove to
| bring order out Of chaos.
Among the surv vors were two Amer
| lean surgeons and physician from Rio
JuucHO. lHty, Will tHt HuTScS, Ill VI
whom had been saved, Immediately went
| to the relief of the ships doctor, and in
short order an improvised hospital was
establ shed. There was remarkable
| unanimity of self-sacrifice among the
passengers. High and low, they fell to
in a frenzy Of comradeship and worked
side by side In whatsoever capacity they
were needed, whether fitted for 1t or not.
No man, no woman who was able to HIT
helping hand. failed in this hour OF
need.
Menial labor fell to the lot Of the
| lordly but uncomplaining Landover. to
Block and Nickestick, Jones and Snipe
and even to tho precious Sig. Joseph
tolled and sweated in the smoky saloon
Morris Shine, the motion-picture mag
nate, the while he labored amidst the
wreckage of the after deck, lamented not
| tho cheerless task but tho evil fate that
prevented the making of the most spec
Nine. Careni-Amori. Nine. Obosky
| and her dancers: beJeweled Jewesses
| and haif.clad emigrants; gentlewomen
unused to toll and women who were
born to It: the old and the young-all
II them. without exception. rose from the
| depths Of despair and faced the rigors
| II the day with unflinching courage, gave
| out of a limitless store of tenderness all
that their srength could spare.
After the sun had set and the decks
| from the gunners hoard. Swiftly, meth
! he dead were lowered into the sea,
swathed In canvas and weighted with
things that were made to kiil-shells
| from tho gunners' hoard. Swiftly. meth
| cd 'cally, one after the other, they slid
| down 10 the black. greedy waters, sank
o the grave that is never still. yet al
ways silent, to the vast. uneXplorcd viii.
derness that stretches around the world
| The thin little missionary from the bar
rem plateaus of Patagonia and the plump
| priest from the heart of Buenos Aires
| monotonously commended each and
| every one Of them to the mercy Of God
The sun came ur again In the morn.
| the sides Of the Dorraine with the ten
derness of dog.
The plight OF the hapless steamer
could not be disguised. Even the mos,
wrecked engines could not be repaired
or compounded. They knew that the Do
| aine was completely paralyzed. The
Iower to move at will was forever lost
he force that had driven her resstlessly
along tho chosen path was still Tho
)owerful propelers were idle. the huge
tern post wrenched 30 badly that the
| "udder was useless She was a-rift, help
lessly adrift. or what avail he wheel
md a patched-up rudder to the mass
| sea"
Every one on board re,l sed, with
sinking heart, that the DorslSe was tc
| 90 on drifting, drifting no ! an knew
whittier. until she crossed Il path 81
friendly stranger out the 20 In tn,
mighty waste No cry Of distress n.
call for help could go crackliL = into tn,
boundless reaches. That was tho plight
! II the Doraine and her people on tht
mocking day that followed the disaster
nd unlesa fate intervened that would bt
'er plight for days without end.
Mr.. Mott, temporarily In command
addressed the passengers In the MAR
hia renuest He did not minca mattera