Sinking Of The Titanic And Great Sea Disasters, Logan Marshall [ebook reader with highlight function TXT] 📗
- Author: Logan Marshall
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Apparently On A Mission For His Company. There Was A Deep-
Drawn Sigh As He Walked Away, Shaking His Head Toward
Those Who Peered Eagerly At Him. Then Came A Man And
Woman Of The Carpathia's Own Passengers, As Their Orderly
Dress Showed Them To Be.
Again A Sigh Like A Sob Swept Over The Crowd, And Again
They Turned Back To The Canopied Gangplank.
The First Survivors
Several Minutes Passed And Then Out Of The First Cabin
Gangway; Tunneled By A Somber Awning, Streamed The First
Survivors. A Young Woman, Hatless, Her Light Brown Hair
Disordered And The Leaden Weight Of Crushing Sorrow Heavy
Upon Eyes And Sensitive Mouth, Was In The Van. She Stopped,
Perplexed, Almost Ready To Drop With Terror And Exhaustion,
And Was Caught By A Customs Official.
"A Survivor?" He Questioned Rapidly, And A Nod Of The
Head Answering Him, He Demanded:
"Your Name."
The Answer Given, He Started To Lead Her Toward That Section
Of The Pier Where Her Friends Would Be Waiting.
When She Stepped From The Gangplank There Was Quiet
On The Pier. The Answers Of The Woman Could Almost Be
Heard By Those Fifty Feet Away, But As She Staggered, Rather
Than Walked, Toward The Waiting Throng Outside The Fence, A
Low Wailing Sound Arose From The Crowd.
Chapter 12 Pg 101"Dorothy, Dorothy!" Cried A Man From The Number. He
Broke Through The Double Line Of Customs Inspectors As Though
It Was Composed Of Wooden Toys And Caught The Woman To
His Breast. She Opened Her Lips Inarticulately, Weakly Raised
Her Arms And Would Have Pitched Forward Upon Her Face Had
She Not Been Supported. Her Fair Head Fell Weakly To One
Side As The Man Picked Her Up In His Arms, And, With Tears
Streaming Down His Face, Stalked Down The Long Avenue Of
The Pier And Down The Long Stairway To A Waiting Taxicab.
The Wailing Of The Crowd--Its Cadences, Wild And Weird--
Grew Steadily Louder And Louder Till They Culminated In A
Mighty Shriek, Which Swept The Whole Big Pier As Though At
The Direction Of Some Master Hand.
Rumors Afloat
The Arrival Of The Carpathia Was The Signal For The Most
Sensational Rumors To Circulate Through The Crowd On The
Pier.
First, Mrs. John Jacob Astor Was Reported To Have Died
At 8.06 O'clock, When The Carpathia Was On Her Way Up The
Harbor.
Captain Smith And The First Engineer Were Reported To
Have Shot Themselves When They Found That The Titanic Was
Doomed To Sink. Afterward It Was Learned That Captain
Smith And The Engineer Went Down With Their Ship In Perfect
Courage And Coolness.
Major Archibald Butt, President Taft's Military Aide, Was
Said To Have Entered Into An Agreement With George D.
Widener, Colonel John Jacob Astor And Isidor Straus To
Kill Them First And Then Shoot Himself Before The Boat Sank.
It Was Said That This Agreement Had Been Carried Out.
Later It Was Shown That, Like Many Other Men On The Ship,
They Had Gone Down Without The Exhibition Of A Sign Of Fear.
Mrs. Cornell Safe
Magistrate Cornell's Wife And Her Two Sisters Were Among
The First To Leave The Ship. They Were Met At The First Cabin
Pier Entrance By Magistrate Cornell And A Party Of Friends.
None Of The Three Women Had Hats. One Of Those Who Met
Them Was Magistrate Cornell's Son. One Of Mrs. Cornell's
Sisters Was Overheard To Remark That "It Would Be A Dreadful
Thing When The Ship Began Really To Unload."
The Three Women Appeared To Be In A Very Nervous State.
Chapter 12 Pg 102Their Hair Was More Or Less Dishevelled. They Were Apparently
Fully Dressed Save For Their Hats. Clothing Had Been
Supplied Them In Their Need And Everything Had Been Done
To Make Them Comfortable. One Of The Party Said That The
Collision Occurred At 9.45.
Following Closely The Cornell Party Was H. J. Allison Of
Montreal, Who Came To Meet His Family. One Of The Party,
Who Was Weeping Bitterly As He Left The Pier, Explained That
The Only One Of The Family That Was Rescued Was The Young
Brother.
Mrs. Astor Appeared
In A Few Minutes Young Mrs. Astor With Her Maid
Appeared. She Came Down The Gangplank Unassisted. She
Was Wearing A White Sweater. Vincent Astor And William
Dobbyn, Colonel Astor's Secretary, Greeted Her And Hurried
Her To A Waiting Limousine Which Contained Clothing And
Other Necessaries Of Which It Was Thought She Might Be In
Need. The Young Woman Was White-Faced And Silent.
Nobody Cared To Intrude Upon Her Thoughts. Her Stepson
Said Little To Her. He Did Not Feel Like Questioning Her At
Such A Time, He Said.
Last Seen Of Colonel Astor
Walter M. Clark, A Nephew Of The Senator, Said That He
Had Seen Colonel Astor Put His Wife In A Boat, After Assuring
Her That He Would Soon Follow Her In Another. Mr. Clark
And Others Said That Colonel And Mrs. Astor Were In Their
Suite When The Crash Came, And That They Appeared Quietly
On Deck A Few Minutes Afterward.
Here And There Among The Passengers Of The Carpathia
And From The Survivors Of The Titanic The Story Was Gleaned
Of The Rescue. Nothing In Life Will Ever Approach The Joy
Felt By The Hundreds Who Were Waiting In Little Boats On The
Spot Where The Titanic Foundered When The Lights Of The
Carpathia Were First Distinguished. That Was At 4 O'clock
On Monday Morning.
Chapter 12 Pg 103
Dr. Frauenthal Welcomed
Efforts Were Made To Learn From Dr. Henry Franenthal{Sic}
Something About The Details Of How He Was Rescued. Just
Then, Or As He Was Leaving The Pier, Beaming With Evident
Delight, He Was Surrounded By A Big Crowd Of His Friends.
"There's Harry! There He Is!" They Yelled And Made A
Rush For Him.
All The Doctor's Face That Wasn't Covered With Red Beard
Was Aglow With Smiles As His Friends Hugged Him And Slapped
Him On The Back. They Rushed Him Off Bodily Through The
Crowd And He Too Was Whirled Home.
A Sad Story
How Others Followed--How Heartrending Stories Of Partings
And Of Thrilling Rescues Were Poured Out In An Amazing Stream--
This Has All Been Told Over And Over Again In The News That
For Days Amazed, Saddened And Angered The Entire World.
It Is The Story Of A Disaster That Nations, It Is Hoped, Will Make
Impossible In The Years To Come.
In The Stream Of Survivors Were A Peer Of The Realm, Sir
Cosmo Duff Gordon, And His Secretary, Side By Side With
Plain Jack Jones, Of Birmingham, Able Seaman, Millionaires
And Paupers, Women With Bags Of Jewels And Others With Nightgowns
Their Only Property.
More Than Seventy Widows
More Than Seventy Widows Were In The Weeping Company.
The Only Large Family That Was Saved In Its Entirety Was That
Of The Carters, Of Philadelphia. Contrasting With This Remarkable
Salvage Of Wealthy Pennsylvanians Was The Sleeping
Eleven-Months-Old Baby Of The Allisons, Whose Father, Mother
And Sister Went Down To Death After It And Its Nurse Had Been
Placed In A Life-Boat.
Millionaire And Pauper, Titled Grandee And Weeping Immigrant,
Ismay, The Head Of The White Star Company, And Jack
Jones From The Stoke Hole Were Surrounded Instantly. Some
Would Gladly Have Escaped Observation. Every Man Among
The Survivors Acted As Though It Were First Necessary To Explain
How He Came To Be In A Life-Boat. Some Of The Stories Smacked
Chapter 12 Pg 104Of Munchausen. Others Were As Plain And Unvarnished As
A Pike Staff. Those That Were Most Sincere And Trustworthy
Had To Be Fairly Pulled From Those Who Gave Their Sad Testimony.
Far Into The Night The Recitals Were Made. They Were
Told In The Rooms Of Hotels, In The Wards Of Hospitals And Upon
Trains That Sped Toward Saddened Homes. It Was A Symposium
Of Horror And Heroism, The Like Of Which Has Not Been Known
In The Civilized World Since Man Established His Dominion Over
The Sea.
Steerage Passengers
The Two Hundred And More Steerage Passengers Did Not
Leave The Ship Until 11 O'clock. They Were In A Sad Condition.
The Women Were Without Wraps And The Few Men There Were
Wore Very Little Clothing. A Poor Syrian Woman Who Said
She Was Mrs. Habush, Bound For Youngstown, Ohio, Carried
In Her Arms A Six-Year-Old Baby Girl. This Woman Had Lost
Her Husband And Three Brothers. "I Lost Four Of My Men
Folks," She Cried.
Two Little Boys
Among The Survivors Who Elicited A Large Measure Of Sympathy
Were Two Little French Boys Who Were Dropped, Almost
Naked, From The Deck Of The Sinking Titanic Into A Life-Boat.
From What Place In France Did They Come And To What Place
In The New World Were They Bound? There Was Not One Iota
Of Information To Be Had As To The Identity Of The Waifs Of The
Deep, The Orphans Of The Titanic.
The Two Baby Boys, Two And Four Years Old, Respectively,
Were In Charge Of Miss Margaret Hays, Who Is A Fluent Speaker
Of French, And She Had Tried Vainly To Get From The Lisping Lips
Of The Two Little Ones Some Information That Would Lead To
The Finding Of Their Relatives.
Miss Hays, Also A Survivor Of The Titanic, Took Charge Of
The Almost Naked Waifs On The Carpathia. She Became
Warmly Attached To The Two Boys, Who Unconcernedly Played
About, Not Understanding The Great Tragedy That Had Come
Into Their Lives.
The Two Little Curly-Heads Did Not Understand It All. Had
Not Their Pretty Nineteen-Year-Old Foster Mother Provided
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