Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters Part 17

Mrs. Mark Fortune and three daughters, Mrs. Lucien P. Smith, Mrs. J.

Stewart White, Mrs. Thornton Davidson, Mrs. George C. Dougla.s.s, Mrs.

George D. Widener and maid, Mrs. George Wick, Miss Bonnell, Miss E.

Ryerson, Mrs. Susan P. Ryerson, Mrs. Arthur Ryerson, Miss Mary Wick, the Misses Howell, Mrs. John P. Snyder and Mr. and Mrs. D. H. Bishop.

THIRTY-FIVE AMBULANCES AT THE PIER

At one time there were thirty-five ambulances drawn up; outside the Cunard pier. Every hospital in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx was represented. Several of the ambulances came from as far north as the Lebanon Hospital, in the Bronx, and the Brooklyn Hospital, in Brooklyn.

Accompanying them were seventy internes and surgeons from the staffs of the hospitals, and more than 125 male and female nurses.

St. Vincent's sent the greatest number of ambulances, at one time, eight of them from this hospital being in line at the pier.

Miss Eva Booth, direct head of the Salvation Army, was at the pier, accompanied by Miss Elizabeth Nye and a corps of her officers, ready to aid as much as possible. The Sheltering Society and various other similar organizations also were represented, all ready to take care of those who needed them.

An officer of the Sixty-ninth Regiment, N. G. N. Y., offered the White Star Line officials, the use of the regiment's armory for any of the survivors.

Mrs. Thomas Hughes, Mrs. August Belmont and Mgrs. Lavelle and McMahon, of St. Patrick's Cathedral, together with a score of black-robed Sisters of Charity, representing the a.s.sociation of Catholic Churches, were on the pier long before the Carpathia was made fast, and worked industriously in aiding the injured and ill.

The Rev. Dr. William Carter, pastor of the Madison Avenue Reformed Church, was one of those at the pier with a private ambulance awaiting Miss Sylvia Caldwell, one of the survivors, who is known in church circles as a mission worker in foreign fields

FREE RAILROAD TRANSPORTATION

The Pennsylvania Railroad sent representatives to the pier, who said that the railroad had a special train of nine cars in which it would carry free any pa.s.senger who wanted to go immediately to Philadelphia or points west. The Pennsylvania also had eight taxicabs at the pier for conveyance of the rescued to the Pennsylvania Station, in Thirty-third Street.

Among those who later arrived at the pier before the Carpathia docked were P. A. B. Widener, of Philadelphia, two women relatives of J. B.

Thayer, William Harris, Jr., the theatrical man, who was accompanied by Dr d.i.n.kelspiel, and Henry Arthur Jones, the playwright.

RELATIVES OF SAVED AND LOST

Commander Booth, of the Salvation Army, was there especially to meet Mrs. Elizabeth Nye and Mrs. Rogers Abbott, both t.i.tanic survivors. Mrs.

Abbott's two sons were supposed to be among the lost. Miss Booth had received a cablegram from London saying that other Salvation Army people were on the t.i.tanic. She was eager to get news of them.

Also on the pier was Major Blanton, U. S. A., stationed at Was.h.i.+ngton, who was waiting for tidings of Major b.u.t.t, supposedly at the instance of President Taft.

Senator William A. Clark and Mrs. Clark were also in the company. Dr.

John R. MacKenty was waiting for Mr. and Mrs. Henry S. Harper. Ferdinand W. Roebling and Carl G. Roebling, cousins of Was.h.i.+ngton A. Roebling, Jr., whose name is among the list of dead, went to the pier to see what they could learn of his fate.

J. P. Morgan, Jr., arrived at the pier about half an hour before the Carpathia docked. He said he had many friends on the t.i.tanic and was eagerly awaiting news of all of them.

Fire Commissioner Johnson was there with John Peel, of Atlanta, Gal, a brother of Mrs. Jacques Futrelle. Mrs. Futrelle has a son twelve years old in Atlanta, and a daughter Virginia, who has been in school in the North and is at present with friends in this city, ignorant of her father's death.

A MAN IN HYSTERICS

There was one man in that sad waiting company who startled those near him about 9 o'clock by dancing across the pier and back. He seemed to be laughing, but when he was stopped it was found that he was sobbing. He said that he had a relative on the t.i.tanic and had lost control of his nerves.

H. H. Brunt, of Chicago, was at the gangplank waiting for A. Saalfeld, head of the wholesale drug firm of Sparks, White & Co., of London, who was coming to this country on the t.i.tanic on a business trip and whose life was saved.

WAITING FOR CARPATHIA

During the afternoon and evening tugboats, motor boats and even sailing craft, had been waiting off the Ambrose Light for the appearance of the Carpathia.

Some of the waiting craft contained friends and anxious relatives of the survivors and those reported as missing.

The sea was rough and choppy, and a strong east wind was blowing. There was a light fog, so that it was possible to see at a distance of only a few hundred yards. This lifted later in the evening.

First to discover the incoming liner with her pitiful cargo was one of the tugboats. From out of the mist there loomed far out at sea the incoming steamer.

RESCUE BOAT SIGHTED

"Liner ahead!" cried the lookout on the tug to the captain.

"She must be the Carpathia," said the captain, and then he turned the nose of his boat toward the spot on t he horizon.

Then the huge black hull and one smokestack could be distinguished.

"It's the Carpathia," said the captain. "I can tell her by the stack."

The announcement sent a thrill through those who heard it. Here, at the gate of New York, was a s.h.i.+p whose record for bravery and heroic work would be a famuliar{sic} name in history.

{ill.u.s.t. caption = Copyright by G. V. Buck. MRS. LUCIEN P. SMITH

Formerly Miss Eloise Hughes, daughter of Representative and Mrs. James A. Hughes, of West Virginia. Mrs. Smith and her husband were pa.s.sengers on the t.i.tanic. Mrs. Smith was saved, but her husband went to a watery grave. Mr. and Mrs. Smith were married only a few months ago.}

{ill.u.s.t. caption = MAJOR ARCHIBALD b.u.t.t

Military Aide to President Taft. Of Major b.u.t.t, who was one of the victims of the t.i.tanic, one of the survivors said: "Major b.u.t.t was the real leader in all of that rescue work. He made the men stand back and helped the women and children into the boats. He was surely one of G.o.d's n.o.blemen."}

CHAPTER XII. THE TRAGIC HOME-COMING

THE CARPATHIA REACHES NEW YORK--AN INTENSE AND DRAMATIC MOMENT--HYSTERICAL REUNIONS AND CRUs.h.i.+NG DISAPPOINTMENTS AT THE DOCK--CARING FOR THE SUFFERERS--FINAL REALIZATION THAT ALL HOPE FOR OTHERS IS FUTILE--LIST OF SURVIVORS--ROLL OF THE DEAD

IT was a solemn moment when the Carpathia heaved in sight. There she rested on the water, a blur of black--huge, mysterious, awe-inspiring--and yet withal a thing to send thrills of pity and then of admiration through the beholder.

It was a few minutes after seven o'clock when she arrived at the entrance to Ambrose Channel. She was coming fast steaming at better than fifteen knots an hour, and she was sighted long before she was expected.

Except for the usual side and masthead lights she was almost dark, only the upper cabins showing a glimmer here and there.

Then began a period of waiting, the suspense of which proved almost too much for the hundreds gathered there to greet friends and relatives or to learn with certainty at last that those for whom they watched would never come ash.o.r.e.

There was almost complete silence on the pier. Doctors and nurses, members of the Women's Relief Committee, city and government officials, as well as officials of the line, moved nervously about.