Sinking of the "Titanic" : $b most appalling ocean horror; with graphic descriptions of hundreds swept to eternity beneath the waves ...Mowbray, Jay Henry
History
Sinking of the "Titanic" : $b most appalling ocean horror; with graphic descriptions of hundreds swept to eternity beneath the waves ...
Mowbray, Jay Henry
Shipwrecks -- North Atlantic Ocean -- History -- 20th century; Titanic (Steamship)
Their efforts were largely futile. The passengers were too far away for
their voices to carry well. The crew, acting under instructions, which,
rightly or wrongly, have been credited by persons here to the desires
of J. Bruce Ismay, the White Star Line chief, who escaped in one of the
boats from the Titanic, refused to give any information they may have
procured.
While the ship was being docked, the photographers on the tugs were
active. Flash after flash shot across the water as the camera men took
their pictures.
Finally the Carpathia was fast at her dock, and the gangways were
lowered to let the sorrow-laden survivors ashore to receive the welcome
that awaited them.
CHAPTER XVII.
REFUSED TO LEAVE HUSBAND.
“Where You Are I Shall Be,” Said Mrs. Isidor Straus--He Begged Her in
Vain to Enter the Waiting Lifeboat--Women Row Lifeboats--Stokers no
Oarsmen--Crazed Men Rescued--Collapsible Boats Failed to Work.
The story of how Mrs. Isidor Straus, wife of the New York merchant, met
death with her husband on the Titanic rather than be separated from
him, was rendered complete when Miss Ellen Bird, maid to Mrs. Straus,
told how the self-sacrifice of Mrs. Straus made it possible for her to
escape a watery grave.
Miss Bird also supplied details of the appealing scenes between Mrs.
Straus and her husband when the elderly though heroic woman brushed
aside three opportunities to be saved, declaring to solicitous
passengers that death in her husband’s arms was more to be desired than
life without him.
Miss Bird’s narrative was repeated by Sylvester Byrnes, general manager
of R. H. Macy & Co. He said:
“When the Titanic struck the iceberg Mr. and Mrs. Straus were walking
arm in arm on the upperdeck. Although assured by the officers that
there was no immediate cause for alarm, Mrs. Straus, with her husband,
hurried to the stateroom of her maid, cautioning Miss Bird to dress
hurriedly and as comfortably as she could, because the passengers might
have to take to the lifeboats. Then Mr. and Mrs. Straus returned to the
deck, where, shortly after, they were joined by Miss Bird.
“Mr. Straus stepped aside when the first boat was being filled,
explaining that he could not go until all the women and children had
been given places. ‘Where you are, Papa, I shall be,’ spoke up Mrs.
Straus, rejecting all entreaties to enter the boat.
“Mr. Straus vainly attempted to persuade his wife to enter the second
boat, assuring her that eventually he would find a place after all the
women and children had been taken off.
“Miss Bird, who was making her first trip across, having been engaged
in London by Mrs. Straus, joined other passengers in urging Mrs. Straus
to enter the boat, but she clung closer to her husband and repeated
previous declarations that unless Mr. Straus accompanied her she would
remain behind. Mr. Straus only shook his head.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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