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)
One of the first to get through the lines and the first of all the
waiting crowd to make his way aboard after the ship reached her pier
was Capt. Richard Roberts, of the Astor yacht, who was filled with a
great concern at the news that had come from the Widener party.
NOT MR. WIDENER.
For long before the Mackay-Bennett reached her pier it was established
as definitely as it may ever be established that the man who was
picked up at sea for George D. Widener was not Mr. Widener, but his
man-servant Edward Keating.
Although the name was sent in by wireless, a later examination of the
dead man’s clothing and effects proved that it was Keating’s body. A
letter in the pocket was addressed to Widener, but the coat was labeled
“E. K.” and the garments were of an inferior quality. Identification
by features was out of the question, for the dead man had been struck
by some spar or bit of wreckage, and the face was mutilated past
recognition. He was buried at sea, and the news sent on to the waiting
family.
Young Mr. Widener, who had been waiting here for a week with a private
car to carry the body of his father home to Philadelphia, had heard of
the uncertainty, and in a fever of impatience he met the Mackay-Bennett
at Quarantine, went over the effects with Captain Lardner, and was
satisfied that it was Keating whose body was found and who was later
committed to the deep.
The haunting fear that this same error might have been made in the
case of Colonel Astor had possession of the whole Astor party and grew
acute as the Widener story went out. That was what sent Captain Roberts
hurrying to the ship. He was admitted and saw for himself. The coffin
top was removed on board.
The plain gold ring with the two little diamonds set deep, the gold
buckle on the belt that Colonel Astor always wore, and a sum amounting
to nearly $3000 in the pockets settled the uncertainty. Twenty minutes
after he had boarded the ship Captain Roberts was hurrying through the
crowd to reach the nearest telephone that he might speed the news to
waiting Vincent Astor.
QUESTIONS OF IDENTITY.
Beyond these two cases the questions of identity were taken up at the
Mayflower Curling Rink at the edge of the town, where the line of
hearses had been trundling since the Mackay-Bennett landed. As they
passed the crowds were hushed, men bowed their heads, and officers
saluted.
At the rink the great main floor was given over to the coffins and
shells containing the identified dead, and as soon as the embalmers
had done their work the friends and relatives came forward and claimed
their own.
Upstairs in the large, bare room the packets of clothing were
distributed in rows upon the floor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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