STARTLING TESTIMONY BEFORE SENATE COMMITTEE PROBING TITANIC DISASTER Quartermaster Ordered to Take Boat Load of Passengers to "Light Oil Port Bow" and Return lor More, OFFICER WAITED TILL MANY DIED ERE ROWING BACK Washington.—Testimony was ad- i dueed at the hearing before the Sena torial committee in Washington to show that Herbert G. Lowe, fifth offi cer of the Titanic, had to use violent I language to J. Bruce Ismay when the j latter,, was interfering with the load- j lng of the lifeboats under Lowe's charge. HAROLD COTTAM ' i Wireless Operator on the Carpathia. Lowe declared that he did not row "back to do rescue work till the dying had thinned out, fearing the drowning would swamp the boat. J. Bruce Ismay was very much per turbed when he found himself safe on the Carpathia. and told Second Officer Lightoller that he, Ismay, should have gone down with the ship as long as any woman remained on board the Ti tanic. Lightoller said Officer Wolfe threw Ismay into a boat. Officer Lightoller testified that the maritime value of a lookout depends tipon his extreme range of vision and that marine glasses are only useful to determine the form and appearance of ■something already perceived by the naked eye. A lookout with glasses, Mr. Lightoller indicated, would not have that great sweep of vision neces sary to make him useful as a lookout. The sentiment rather grows thai> dies that the Titanic was started from Southampton with nothing but a scratch crew to manage this, the lat- j est work in transatlantic travel. Some ; of the crew, it seems, had been on the , ship's trial from Belfast to Southamp- I ton, but the great majority knew little ] or nothing of her equipment. There i ■were no fire or collision drills on the 1 Titanic during the three days she was at sea on her maiden voyage, before . being sunk. The average speed of the Titanic, I Lightoller testified, was about 21 3-4 knots. She ccnld have made, he thought, between 2.1 and 24 without difficulty, if pushed to the utmost. Lightoller assumed full responsibil ity for the messages sent by Ismay to the International .Mercantile .Marine Company urging and commanding that the f'edric be held till after the Car pathia had arrived, so the survivors of the Titanic's crew might be put aboard and shipped straight back to England. The testimony so far adduced by the Senate Committee investigating the sinking of the Titanic has brought out these points: That she hit the iceberg on a clear, starry night, although there was no moon. That several steamships heard her calls for assistance and turned toward her, the Carpathia being the only one to reach her in time. The German steamship Frankfurt was told by the wireless operator on board the Titan ic, when it answered the "C Q D" sig nal, to "shut up." That the first boats were ordered away somewhat more than an hour the Titanic struck. That while the lifeboats were insuf ficient In number to care for more than a third of the Titanic's pas sengers, that many of them were sent awaV with less than half the number of passengers they could carry. That the Titanic, warned less than an hour before she struck the ice, was 'HELLO" GIRL GOES BLINO. Flickering Signal Lights Said to Have Impaired Her Sighk. Atlantic City, N. J. —Ethel Hiltner, 17 years old, an operator at the Bell Telephone central here, was stricken nlind while at her switchboard. Spe cialists fear the affliction is perma nent. She had been under treatment for impa-ivaient of her sight. The flicker ing lights which signal calls, are said lu have blinded her. going at a speed of twenty-one and a half knots an hour. That it was wished that the Titanic make a good speed record ou her maiden voyage. That Captain Arthur Kostron of the Carpathia, put a double watch out on board the Carpathia and rushed his vessel to the aid of the Titanic, disre garding the danger. That the news that, the Titanic had sank with great loss of life had been sent out from the Carpathia an hour after it. occurred. That it was not giv en out in this city until late in the evening of the day she went down. That the Baltic received the news by wireless at about half-past nine o'clock the Monday morning the Ti tanic went down. That Representative Hughes re ceived a telegram from the White Star Line Monday evening saying that the Titanic was in tow of the Virgin ian, bound for Halifax. That the wireless operator of the Carpathia denied ever sending out such a message. That Joseph G. Boxhall, fourth offi cer of the Titanic, and others'saw the lights of a steamship within live miles, which refused to answer the distress signals of the Titanic. That J. Bruce Ismay sent several urgent wireless messages to P. A. S. Franklin, vice president of the White Star Line, to hold the Cedric, so that he and the crew of the Titanic could be heard in the boaUs a great distance away, and that only one boat returned to the scene of the wreck after the Titanic sank. That ttie Titanic had a list to star board of five degrees within five min utes after striking. That Mr. Lowe fired several shots to keep Italian immigrants from jump ing in and swamping his boat. That many of the men saved were those who went, down with the Ti tanic but managed to reach the sur face again. —From the Scientific American, in all probability a massive, projecting, underwater shelf of the iceberg with which she collided tore open several compartments of ihe "Titanic," tie rent extending from near the bow to amidships. The energy of tin blow, 1,161,000 foot-tons, was equal to that of the combined broadsides o.' the "Delaware" and "North Dakota." COLD-BLOODED STORY OF LOWE CHILLS SPECTATORS Fifth Officer Fired Revolver Shots to Drive Steerage Passagers Away from His Boat—Didn't Return Un til "Dying Had Thinned Out." Washington. Harold Godfrey Lowe, fifth officer of the Titanic, gave a new and complete version of the disaster. He personally assisted in launching live lifeboats, and was the only officer to return and examine the wreckage after the ship went down. He also fired the revolver shots, of which so much has been said, doing so to terrify steerage men. His testimony was so cold-blooded that it chilled all those present, but was given with every indication that he had performed his duty as he saw it. Lowe had never before sailed the Atlantic, and all on the ship were strangers to him. His recital of the tragedy adds the most interesting and dramatic chapter to its history yet developed. Lowe said he did not return to the wreckage until the yells and cries had subsided and the dying had "thinned out." He testified there were «00 in the water, and his boat would surely have been swamped and all in it lost had he returned to rescue any. FEARS FOR SISTER AT SEA, DIES. Woman Commits Suicide After Worry About Titanic Disaster. Newark, N. J.—Mrs. Beatrice Bar well, 2St years old, was found dead from gas in her home after having bade goodby to her sister, who Sailed for Europe in the Celtic. She commit ted suicide. Her husband and relatives say the woman became despondent at the parting from her sister and the worry that the steamship would meet the sauie fate a* the Titanic. Lowe Savagely Replies to Ismay. In telling how he had ordered Is may, the supreme head of his employ ers, away when he was preparing a lifeboat for lowering, Lowe looked straight at the managing director when he interrupted him, saying sav agely that he was being examined by the committee. Like all previous for eign witnesses, Mr. Lowe was on his mettle, and ready for a controversy at the snap of a linger. The rescue of the collapsed lifeboat, use as a raft, to which 35 people clung; the rescue of 24 from another collapsible boat on the verge of the sinking, and the picking up of lour drowning in the sea were the feat ures of his testimony. Saw Two Women on Bridge as Ship Sank. Second Officer Lightoller added much to his testimony given in New York. He said searchlights might prove detrimental or beneficial. He did not approve of them. He said only two women remained on the en tire boat deck when the ship went down. They stood on the bridge amidships, and made no effort lo go aside in either direction. All responsibility for the attempt by J. Bruce Ismay to hold the Celtic was assumed by Mr. Lightoller. He im plored Mr. Ismay to do so. he said, in order that the crew might be pro tected and held together, explaining that there was no thought of evading the Senate investigation. Defends Ismay. A warm defense of Mr. Ismay was volunteered by the second officer, lie had on authority that Chief Officer Wilde forcibly placed the managing director in the last boat to leave the sinking ship. This was done against the protest of Mr. Ismay. He told of Mr. Ismay's collapse upon arriving on the Carpathia. He was suffering mental trouble, regretting that he had left the ship, after knowing that wom en were still on board. Mr. Lightoller maintained stoutly that the boilers of the Titanic explod ed. He declared that the seamen of the Titanic all did their duty and the boats were all launched promptly. No passengers were eager to get in them, as none looked upon the matter as serious. It was admitted by Mr. Lightoller that he worked up the position of the ship after wireless messages had been received warning that icebergs were approaching. He figured that they should reach the ice by 11 o'clock Sunday night, admonished the men on the lookout and told all the offi cers. PASSENGERS SEE FIVE SCORE BODIES AMID WRECKAGE OF THE TITANIC Women Scream and Faint at Mourn ful Spectacle as Ship Ploughs Slowly Along—Mother and Baby in Same Lifebelt—Another Woman Victim Held Two Children in Her Arms. New York. —First of the Atlantic regular liners to thread the grave yard of the icefields off the Banks and reach this port was the North German Lloyd liner Bremen. She had been told by wireless by the Khein of the same line, bound for Baltimore, of the nearby presence of the hearse ship Mackay-Bennett and of the gruesome spectacle before her. It was late on Saturday afternoon that the Bremen drew near the mournful aftermath of the Titanic disaster, her officers and passengers catching sight of white and yellow streaks and little breaks on the Bwells that at first were readily mistaken for whitecaps. Still nearer approach re vealed that the bobbing specks upon the waves were bodies of the victims of the greatest tragedy of the sea. Capt. B. Wihelmi of the Bremen slowed down to a very funeral pace while traversing the area of the dead. He did this out of respect and to ASSAILS BOARD OF TRADE. Lord Muskerry Says Marine Depart ment Opposed Ship Reforms. London.—Lord Muskerry, late of the navy, severely criticised the ma rine department of the Board of Trade. Measures which had been urged by the guild, he said, had met with bitter opposition from the head of the marine department. He ex pressed the hope that the commission under Lord Mersey which had been appointed to investigate the wreck of the Titanic would insist upon reform. avoid the possibility of disturbing ana mangling the bodies, which, he had been informed, the Mackay-Bennett was seeking. Like appropriate, if ghastly and ter rible, monuments marking the transi eiit acres of the dead, floated tall and ungainly icebergs to the right and the left. Soon every passenger and every | sailor off watch, summoned by the I whispered word of curiosity and inor- | bid interest, passed from mouth to mouth, was on deck. As far as human eye could carry either direction, starboard or port, the j reminders of the ocean disaster could i be seen. Sometimes it was necessary | to peep over the rail to discern them. ; Others were ten, twenty, thirty yards distant, while the plainly visible, but unmistakable shrouds of the corpses, the telltale life-preservers, could b« seen in all directions. A gruesome description was that of Miss Johanne Steinke of No. 238 East Fiftieth street, a passenger. C. M. HAYS M;:- J H I Mr. Hays, who was president of the j Grand Trunk railway, lost his life in the Titanic disaster. His wife and daughter, Margaret, were saved. —.— i "I saw," said Miss Steinke, "a mid dle-aged woman, well dressed, show ing she had been a cabin passenger, clasping in her arms a large St. Ber nard dog. I suppose that while the ship was sinking she went to the butcher's shop and fetched her dog. 1 should have done the same. "Then there was the body of a wom an with her baby clasped to her breast. The mother wore only one garment, while the baby was fully dressed. Both were enclosed within the same lifebelt. To the right was an iceberg about half a mile away. To the left were two icebergs, stand ing guard over the dead. As we made out the small dots floating around, and realized what they meant, feel ings of awe and sadness crept over every one, and we proceeded in abso lute silence as if to show reverence for the dead. We passed so near that we could make out> whether the vic tims were men or women and what they were wearing. Women Screamed and Fainted. "When they caught sight of the mother with her baby in her arms some of the women on the ship screamed and left the rail fainting. "Nearby floated the bodies of three men, all clinging to a steamer chair. "This berg to starboard, the officers thought, was the very monster that had hit the Titanic. Its side appeared to be split off as if cleaved by some instrument of mighty power and sharpness. "A number of the passengers de manded that the captain stop and res cue the bodies, but the officers as sured us that the Mackay-Bennett was on that mournful mission, only two hours away. The scene moved every one to tears and even the navigators of Bremen could not hide their emo tion." TITANIC BODIES PICKED UP ON THE OCEAN. New York.—Two hundred and five bodies of the victims of the Titanic disaster were picked up at sea by the cable steamer Mackay-Bennett and brought to Halifax, N. S. Capt. Larti der of the Mackay-Bennett confirms the identification of one body as that of George I). Widener. son of P. A. B. Widener of Philadelphia, in a wireless despatch to the White Star Line. Another despatch from the Mackay- Bennett state: "Bodies are in latitude 41.35 north, longitude 48.37 west, extending many miles east and west Mail ships should give this a wide berth. Medical opin ion is death has been instantaneous in all cases, owing to pressure when bodies were drawn down in vortex." The bodies of John Jacob Astor, Isa dor Straus and Hays were recovered. OHIO COMPROMISE RECALL. Legislature Authorized to Provide for Impeachment Commission. Columbus, Ohio. —The Constitution al Convention compromised on the re call when by an almost unanimous vote the members passed a proposal authorizing the Legislature to enact a law providing for an impeachment commission with power to remove any offending public official. The law will not. interfere with the present plan of impeachment by legislative procedure. TO FIGHT WILL FOR TREASURE Disinherited Kin Excited by Hope of Buried Gold. ARE INTO GAME OF DIGGING I Disinherited Heirs of Rich Sallie Ben ninghoff Sue for Share in Estate from Which They Were Cut Off With $lO. Allentown. —Excited by the stories of the woman's buried treasure, kin who were practically disinherited by 97-year-old Sallie Benuinghoff will start a will contest in order lo get into the game of digging for the hidden gold. Attorney weorge J. Miller, act ing for his mother, Mrs. Amanda Mil ler, who was cut off with $lO, announc ed that he would open a contest to break the will of Sallie Benninghoff, the oldest woman in Lehigh County, | part of whose $50,000 estate, it is to | ported, consisted of buried treasure. | It will be claimed that the woman, j who was in her 97th year, was a wid- j I ow. She is said to have had a husband, i who died so long ago that a younger J generation, who knew her only casual ly, were under the impression that she j had never been married. According j j to Mr. Miller, the foundation of the j family fortune was an estate of about | $30,000 left by her husband, Isaac Ben- | ninghoff, a Lynn township farmer, j Francis J. Gildner, attorney for Frank | and Daniel Benuinghoff, the nephews : who are the beneficiaries in the will, i made a statement declaring they were j entitled to the estate by reason of their having cared for the old lady. Despite her age. Attorney Gildner as- j serts she was until the very eve of her j death sound in mind and physically j I very active for one of her advanced j I years, disputing the assertion of the j i contestants that she was incompetent. ! Curbs Water Grants. Harrisburg.—The State Water Sup- I ply Commmissiou announced that it j I had approved applications for charters j j by the West Norriston Water Com- ' j puny, Montgomery county; Shannopin ' Heights Water t'o., Hopewell town- ; I ship, Beaver county; Middle Broad- j j heads l'ower Co., Stroudsburg; Upper J i Broadheads Power Co., East Strouds- j j burg; Central Broadheads Power Co., | Stroud township, Monroe county, and j lower Broadheads Power Co., Smith field township. Monroe county. The | Commission also announced condi tions under which it approved charters j for the Clarion River power project, j insuring to the State right of super | vision of construction and operation i of all dams, the control of flow, reser | vations for flood amelioration projects ! and equal rates for the public. Plead for Roads. Harrisburg. Delegations froui ! Berks, 'I ioga. Potter, McKean, Centre j ! and Erie counties waited upon High- j i way Commissioner Bigolow to urge 1 early reconstruction of roads in their ! sections of the State, or that repairs ; be started. The Berks delegation was from Hamburg and headed by Coun j ciltnen, and urged that the State main j highway in that section be taken up | early, because of the proposed erec j tion cf the State tuberculosis sanitari ' um in that vicinity. The northern tier | delegation was headed by Senator Frank E. Baldwin and United States j District Attorney Andrew B. Duns i more. Grewsonie Postal Farewell. Chamliersburg.—Post cards bearing I his farewell message to friends and j relatives were sent broadcast in Mont | Alto aud Waynesboro by William i Heed, who is sentenced to be hanged. ' Reed was measured i'or a black suit of | clothing by a local tailor. He request- | ! ed that his body be sent to Mont Alto ; for burial. The gallows from which j he will be hanged arrived here from ; Reading, and was taken to the ja.il ! yard, where the execution will take ! place. Forces Grandson To Kill Him. Meadville.—After slaying his wife, ! Sarah, supposedly while insane with 1 jealousy, Stephen Wellman, a wealthy i farmer, descended from an upper room j of his heme near Lincolnville, Craw- j , ford couity, and forced his terrified ; j young giandson, Grisdom Wellman, to } j execute him by blowing off the top of ; ■ his head with a shotgun. The dead I I grandparents were aged t>s years each ! and the child 9 years. : Jilted Girl Awarded $3,000. Selin's Grove. —Mamie L. Wolf, a school teacher and member of a promt- I | nent family, was awarded $3,000 dam- I i ages here in her suit for breach of ! ! promise against Columbus McDevitt, ' j a school teacher of Coal township. 1 McDevitt did not appear in court. Read Palms to Rob Village Altoona. —A caravan of gypsies stop ped at East Freedom and the people were so busy having their fortunes told that they did not notice they werV being relieved of their surplus money tintil the band had departed. Bight of the most prominent residents of the town were victims. C. W. Ben ton was the chief victim, losing SSO. George Ruggles, the village black smith, lost $7. and Constable George Hoenstine several bills. A posse was was formed overtaking the nomads at Newry and the easy money recovered SNAPSHOTS AT STATE NEWS All Pennsylvania Gleaned for Items of Interest. REPORTS ABOUT CROPS GOOD Farmers Busy tn Every Locality—* Churches Raising Funds for Many Worthy Objects—ltems of Busi ness and Pleasure that Interest. The public playgrounds in West Chester were formally opened with a game ot baseball. Lancaster Socialists elected Cora Bixler a delegate to their national con vent ion. Caught between two cars in the Standard Steel yard at Lewistowu, John O'Tlara was crushed to death. Abington Commissioners have pass ed an ordinance for the formal dispos i al of bonds to a total value of $104,000. Adam f'.ribble plowed up and killed a seven-loot blacksnake at Adams ; town. i The Mack Motor Car Works at Al lentown has bought six acres at SOOOO an acre, to enlarge its plant. | Driven hopeless by pain, Benjamin i Laudig, a Ringtown invalid, aged 55, I blew off the top of his head with a | gun. Herbert Aurand, 12 years old, died i from lockjaw at Lewistown, superin ! duced by a compound fracture of the ; right arm, sustained in a fall. Marie Leehan, a Cherokee squaw, ; who robbed O. M. Scluieffer of $lO | while telling his fortune in Allentown, j was arrested and held for a hearing. Potatoes getting away from cars on | the Newtown station siding, the Read i ing Railroad has put a detective on | the ground. John Beiler, once the owner of many j farms in Northampton county, died in | the almshouse near Nazareth, aged I*2 I years. Lockwood B. Worden, the new Pro j thonotary of Dauphin county, is said to be the youngest man who has held the office in that county. Frank R. Heavner, a Norristown j contractor, has been awarded the con tract to build an addition to the First j Presbyterian Church at a cost of $22,- | 544. j All business places through the Pan ! ther Creek Valley have put up notices | that no credit will be extended to any ! one—a warning to the hundreds of I idle miners throughout the region. Suit for SIO,OOO damages has been started in Schuylkill Court by Mrs. : Elizabeth Reyer, whose son Herman was terribly injured in the Dodson coal breaker at Morea. The Business Men's Association of Downingtown will appeal to the Penn sylvania Railroad Company to have safety gates erected at the grade crossing on Washington street, that borough. Charged with assaulting Fish Ward en, J. I\. Tittle, in the Poconos, C. K. Riley, Kingston, and A. Pipher, Wilkes | Barre, trout fishermen, were arrested by Sergeant Mountjoy, of the State troopers. I Going to Brush Mountain after I school, Walter Bell, aged 15, and ('has. I White and Charles Sherer, Central j Grammar School boys, ate some pois onous weeds, from the effects of which Hell died at Altoona. White and Sherer are in a serious condition. Major Isaac B. Brown, of Cory, form er oecreiary ot Internal Affairs, visit ed Secretary Houck, Factory Inspector Delaney, State Teasurer, Wright and other officials at the State Capitol this week. Major Brown has had to give j up the practice of law in order to de vote his time to business interests, j lie spent the winter in Florida with j his family and is in robust health. In a round-up of the four "liandsom | est" boys in four of America's univer sities, a New Yor«v city paper includes I Joseph M. Russ, a freshman in the de- I partment of philosophy at Fordhani. son of Mr. and Mrs. James Russ, of Harrisburg. Mr. Russ at the age of 20 i is president of the Round Head Club j at the university, and at he recent re ception to Cardinal Farley he was his class epresentative. He sings in the University Glee Club. A terrific windstorm blew down a 75-foot high bridge, 200 feet long, own ed by the McTurk Coal Company, at the eastern end of Girardville. While Mary Klinger, 9 years old, was returning from school at Union town. she was attacked by William Heffner. Three men ran to the girl s aid and Heffner fled to the mountains, where he was caught by Vaughan Spotts, the girl's teacher, after Heff ner had tried to stab him. Admitting his intent to a Justice, Heffner was Irai risoned.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers