SKETCHES OF PROMINENT MEN AND WOMEN ON BOARD, INCLUDING MAJOR ARCHIBALD
BUTT, JOHN JACOB ASTOR, BENJAMIN GUGGENHEIM, ISIDOR STRAWS, J. BRUCE
ISMAY, GEORGE D. WIDENER, COLONEL WASHINGTON ROEBLING, 2D, CHARLES M.
HAYS, W. T. STEAD AND OTHERS
THE ship's company was of a character befitting the greatest of all
vessels and worthy of the occasion of her maiden voyage. Though the
major part of her passengers were Americans returning from abroad, there
were enrolled upon her cabin lists some of the most distinguished
names of England, as well as of the younger nation. Many of these had
purposely delayed sailing, or had hastened their departure, that they
might be among the first passengers on the great vessel.
There were aboard six men whose fortunes ran into tens of millions,
besides many other persons of international note. Among the men were
leaders in the world of commerce, finance, literature, art and the
learned professions. Many of the women were socially prominent in two
hemispheres.
Wealth and fame, unfortunately, are not proof against fate, and most
of these notable personages perished as pitiably as the more humble
steerage passengers.
The list of notables included Colonel John Jacob Astor, head of the
Astor family, whose fortune is estimated at $150,000,000; Isidor Straus,
merchant and banker ($50,000,000); J. Bruce Ismay, managing director of
the International Mercantile Marine ($40,000,000); Benjamin Guggenheim,
head of the Guggenheim family ($95,000,000): George D. Widener, son of
P. A. B. Widener, traction magnate and financier ($5,000,000); Colonel
Washington Roebling, builder of the great Brooklyn Bridge; Charles
M. Hays, president of the Grand Trunk Railway; W. T. Stead. famous
publicist; Jacques Futrelle, journalist; Henry S. Harper, of the firm
of Harper & Bros.; Henry B. Harris, theatrical manager; Major Archibald
Butt, military aide to President Taft; and Francis D. Millet, one of the
best-known American painters.
MAJOR BUTT
Major Archibald Butt, whose bravery on the sinking vessel will not soon
be forgotten, was military aide to President Taft and was known wherever
the President traveled. His recent European mission was apparently to
call on the Pope in behalf of President Taft; for on March 21st he was
received at the Vatican, and presented to the Pope a letter from
Mr. Taft thanking the Pontiff for the creation of three new American
Cardinals.
Major Butt had a reputation as a horseman, and it is said he was able
to keep up with President Roosevelt, be the ride ever so far or fast.
He was promoted to the rank of major in 1911. He sailed for the
Mediterranean on March 2d with his friend Francis D. Millet, the artist,
who also perished on the Titanic.
COLONEL ASTOR
John Jacob Astor was returning from a trip to Egypt with his
nineteen-year-old bride, formerly Miss Madeline Force, to whom he was
married in Providence, September 9, 1911. He was head of the family
whose name he bore and one of the world's wealthiest men. He was not,
however, one of the world's "idle rich," for his life of forty-seven
years was a well-filled one. He had managed the family estates since
1891; built the Astor Hotel, New York; was colonel on the staff of
Governor Levi P. Morton, and in May, 1898, was commissioned colonel
of the United States volunteers. After assisting Major-General
Breckinridge, inspector-general of the United States army, he was
assigned to duty on the staff of Major-General Shafter and served in
Cuba during the operations ending in the surrender of Santiago. He was
also the inventor of a bicycle brake, a pneumatic road-improver, and an
improved turbine engine.
BENJAMIN GUGGENHEIM
Next to Colonel Astor in financial importance was Benjamin Guggenheim,
whose father founded the famous house of M. Guggenheim and Sons. When
the various Guggen-heim interests were consolidated into the American
Smelting and Refining Company he retired from active business, although
he later became interested in the Power and Mining Machinery Company of
Milwaukee. In 1894 he married Miss Floretta Seligman, daughter of James
Seligman, the New York banker.
ISIDOR STRAUS
Isidor Straus, whose wife elected to perish with him in the ship, was a
brother of Nathan and Oscar Straus, a partner with Nathan Straus in R.
H. Macy & Co. and L. Straus & Sons, a member of the firm of Abraham &
Straus in Brooklyn, and has been well known in politics and charitable
work. He was a member of the Fifty-third Congress from 1893 to 1895,
and as a friend of William L. Wilson was in constant consultation in the
matter of the former Wilson tariff bill.
Mr. Straus was conspicuous for his works of charity and was an ardent
supporter of every enterprise to improve the condition of the Hebrew
immigrants. He was president of the Educational Alliance, vice-president
of the J. Hood Wright Memorial Hospital, a member of the Chamber of
Commerce, on one of the visiting committees of Harvard University, and
was besides a trustee of many financial and philanthropic institutions.
Mr. Straus never enjoyed a college education. He was, however, one of
the best informed men of the day, his information having been derived
from extensive reading. His library, said to be one of the finest and
most extensive in New York, was his pride and his place of special
recreation.
{illust. caption = ACTUAL PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ICEBERG THAT SUNK THE
TITANIC
Lady Duff Gordon, a prominent English woman who was aboard the...}
{illust. caption = HEART-BREAKING FAREWELLS
Both men and women were loaded into the first boats, but soon the cry of
"Women first" was raised. Then came the real note of tragedy.
Husbands and wives clung to each other in farewell; some refused to be
separated.}
GEORGE D. WIDENER
The best known of Philadelphia passengers aboard the Titanic were Mr.
and Mrs. George D. Widener. Mr. Widener was a son of Peter A. B. Widener
and, like his father, was recognized as one of the foremost financiers
of Philadelphia as well as a leader in society there. Mr. Widener
married Miss Eleanor Elkins, a daughter of the late William L. Elkins.
They made their home with his father at the latter's fine place
at Eastbourne, ten miles from Philadelphia. Mr. Widener was keenly
interested in horses and was a constant exhibitor at horse shows. In
business he was recognized as his father's chief adviser in managing the
latter's extensive traction interests. P. A. B. Widener is a director of
the International Mercantile Marine.
Mrs. Widener is said to be the possessor of one of the finest
collections of jewels in the world, the gift of her husband. One string
of pearls in this collection was reported to be worth $250,000.
The Wideners went abroad two months previous to the disaster, Mr.
Widener desiring to inspect some of his business interests on the other
side. At the opening of the London Museum by King George on March 21st
last it was announced that Mrs. Widener had presented to the museum
thirty silver plates once the property of Nell Gwyn. Mr. Widener is
survived by a daughter, Eleanor, and a son, George D. Widener, Jr. Harry
Elkins Widener was with his parents and went down on the ship.
COLONEL ROEBLING
Colonel Washington Augustus Roebling was president of the John A.
Roebling Sons' Company, manufacturers of iron and steel wire rope. He
served in the Union Army from 1861 to 1865, resigning to assist his
father in the construction of the Cincinnati and Covington suspension
bridge. At the death of his father in 1869 he took entire charge of the
construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, and it is to his genius that the
success of that great work may be said to be due.
WILLIAM T. STEAD
One of the most notable of the foreign passengers was William T. Stead.
Few names are more widely known to the world of contemporary literature
and journalism than that of the brilliant editor of the Review of
Reviews. Matthew Arnold called him "the inventor of the new journalism
in England." He was on his way to America to take part in the Men and
Religion Forward Movement and was to have delivered an address in Union
Square on the Thursday after the disaster, with William Jennings Bryan
as his chief associate.
Mr. Stead was an earnest advocate of peace and had written many books.
His commentary "If Christ Came to Chicago" raised a storm twenty years
ago. When he was in this country in 1907 he addressed a session of
Methodist clergymen, and at one juncture of the meeting remarked that
unless the Methodists did something about the peace movement besides
shouting "amen" nobody "would care a damn about their amens!"
OTHER ENGLISHMEN ABOARD
Other distinguished Englishmen on the Titanic were Norman C. Craig,
M.P., Thomas Andrews, a representative of the firm of Harland & Wolff,
of Belfast, the ship's builders, and J. Bruce Ismay, managing director
of the White Star Line.
J. BRUCE ISMAY
Mr. Ismay is president and one of the founders of the International
Mercantile Marine. He has made it a custom to be a passenger on the
maiden voyage of every new ship built by the White Star Line. It was Mr.
Ismay who, with J. P. Morgan, consolidated the British steamship lines
under the International Mercantile Marine's control; and it is largely
due to his imagination that such gigantic ships as the Titanic and
Olympic were made possible
JACQUES FUTRELLE
Jacques Futrelle was an author of short stories, some of which have
appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, and of many novels of the same
general type as "The Thinking Machine," with which he first gained a
wide popularity. Newspaper work, chiefly in Richmond, Va., engaged his
attention from 1890 to 1909, in which year he entered the theatrical
business as a manager. In 1904 he returned to his journalistic career.
HENRY B. HARRIS
Henry B. Harris, the theater manager, had been manager of May Irwin,
Peter Dailey, Lily Langtry, Amelia Bingham, and launched Robert Edeson
as star. He became the manager of the Hudson Theater in 1903 and the
Hackett Theater in 1906. Among his best known productions are "The Lion
and the Mouse," "The Traveling Salesman" and "The Third Degree." He was
president of the Henry B. Harris Company controlling the Harris Theater.
Young Harris had a liking for the theatrical business from a boy. Twelve
years ago Mr. Harris married Miss Rene Wallach of Washington. He was
said to have a fortune of between $1,000,000 and $3,000,000. He owned
outright the Hudson and the Harris theaters and had an interest in two
other show houses in New York. He owned three theaters in Chicago, one
in Syracuse and one in Philadelphia.
HENRY S. HARPER
Henry Sleeper Harper, who was among the survivors, is a grandson of John
Wesley Harper, one of the founders of the Harper publishing business. H.
Sleeper Harper was himself an incorporator of Harper & Brothers when the
firm became a corporation in 1896. He had a desk in the offices of the
publishers, but his hand of late years in the management of the business
has been very slight. He has been active in the work of keeping the
Adirondack forests free from aggression. He was in the habit of spending
about half of his time in foreign travel. His friends in New York
recalled that he had a narrow escape about ten years ago when a ship in
which he was traveling ran into an iceberg on the Grand Banks.
FRANCIS DAVID MILLET
Millet was one of the best-known American painters and many of his
canvasses are found in the leading galleries of the world. He served as
a drummer boy with the Sixtieth Massachusetts volunteers in the Civil
War, and from early manhood took a prominent part in public affairs. He
was director of the decorations for the Chicago Exposition and was, at
the time of the disaster, secretary of the American Academy in Rome. He
was a wide traveler and the author of many books, besides translations
of Tolstoi.
CHARLES M. HAYS
Another person of prominence was Charles Melville Hays, president of the
Grand Trunk and the Grand Trunk Pacific railways. He was described by
Sir Wilfrid Laurier at a dinner of the Canadian Club of New York, at the
Hotel Astor last year, as "beyond question the greatest railroad genius
in Canada, as an executive genius ranking second only to the late Edward
H. Harriman." He was returning aboard the Titanic with his wife and
son-in-law and daughter; Mr. and Mrs. Thornton Davidson, of Montreal.