4.
CHAPTER IV
SOME OF THE NOTABLE PASSENGERS
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 Guggenheim
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.
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.
