Name: Block:

Here are the contributing background details for the murder:

A. Mrs. Virginia Cooper, 37, was a first class passenger on the Titanic. She was accompanied on the ship’s voyage from England to New York City by her husband, Mr. Zeus Cooper, 48, and their daughter, Anna Cooper, 11.

B. When the ship set sail, there was over $67,000 in jewelry in her cabin safe. Her husband stored three weapons in the safe: a Colt revolver, an antique hunting knife, and a Zeus’s sword from the Boer War. As the ship sank, none were in the safe.

C. On Sunday, April 14, 1912, the Coopers celebrated their wedding anniversary aboard the Titanic, hosting a dinner party at the Café Parisian on B Deck. This was the fourth day of the ship’s trans-Atlantic trek. Late that night, at 11:40 PM, an iceberg struck the hull of the Titanic; the ship sunk by 2:20 AM.

D. Mrs. Cooper was found dead in a pool of blood by her younger brother, Mr. Marcus Wolfe, at 12:15 AM, 45 minutes after the iceberg struck. Her body was found in the stairwell leading up from second and third classes.

E. On her body, there were signs of a struggle: multiple bruises on her arms, abrasions on the backs of her ankles, and a welt on her forehead. The body was left aboard the ship as it sank.

F. The killer(s) escaped on a lifeboat.

G. There were approximately 2,227 passengers and crew on the Titanic. 703 people survived: 19% of men survived, 75% of women, and 50% of children. Additionally, 62% of first class passengers survived – compare that figure with 43% of second class passengers and 25% of third class passengers. 23% of the ship’s White Star Line crew survived.

Clue Set 1 of 3 Name: Block: 1. On the day of the murder, Mr. Cooper, left Mrs. Cooper and their daughter, Anna, in First Class Cabin 401 at 6:30 PM to meet with his new business partners before dinner. They talked intensely, sometimes raising their voices, for about thirty minutes.

2. Earlier that morning, Mrs. Cooper met with the famed jeweler Newton Blanch and his assistant, Jacob. Mr. Blanch had designed a necklace for Mrs. Cooper’s anniversary. The breakfast meeting didn’t go well. Mrs. Cooper thought his design was ugly. However, her negative response to his work was atypical; she’d always liked his designs in the past. Mrs. Cooper was seen rudely storming out in disgust before breakfast was served. She tripped as she left the room, falling down.

3. Misty Fox, 19, was a third class passenger who was smuggled into first class by Jacob, the jeweler’s assistant. She ran into Mr. Cooper as he made his way to his business meeting. She was in a rush and wasn’t looking where she was going. He glared wrathfully at her as he dusted himself off.

4. On her way to dinner at 7:00 PM, Virginia Cooper’s ex-fiancé, Mr. Karl Goldmark, 39, a second class passenger, was spotted grabbing her arm in the lavatory hallway of the A La Carte restaurant on B Deck.

5. Mr. Zeus Cooper took over his father’s horse breeding and trading company ten years ago upon his father’s death. He is named after his father’s favorite horse, Zeus Maximus, and, true to his name, is known for his foolhardy1 temper and wandering eye. Mr. Cooper had to take on partners when the business had lost money for two years in a row.

6. Anna Cooper, Mrs. Cooper’s daughter, was one of only seven children in first class on the Titanic. The night of the anniversary dinner, Anna came down with a fever. As her mother got ready for dinner, Anna begged her still to go. Her begging turned into a tantrum, and when Mrs. Cooper ignored her, she became even more frustrated. As her mother left, Anna ran up to the closed door and screamed in rage. Miss Matilda, the cabin maid, pulled her from the door and admonished her to end her outburst. Anna, head throbbing now, sulked into her bedroom and cried herself to sleep.

Clue Set 2 of 3

7. Misty Fox carried a pocketknife with her at all times for protection and utility. She came aboard the ship under a false name. On her second

1 foolhardy: (adj.) recklessly bold or rash Name: Block: day aboard, she was caught stealing valuable silverware from a cart outside a first class cabin.

8. Dinner, 7:35 PM: At a long table at Café Parisian, the ship’s finest restaurant, everyone was seated, ordering drinks at Virginia and Zeus’s anniversary dinner. The guests in attendance were:  Edward Elgar, Zeus’s horse trading business partner;  Marcus Wolfe, Virginia’s brother;  Marcus’s wife, Adelaide;  Newton Blanch, the jeweler.

9. While Anna was asleep, Matilda quietly shut the door linking the two cabin bedrooms and snooped around the master sleeping quarters. She found several bullets strewn across the floor beneath the safe. In Mrs. Cooper’s trunk, she found a recent letter from Karl Goldmark to Mrs. Cooper begging to speak with her.

10. On the morning of her murder, Mrs. Cooper reported that a one-of-a- kind diamond bracelet was stolen from her cabin during dinner the previous night. The ship’s constable, Officer Eden, investigated with no success. Virginia was furious and complained directly to the vice- president of the White Star Line.

11. Marcus Wolfe left dinner early around 9:30, perspiring heavily, rejecting Mrs. Cooper’s pleas for him to stay. On his way back to his cabin, he started to make his way to check on Anna but took an invitation to go down to third class to gamble.

12. On the first day of the trip, Mr. Cooper showed off his antique sword from the safe to Virginia’s brother, Marcus Wolfe.

13. Marcus’s wife, Adelaide, didn’t own any expensive jewelry. She was having breakfast nearby when Virginia stormed out on Mr. Blanch. She sat down with him afterward. Misty Fox overheard their conversation, holding a bracelet between her fingers as she listened. Clue Set 3 of 3

14. Around 10:15, as dessert was being served, Mr. Cooper was handed a handwritten note by the waiter: Name: Block:

Mr. Cooper offered to go himself, but Mrs. Cooper scoffed at the

idea and excused herself from the table to check on Anna. When Virginia got up, Mr. Blanch excused himself as well. It was unknown what happened to Mr. Cooper.

15. Mr. Goldmark ate dinner alone in his cabin. His dinner was delivered by a White Star Line serviceman around 10:45 PM. Mr. Goldmark was wearing a heavy overcoat and tipped the serviceman double. Earlier in the evening a middle-aged woman visited him.

16. Mr. Cooper was seen with a large red stain on his shirt at 10:57. He was laughing as he strode up the Grand Staircase.

17. At 11:05, Anna was awoken. Her puppy, Poseidon, was barking at her closed bedroom door. On her knees, she peered under the door into the master cabin and saw two sets of feet by the safe. At least one was that of a man. Anna waits until the coast is clear and sneaks out of her room.

18. A deck alarm rang out in the night at 11:51, indicating a ship’s emergency. Zeus and Anna heard the same alarm. Virginia Cooper, Newton Blanch, Marcus Wolfe, and Misty Fox could not or did not hear the alarm.

19. Misty’s pocketknife was found on the Grand Staircase by Adelaide Wolfe as she made her way to the deck after the alarm.

20. Virginia Cooper never made it back to Cabin 401 to check on Anna.