Nebraska History posts materials online for your personal use. Please remember that the contents of Nebraska History are copyrighted by the Nebraska State Historical Society (except for materials credited to other institutions). The NSHS retains its copyrights even to materials it posts on the web.

For permission to re-use materials or for photo ordering information, please see: http://www.nebraskahistory.org/magazine/permission.htm

Nebraska State Historical Society members receive four issues of Nebraska History and four issues of Nebraska History News annually. For membership information, see: http://nebraskahistory.org/admin/members/index.htm

Article Title: Nebraska Connections to a Titanic Disaster

Full Citation: Edward R Tryon, “Nebraska Connections to a Titanic Disaster,” Nebraska History 78 (1997): 84-92.

URL of article: http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/full-text/NH1997Titanic.pdf

Date: 9/28/2011

Article Summary: The April 15, 1912, tragedy of the “unsinkable” Titanic is re-visited in this article recounting the stories of the survivors and victims with Nebraska ties. Though Emil Brandeis is the most famous, many others such as “Titanic Carl” Johnson (who settled in Swedeburg, Nebraska) and Victor Halva (who later settled in Wahoo, Nebraska), are included.

Cataloging Information:

Names: Jonas L Brandeis, Emil Brandeis, Arthur Brandeis, Hugo Brandeis, Ruth Stern, Irving Stern, John Pierpont Morgan, John Jacob Astor, Madeleine Force, William B Astor, Benjamin Guggenheim, George Widener, Isador Straus, Carl Olaf Johnson, Eric Johnson, Victor T Halva, Edward J Smith, Rene Harris, Henry Burkhardt Harris, Mrs James J Brown [Molly Brown], Charlotte Drake Cardeza, Thomas Cardeza, J Bruce Ismay, Walter Lord, Reverend Thomas Byles, Winter Byles, Robert Hichens, William Murdoch, Mrs Walter Stephenson, Spencer V Silverthorne, James McGough, Mr Greenwald, W B Greenfield, Henry Harris, Emil Taussig, W F Hoyt, Martin Rothschild, Rene Harris, Carl Johnson, Carl Jansson, Carl Jonsson, Karl Johansson, Carl Johnson, C J Carlson, Victor Halva, Charles H Lightoller, Henry S Harper, E B Ryerson, Jack Ryerson, John B Thayer, August Wennerstrom, Arthur H Rostron, John Kuhl, Rabbi Frederick Cohn, Reverend John Matthews, Gilbert Hitchcock, W W Collins, Ernest G Danbom, Sigrid Danbom, Mrs Anders Andersson, Robert Ballard, Jack Thayer, F H Lardner

Place Names: Sioux City, Iowa; Omaha, Nebraska; Halifax, Nova Scotia; Manitowoc, Wisconsin; New York, New York; Copenhagen, Denmark; Swedeburg, Nebraska; London, England; Southampton, England; Brno, Moravia; Cherbourg, France; Cobh, Ireland; Queenstown; Wahoo, Nebraska; Laurel, Nebraska; Lynch, Nebraska; O’Neill, Nebraska; Wahoo, Nebraska; Ames, Nebraska; Dodge County, Nebraska; Council Bluffs, Iowa; Test River; Randolph, Nebraska

Keywords: Sioux City Journal; Lincoln Star; Titanic; Omaha World-Herald; New York [ship]; White Star Line; “great circle” route; “law of the sea”; Standard Cattle Company; Englehardt Collapsible; Carpathia [ship]; Brandeis Theater; “Nearer My God to Thee,” Omaha Bee; Laurel Advocate; National Fidelity and Casualty Company of Omaha; Aetna; Californian [ship]; Royal George [steamer]; Mackay-Bennett [ship]; Commercial Cable Company; Security National Bank (Sioux City, Iowa); Randolph Times; cremation; draft board; Associated Press; J L Brandeis & Sons; Grain Exchange; Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben; Kennard Apartments (Omaha); International Mercantile Marine of New York; American Fur Company; social register; coal strike; A Night to Remember; The Night Lives On; Wahoo Wasp; lifeboat

Photographs / Images: Emil Brandeis portrait; “Titanic Carl” Johnson during World War I; cartoon from Omaha World-Herald, May 15, 1927, Carl Johnson, August Wennerstrom clinging to wreckage; John Kuhl, speaker of the Nebraska House of Representatives, before sailing on Carpathia; Emil Brandeis’ watch Nebraska Connections

For those who subscribed to a daily Together they built J. L. Brandeis & l newspaper, the shocking news arrived By Edward R. Tryon Sons into Omaha's largest retail store. on Monday, April 15, 1912. A short ar­ Emil was described as "the constructing ticle in the Sioux City (Iowa) Journal un­ genius of the family." He was credited der the single-column heading, "Ship Ti­ with erecting several major buildings in tanic Hits Iceberg," only hinted at what downtown Omaha including the block­ was about to become one of th e biggest long building at Sixteenth and Douglas news stories of the century. At first it which housed the headquarters of J. L. was believed that all of the passengers Brandeis & Co. until November 1980. He were safe . "Passengers Taken From Gi­ also built and operated the magnificent ant Liner" was the lead story in the Mon­ Brandeis Theater, which stood at the day evening, April 15 ed ition of the Lin­ southwes t corner of Seventeenth and coln Star. The article reported that Ti­ Douglas until it was demolished for a tanic was making for Halifax, Nova parking garage in 1959. Plans were on Scotia, under her own power. the drawing board for another th eater By the next day the Star found it nec­ in the 1500 block of Douglas when Emil essary to amend its previous story with sailed for Europe in January 1912.2 another front-page article: "Giant Liner Those who knew Emil best said he Titanic, With Most of Her Passengers, is was "a man of few words and rapid deci­ at Bottom of Atlantic." The April 16 sions." He was involved in a number of evening edition of the Omaha World­ civic organizations, including the Cham­ Herald carried the banner headline: ber of Commerce, the Grain Exchange, "Fifteen Hundred Die in the Titanic and th e Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben. Although Ocean Horror." The World-Herald de­ his outside interests included athletics, voted several colu mns of its story to aviation , and yachting, it was said he Emil Brandeis-the most prominent never neglected business for diversions. Nebraskan on Titanic 's passenger mani­ Despite his relative prosperity, Brandeis festo. Brandeis's family spent the next did not live in an ostentatious manner. two days and nights at the local office of His residence was in the Kennard Apart­ the Associated Press anxiously scanning ments in the 1800 block of Dodge Street. news bulletins in the hope that Emil's At the time of his death, he was forty­ name would be added to the list of sur­ Emil Brandeis. From the Bostwick-Frohardt eight years old and unmarried.3 Collection. owned by KMTV and on per­ vivors. But it was not. manent loan to the Western Heritage On January 17, 1912, Emil left Omaha Emil Brandeis was born March 15, Museum. Omaha. for his annual trip to Europe. Upon arriv­ 1864, to Mr. and Mrs. Jonas L. Brandeis ing in Rome, he joined his niece, Ruth of Monitowac, Wisconsin. In 1881 the der Brandeis founded the Boston Store. Stern, and her husband, Irving, who had family moved to Omaha, where the el- At the age of seventeen, Emil began been married recently and were enjoying working for his father as a clerk, becom­ their first trip abroad. After traveling with Edward R. Tryon teaches mathematics in the ing a full partner at the age of twenty­ the Sterns through Europe and Egypt, South Sioux City, Nebraska, Community Schools. one and assuming control-along with He writes a weekly history column for the Laurel Emil spen t some time with a sister who Advocate, and authored its centennial edition in brothers Arthur and Hugo-upon his lived in Switzerland. Although expected 1993. father's death. to return to Omaha around the first of

84 ATitanic Disaster

May, Emil changed his plans in order to Madeleine was five months into a "deli­ Eric, on a farm near Swedeburg, Ne­ sa il on the maiden voyage of the White cate condition" with John Jacob No. 5. braska. After sailing to England on a Star Lin e' s newest floatin g palace-n Wall Street dubbed Titanic "The Mil­ ca ttle boat and spending a week carous­ tanic. In a letter Emil mailed to Arthur lionaires' Special. " A wire service story ing around London, Johnson and two Brandeis from Paris , he noted, "I am not estimated the combined wealth of companions went to Southampton, traveling with any fri ends, but th ere are a Titanic's first-class passengers in excess where th ey saw the Titanic for the first great many people going on this boat of half a billion dollars. Astor's fortune time. "Sure was some boat," said th at I am well-acquainted with."4 alone was estimated at $150 million. Johnson. "Neve r saw anything like it. "8 Nearly 900 feet long and weighing Th e poorest man on Titanic may 46,000 tons, Titanic was said to be th e have been twenty-year-old Victor T. largest moveable object th at had ever Halva of Brno, Moravia, which was then been built. Although registered under part of Austria . Halva said he first heard th e British flag and manned by British of Nebraska, "a place where si lver dol­ seamen, Titanic was built to appeal to lars grew on trees, " when Buffalo Bill's wealthy Ameri cans. Her parent com­ Wild West Show toured Europe in 1909. pany, White Star Line, ac tu ally was a Apparently lacking the price of passage subsidiary of J. P. Morgan's International to the Corn husker State, Halva sa id he Mercantile Marine of New York. slipped aboard Titanic with a ti cketed John Pierpont Morgan was among acqu aintance and th en relied on th e fes­ th e wealthiest and most powerful men tive atmosphere to cloak his stowaway of America's Gilded Age. Although Mor­ sta tu s9 gan had been in Europe in early 1912 Titanic was fortunate (o r unfortunate and had reserv ed one of Titanic's most as it turned out) to have been going expensive suites for th e trip home, ill­ anywhere. British coal miners had been ness force d him to change his plans. As on a lengthy strike and Southampton a result John Jacob Astor ga ined the dis­ harbor was full of ships immobilized be­ tin ction of being th e wealthiest man on cause of a shortage of coal. Part of the Titanic. fu el for Titanic's maiden voyage had to John Jacob Astor was a great-grand­ be scavenged from th e bunkers of other son of th e well-known fur trade entre­ vesse ls. But shortly before noon on April preneur bearing the sa me name. John 10, 1912, Titanic 's huge, triple-toned "Titanic Carl" Johnson during World War I. Jacob No. 1 retired from th e American NSHS-A545-26 steam whistl e announced that departure Fur Company in 1834 and multiplied his was imminen t. Aided by six tugboats, net worth by investing in New York real she eased from her berth a few minutes estate. Much of the family fortune de­ Others of considerable wealth in cluded later, made a ninety-degree turn and be­ volved into th e hands of John Jacob Benjamin Guggenheim of th e American gan moving slowly down the Test River Astor No. 4-a man once described as Smelting and Refining Company, $95 toward th e English Channel 1 0 th e world's greatest monument to un­ million; George Widener of th e Ph ilade l­ The liner New York was one of sev­ earned wealth.s phia Traction Co., $50 million; an d eral ships ti ed to a nearby dock because The forty-eight-year-old multimillion­ Isador Straus of R. H. Macy and Co., of th e fuel shortage. As Titanic came aire had been divorced in 1909. In Sep­ $50 million6 abreast of th e smaller vessel, the wash tember 191 I he married Madeleine Th e not-so-ri ch-a nd-famous included from her hu ge propellers caused thick Force who, at the age of ninete en, was a large contingent of Scandinavian im­ mooring lines to snap like yarn. Th e suc­ younger than Astor's eldest son, migrants. Among th em was Carl Olaf tion created by Titanic's wake caused Vincent. The affair scandalized New Johnson , a twenty-one-yea r-old Swede. New York's stern to drift toward a close York society-including some of th e Johnson, who was about to be inducted encounter with the big ship. Captain Ed­ four hundred people Mrs. William B. into th e Swedish army, slipped out of ward J. Smith instinctively ordered "full Astor had identified as everyone worthy the country and traveled to speed astern" and Titanic 's 50 ,000 horse­ of knowing. To escape the wagging Copenhagen, Denmark, "where th ey power engines not on ly checked her for­ tongues of th e "social register," the new­ don't kee p track of mere Swedes.") Dur­ ward progress, but ca used her to move lyweds spent a romantic winter vacation ing a two-week stay in Copenhagen, back slightly. What appeared to be an abroad. When the semi-young couple Johnson purchased a ticket to America, imminent collision was averted by less boarded Titanic for the voyage home, where he planned to join his brother, than four fee t. 11

85 Nebraska History - Summer 1997

A collective sigh of relief swept priced at 512 pounds, six shillings (ap- saloon that evening). The sumptuous through the passengers who lined the proximately $2,500), while Brandeis's feast included salmon with mouselline decks of Titanic. A stranger turned to ticket-at fifty pounds, nine shillings sauce, filet mignons LiIi, lamb with mint Mrs. Henry Harris and said, "This is a and eleven pence-was slightly more sauce, roast duckling, a variety of hors bad omen. Do you love life?" "I love it," than $250. 15 d' oeuvres, exotic desserts, and other she replied. "Then get off this ship at On Thursday, April 11, Titanic made delicacies.20 Cherbourg ... if we get that far. That's her final stop in Queenstown, Ireland, to Although Mrs. Harris was in consider- what [ am going to do." 12 pick up additional passengers. The total able pain and encumbered by a heavy Perhaps because of their common in­ number of passengers and crew was cast, she put on her best sleeveless dress terest in show business, Mr. and Mrs. now 2,228. Upon leaving Queenstown and insisted on going to dinner. The Harris were closely acquainted with (now Cobh), Captain Smith began navi- Harrises dined with Emil Brandeis, who Emil Brandeis. Henry Burkhardt Harris gating a "great circle" route to New York. talked of his recent travels with Ruth was returning to America with a British Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were and Irving Stern.21 play he hoped would be a hit in one of quiet and uneventful. According to Mrs. Throughout the day and into the his Broadway theaters. But as Titanic Harris, "The days passed too quickly. evening the operators of Titanic's state- eased into the English Channel for its Dinner parties, dancing, auction pools, of-the-art wireless telegraph received first stop at Cherbourg, France, Emil midnight repasts were indulged in to the iceberg warnings and relayed them to Brandeis was not yet on board. 13 Nth degree." 16 Sunday began with break- • the officers on the bridge. Instead of tak- Because the harbor at Cherbourg fast at 8:00 A.M. and passengers could ing precautionary measures, Captain lacked docking facilities for ships the choose from a menu that included a va- Smith kept pushing onward at a speed size of Titanic, it was necessary to ferry riety of selections ranging from steak estimated at more than twenty-two the passengers out on specially built and eggs in first class to tripe in third knots (nearly twenty-six land miles per tenders. Among the large contingent of class. 17 After the breakfast dishes were hour).22 wealthy Americans boarding at cleared away, worship services were Shortly before 11 :40 P.M., a lookout Cherbourg were Benjamin Guggenheim, held in various parts of the ship. in the crow's nest spotted a dark object Mrs. James J.(the "Unsinkable" Molly) After officiating at one service in the directly in Titanic's path. Instinctively, Brown, Charlotte Drake Cardeza, her second-class lounge and another in he gave the rope attached to the warn- son Thomas Cardeza, and Emil steerage, Rev. Thomas Byles spent the ing bell three sharp yanks-signifying Brandeis. afternoon in the library. Although Rever- danger dead ahead-and then picked Titanic featured two super-luxury end Byles had never been to America, up the telephone and reported to the suites that were expected to carry a his parents had once lived in Omaha, bridge. Quartermaster Robert Hichens price as high as $4,350 during the peak where the elder Byles served as a supply immediately threw the ship's wheel travel season. J. Bruce Ismay, the man­ pastor of First Congregational Church. "hard-a-starboard" while First Officer aging director of the White Star Line, But the family later returned to England William Murdoch slammed the lever of was said to be in one of the suites, but leaving one son, Winter Byles, in the engine-room telegraph into reverse. the question of who was occupying the Omaha. While Rev. Thomas Byles was But the 46,000-ton Titanic could neither other suite has been debated for many crossing the Atlantic on Titanic, brother turn on a dime nor stop in less than half years. Winter Byles was preparing to meet him a mile. Moments later the ship side- [n a magazine article published in in New York for the wedding of a third swiped a huge iceberg. Water began December 1955, Walter Lord said the brother. IS pouring through a 300-foot gash in her lUXUry suite was occupied by Emil Emil Brandeis spent part of the after- starboard side. Brandeis. 14 But Lord did not mention noon entertaining a group of depart- Contemporary reports said Titanic's Brandeis's cabin assignment in his best­ ment store buyers in his private suite, inch-thick steel plates were "ripped selling book, A Night to Remember, or in while Mrs. Harris joined her husband in open as if by a giant can opener." An- his 1986 sequel, The Night Lives On. an eight-handed poker game on an en- other theory stated that the hull prob- Other authors reported that the occu­ closed deck near the main staircase. ably buckled inward, causing riveted pants of the second lUXUry suite were Returning to her stateroom to dress for seams to pop open like a huge zipper. Charlotte and Thomas Cardeza. With dinner, Mrs. Harris fell down a flight of But metallurgic tests on a piece of hull two servants, fourteen trunks, four suit­ stairs and fractured her elbow. 19 brought up in 1991 found the steel to cases, and three crates of baggage, the Sunday dinner was fit for a king (or be extraordinarily brittle, suggesting Cardezas presumably needed a great at least for the various captains of indus- the hull may have shattered like cheap deal of space. Emil Brandeis was travel­ try, robber barons, and merchant plastic. 23 ing alone. The Cardeza ticket was princes who filled the first-class dining Although the force of the collision

86 ATitanic Disaster was estimated at more than one million On April 27, 1912, Carl Johnson told ficer William Murdoch, who was in foot-tons, many of the passengers said his own story to C. 1. Carlson, who trans­ charge of the odd-numbered lifeboats they barely felt the impact. Managing Di­ lated it from Swedish and published it on Titanic's starboard (right) side, inter­ rector J. Bruce Ismay noticed a grinding in the Wahoo (Nebr.) Wasp. He also re­ preted the "law" to mean women and sensation. Mrs. Walter Stephenson said lated his experiences to an audience at children first, but men could enter when the jolt was insignificant compared to the Wahoo theater April 29, following there were no women. On the port (left) what she had experienced during the the showing of news footage of the Ti­ side Second Officer Charles H. Lightoller San Francisco Earthquake. Thinking the tanic. 28 Fifteen years later, Johnson, who interpreted the "law" to mean women ship might have struck a whale, Spencer was now able to speak English, recited a and children only, and a boy of thirteen V. Silverthorne hurried to the rail just in longer version to a reporter from the was no longer a child. time to see the fatal iceberg scraping Omaha World-Herald. Johnson said he The Titanic carried fourteen regula­ along the starboard side. James had been asleep in his cabin near the tion lifeboats with a rated capacity of McGough watched in amazement as bow of the ship when he was awakened sixty-five each, two emergency boats chunks of ice fell through an open port­ by a crash. As he started to go back to with a capacity of forty each, and four hole and scattered across the floor of sleep, someone knocked on the door Engelhardt collapsibles with a capacity his cabin. Silverthorne and McGough and said: "Get up on deck. The ship has of forty-seven each. Only Captain Smith, were department store buyers, and per­ struck an iceberg. But there's no danger. his closest officers, and Managing Direc­ haps were among those entertained by The Titanic is unsinkable." Johnson tor Ismay understood the gravity of the Emil Brandeis earlier in the day.24 made his way up to the deck, but did situation. Because no immediate sense According to a survivor identified as not see an iceberg. Finding the air very of urgency was communicated to the "Mr. Greenwald," Emil Brandeis was in cold, he returned to his cabin to get his passengers, few wanted to abandon the the smoking room with "Harris, Taussig, coat. By the time he made his way safety of an "unsinkable" ship for a life­ Loyt and Rothschild" at the moment of down several flights of stairs, water was boat that wasn't. the collision. While the names "Green­ flooding the floor of his cabin. He re­ Lifeboat No. 7 was the first to be low­ wald" and "Loyt" do not appear on turned to the deck with nothing but his ered. With only twenty-eight on board­ Titanic's passenger manifesto, the watch and the clothes on his back.29 including twenty women and children, names W. B. Greenfield, Henry Harris, Victor Halva said he had been sitting four male passengers, three crewmen, Emil Taussig, W. F. Hoyt, and Martin in his "favorite saloon" with his chair and one Pomeranian dog-it was less Rothschild can be found.25 Rene Harris tilted back in the direction of the bow than half full. Among the forty in Boat recalled, "When the Titanic struck the when the crash came. Finding himself No.3 were Mr. and Mrs. Henry S. Harper iceberg, Mr. Brandeis, Mr. Harris and flat on his back in a pool of beer, Halva and their Pekinese puppy, "Sun-Yat­ myself rushed to the deck only to be as­ picked himself up, went outside to see Sen." And only two of the twelve in sured by officers that nothing serious what was going on, and then returned Emergency Boat No. 1were women. had happened to the vessel and to go for more refreshments. 3o By 1: 15 A.M., the sound of distress back to our staterooms. We were stand­ For the officers on the bridge, a pe­ rockets being fired and the deck's in­ ing together discussing the trouble riod of frenzied activity already had be­ creasing tilt shocked many passengers when we were informed by a steward to gun-and no "liquid fortification" was out of their complacency. As a result, get lifebelts and go on deck."26 permitted. Ten minutes after the colli­ the higher-numbered lifeboats farther Because his cabin was on one of the sion, Titanic had taken on fourteen feet aft were more fully loaded. With seventy lower decks near the bow of the ship, of water and was beginning to list to on board, Boat No. 11 was overloaded; Carl Johnson was somewhat closer to one side. By midnight, Captain Smith Boat No. 13 contained sixty-four. Carl the point of impact. According to Walter learned the ship could not remain afloat Johnson said he and a friend helped Lord, "As Johnson got up to see what and ordered the wireless operators to two Swedish girls into one of the last re­ was causing a mild commotion outside send out a distress call. Five minutes maining boats, but were prevented at his cabin, water seeped in under the later an order was given to prepare the gunpoint from joining them. 31 door and around his feet. He decided to lifeboats and to assemble the passen­ A similar situation prevailed on the dress and by the time his clothes were gers on the Boat Deck. At 12:25 A.M., port side, except no male passengers on, the water was over his shoes."27 Smith ordered the crew to begin loading were permitted to fill the empty seats. Titanic's third-class passenger list in­ the lifeboats according to the "law of Boat No 6 was lowered with twenty­ cluded the names Carl Jansson, Carl the sea." eight on board, including Molly Brown, Jonsson, and Karl Johansson and Lord's The law of the sea was clear­ who was seized from behind and for­ reference mayor may not have been to women and children first-but the inter­ cibly placed into the boat. Boat No. 14 the Nebraska Carl Johnson. pretation of the law was not. First Of- was lowered with sixty. Boat No. 16 was

87 Nebraska History - Summer 1997 lowered with about the same number. Company that at one time bought up when we heard a deafening roar. ... Although 10,000 electric bulbs illumi­ thousands of acres of Dodge county [and] the stern seemed to rise up and nated her interior Titanic's boat deck re­ land around Ames, Nebraska, and fall sharply beneath the water. Then I mained shrouded in darkness. As far as raised cattle for a while, later building knew that Mr. Brandeis and my husband most of the remaining passengers were the Leavitt sugar factory."32 had gone to their watery grave."34 concerned, No. 16 was the last lifeboat; Four canvas-sided Engelhardt Meanwhile, August Wennerstrom wit­ however, Emergency Boat No.2, Life­ collapsibles remained. Collapsible "C" nessed a horrifying scene near the stern. boat No.4, and the four canvas-sided was hooked to the empty davits of Boat Wennerstrom-one of the Swedes who collapsibles remained unseen and 3 and lowered from the starboard side boarded at Southampton with Carl unlaunched near the forward end of the at 1:40 A.M. One of the occupants was Johnson-watched as hundreds of the boat deck. But the bow of the ship was the White Star Line's managing director, remaining steerage passengers gathered sinking rapidly and the forward end of J. Bruce Ismay. He was severely criti­ in a circle around Father Byles, "pray­ the boat deck-which was supposed to cized in the press for choosing not to go ing, crying, asking God and Mary to help be seventy feet above sea level-was down with J. P. Morgan's ship. them.» They remained in prayer as a now less than twenty. By 2:00 A.M., Titanic had twenty min­ great wave overwhelmed them when Boat No.2 was lowered at 1:45 A.M. utes to remain afloat. Her bow was sub­ the ship went down.35 with twenty-five on board. Boat No.4 merged and the ship was taking on wa­ As Titanic's stern rose in the air at an had been lowered to "A" Deck, but ter at an increasing rate. Officer increasingly sharp angle, Wennerstrom could not be loaded because the win­ Lightoller ordered members of the crew lost his footing and slipped into the sea. dows of the enclosed promenade to stand with arms linked around Col­ Fortunately he splashed down close to barred the way. Titanic now had less lapsible "on-which was now hanging Collapsible "A." Carl Johnson dodged a than thirty minutes to remain afloat and from the davits of Boat No. 4-ostensi­ rolling piano and leaped over the rail the wives of several of her most promi­ bly to keep panicked men from rushing shortly before Titanic broke apart and nent passengers-including Mrs. John the boat. disappeared at 2:20 A.M. He found him­ Jacob Astor, Mrs. George Widener, Mrs. Accompanied by her husband (and self struggling in the water among more E. B. Ryerson, and Mrs. John B. Thayer­ possibly Emil Brandeis), Mrs. Harris had than fifteen hundred screaming passen­ remained on board. After loading the aft gone from boat to boat-refusing to gers. Breaking free of the desperately lifeboats, Officer Lightoller returned to board-until only one remained. Wear­ grasping hands that threatened to pull "A" deck, where the stubborn windows ing a life jacket over her white fur coat, him under, Johnson swam until he were forced open. Mr. Astor asked to ac­ Rene Harris finally climbed into Collaps­ found a piece of floating debris large company his pregnant wife, but permis­ ible "On and sat down near the stern. enough to support his weight.36 Al­ sion was refused. Lightoller also refused "Mr. Brandeis insisted on Mr. Harris ac­ though Johnson later maintained that to allow thirteen-year-old Jack Ryerson companying me aboard the lifeboat, he and Wennerstrom remained clinging to accompany his mother until Mr. saying that I had a broken arm and to a floating plank until they were Ryerson interceded. Seventeen-year-old would need the assistance .... Both as­ picked up the next morning, evidence Jack Thayer was well beyond the "offi_ sisted me on board and made me as suggests there were no survivors other cial" age of childhood and did not at­ comfortable as possible. We were ready than those who found refuge in a life­ tempt to join his mother. Had they been to lower when Mr. Harris was informed boat.37 on Officer Murdoch's side of the ship, that the women first rule was prevailing While slightly more than seven hun­ all might have been saved, even "Kitty" under all circumstances. He joined Mr. dred survivors were shivering in the life­ Astor-the wealthiest dog on Titanic­ Brandeis on the ill-fated ship. "33 boats and the rest were freezing to who had been released from her kennel The canvas-sided lifeboat was low­ death in the water, the 13,000-ton and was running about the deck. ered with twenty-five passengers and Cunard liner, Carpathia, was racing to John B. Thayer was a vice-president two crew members, who were assigned the rescue. Carpathia was bound for the of the Pennsylvania Railroad. But, ac­ to row. Rene Harris recalled, "Mr. Mediterranean when Titanic's distress cording to an article that appeared in Brandeis kept saying encouraging call was picked up and relayed to Cap­ the Laurel Advocate and other weekly words to me as our boat was being low­ tain Arthur H. Rostron. Rostron immedi­ Nebraska newspapers, Thayer may have ered, saying that they would join us ately brought the ship around and be­ had a Nebraska connection: "Were later.... I seem to see both men now gan making preparations for the rescue. Former Nebraskans-J. B. Thayer, standing side by side, smiling and wav­ By cutting off cabin heat and all other whose name appears in the lists of pas­ ing to me as our boat drew away. It was non-essential demands for steam, sengers aboard the ill-fated Titanic, was about ten minutes after we left the Ti­ Rostron was able to wring nearly seven­ president of the old Standard Cattle tanic and were about 200 yards away teen knots out of a vessel rated at only

88 ATitanic Disaster thirteen. Th e fifty-eight miles separating the two ships was covered in three and one-half hours. 38 The first survivors were picked up shortly after 4:00 A.M. While the more ab le-bodied scrambled up Carpathia 's side on rope ladders, th e less able were raised on boatswain's chairs and the children were hoisted aboard in canvas bags. One woman, who was thought to be nursing an infant under her fur coat, was found to be harboring a small dog. One of Carpathia's passengers was John Kuhl of Randolph, Cedar County, Nebraska. He was en route to Europe for a tour of Italy, Austria, Germany and England. Although Kuhl slept as Captain Rostron zigged and zagged through the A cartoon in the May 15, 1927, issue of the Omaha World-Herald, portrayed Carl iceberg-studded waters, he was awak­ Johnson, August Wennerstrom, and an unidentified man clinging to a piece of ened by th e noise of th e rescue. Despite wreckage after Titanic went down. efforts to restrict Carpathia's passengers to their cabins, Kuhl witnessed the en­ ding, or supplies to accommodate th e tire operation: "The work of getting th e 705 refu gees from Titanic. After consid­ passengers over the side of Carpathia ering all options and consulting with was attended by the most heart-rending Bruce Ismay, Captain Rostron dec ided scenes. Babies were crying, women to return to New York. Kuhl and other were hysterical, and the men stolid and male passengers gave up their state­ speechless. Some of the women were rooms to the survivors, while many of bare-footed and without headgear." 39 th e female passengers donated clothing Later Kuhl watched as several who died or made clothing from blankets. Ac­ aboard Carpathia were buried at sea. cording to Carl Johnson, "Everything Kuhl had been elected to th e Nebraska that could be done for our comfort was Leg islature in 1906, where he repre­ done."41 sented th e counties of Cedar and Pierce When Carpathia arrived in New York for three terms and served as Speaker of on Thursday, April 18, Mrs. Arthur the House in 1911. When Carpathia re­ Brandeis, Emil's siste r-in-l aw, was there turned to New York with the Titanic's to mee t it. But eve n the small hope that survivors, Kuhl was interviewed by a re­ Emil might be among the survivors was porter, who managed to get a few de­ dashed when he did not disembark with tails wrong. The story, which was pub­ the others. She sought out Rene Harris lished nationwide, said Kuhl was on a the next day. honeymoon cruise- a statement that Mrs. Harris seemed to be the only caused a great deal of gossip in person with information abou t Emil. But Randolph. Fri ends speculated th at th e by th e time she was able to talk, her legislator had eloped with a Randolph shipboard shock had turned to ange r: teacher who apparently couldn't be lo­ "Fifteen hundred people were not ca ted. The rumor mill was not si lenced drowned on th e Titani c; fifteen hundred until Kuhl returned to Nebraska in mid­ people were murdered," she said. July. He was still a bachelor. 4o "Th at's the story, th e tru e story of this Carpathia, designed to carry a maxi­ awful wreck and [ shall tell th e world John Kuhl, speaker of the Nebraska mum of 750 passengers and with a large th e second [ am able."42 Believing that House of Representatives, a few years number of honeymooning couples her husba nd died because of negli­ before he sailed on Carpathia. NSHS-L514 aboard, did not have enough food , bed- gence on the part of th e White Star Lin e

89 Nebraska History - Summer 1997 for not supplying sufficient lifeboats, or with the wreckage of the ship. unidentified and unclaimed can be on the part of Captain Smith for ignoring Titanic went down in one of the found today in the cemeteries of the ice warnings, Mrs. Harris later filed a world's busiest shipping lanes, and de­ Halifax. one million dollar claim for damages. bris and floating bodies were visible for The first body to be claimed was that But the total amount paid to all of the weeks. Although thirteen of the twenty of John Jacob Astor. Like many others it survivors was $663,000-a paltry sum lifeboats had been recovered by was in poor condition and could be even in 1912. Forced to fend for herself, Carpathia, the steamer Royal George re­ identified only by personal effects. Also Mrs. Harris made another fortune in the ported passing an empty lifeboat. On recovered was the body of third-class theatrical business, but lost it when the May 13, two hundred miles from the passenger Ernest G. Danbom. Among stock market crashed in 1929. She died spot where Titanic went down, her sister his effects were a gold watch, an opal in poverty in 1969. ship, Oceanic, picked up Collapsible A. and ruby ring, a bracelet, a lady's Memorial services for Emil Brandeis Inside were three decomposed bodies; watch, a diamond ring, a check for were held on the stage of the Brandeis all were buried at sea. $1315.79 drawn on the Security National Theater in Omaha at 10:00 A.M. on Sun­ Even before Carpathia returned to Bank of Sioux City, Iowa, a jewel case, day, April 21. The cavernous stage was New York with the 705 fortunate survi­ $266 in paper money and $30 in gold. draped in black crepe and covered with vors-including some of the wealthiest Seventy-five years later, Danbom's flowers. Because Emil's body had not widows and orphans in the United personal inventory prompted specula­ been recovered, a large portrait re­ States-the New York office of the tion. One writer on the disaster specu­ placed the usual coffin. The service, White Star Line made arrangements lated that Danbom was a jewel thief or which began with an invocation by with the Commercial Cable Company to gambler traveling under an assumed Rabbi Frederick Cohn and closed with a charter one of its ships to recover as name, but he was neither.45 Instead he benediction by Rev. John Matthews, fea­ many bodies as possible. Her equip­ was a prominent physician of Stanton, tured six addresses and eulogies by ment augmented with most of the spare Iowa, a small town approximately fifty prominent Nebraskans including Sena­ undertaking supplies in the Maritime miles southeast of Council Bluffs. Ernest tor Gilbert Hitchcock. As the standing­ Provinces and her hold filled with and Sigrid Danbom were returning room-only crowd filed out of the the­ crushed ice, the cable ship Mackay­ home after an eighteen-month Scandi­ ater, an orchestra played "Nearer My Bennett steamed out of Halifax Harbor navian honeymoon, bringing with them God to Thee."43 on Wednesday, April 17. Recovery op­ their five-month-old baby. Also traveling The life insurance companies of erations began on Saturday. with the Danboms were Mrs. Anders America were quick to exploit the disas­ The body count was much larger Andersson (a sister of Mrs. Danbom), ter. The April 28 Sunday edition of the than anticipated. The simple wooden her husband, and their five children. Omaha Bee featured a three-quarter­ coffins that lined the deck were soon With the exception of Dr. Danbom, page advertisement calling attention to filled and the embalming supplies none of the bodies was recovered. 46 how quickly the National Fidelity and nearly exhausted. Of the 306 bodies re­ The loss of the Danbom and Casualty Company of Omaha had paid covered, only 190 were brought to Andersson families would appear to Emil's $20,000 death benefit. Under the shore. The others were buried at sea. cast doubt on one of the main conclu­ heading "Titanic Victim Aetna-ized, n a The next-of-kin were outraged. Captain sions of both the American and the Brit­ small ad on the front page of the Laurel F. H. Lardner explained, "No prominent ish investigations of the disaster. Despite Advocate for April 25 noted that man was recommitted to the deep.... It statistics showing that only forty-six per­ Brandeis also carried two Aetna life in­ seemed best to bring back the dead cent of third-class females were saved, surance policies in the amount of where the death might give rise to such as compared to ninety-seven percent of $25,000, with a double-indemnity clause questions as large inheritance and all first-class females and eighty-six percent in case of steamship accident: "When the litigation."44 Thus the social distinc­ of females in second class, both investi­ you want life or accident insurance see tions that existed in life were main­ gations concluded there was no dis­ W. W. Collins and buy it from the largest tained even in death. crimination among the classes. The dis­ company in the world." Mackay-Bennett returned to her berth proportionate loss of life was attributed The morning after the disaster the in Halifax on April 30-almost two in part to the fact that few third-class Californian conducted a cursory search weeks after the disaster. The coffins passengers could speak English and pre­ of the vicinity, but recovered no bodies. were filled with the bodies of identified sumably could not understand direc­ It was feared that Titanic's life jackets first-class passengers; the others were tionsY But Danbom was an American had performed as badly as her water­ packed in ice in the cable hold. The re­ physician, whose parents lived in Iowa tight compartments and that the miss­ mains were taken to a Halifax ice rink to and who had relatives in Axtell, Ne­ ing passengers had been sucked down be processed and shipped home. The braska. If Dr. Danbom was sufficiently

90 ATitanic Disaster

Th e Omaha Sunday Bee ran a feature ar­ ticle explaining the procedure. "Ashes to Ashes Becomes Literal Fashion," said th e Bee 4 9 But it was a fashion that had not yet reached the Cornhusker State and it was necessary to have the re­ mains cremated in Chicago. Emil's ashes were then returned to Omaha, where private services were held, and th e ashes buried w ith his parents at Pl easa nt Hill Cemetery. 50 Carl Johnson, who had lost his suit­ case and all of his worldly goods, ar­ rived in New York wearing clothing made from surplus Carpathia blankets. Under the auspices of th e Sa lva tion Army, he was given a new suit, a derby hat, and a railroad ticket to Wahoo. Even before Mackay-Bennett arrived in Halifax with the body of Emil Brandeis, the man later known as "Titanic Carl" Johnson had found a temporary home w ith brother Eri c, who was working on a farm near Swedeburg. Victor Halva, who sa id he had been picked up by a lifeboat full of women, spent three and one-half weeks in a New York hospital and then boarded a train for Lynch, Nebraska, where he completed his recovery at the home of an uncle. Both Johnson and Halva had been motivated to leave the old country by the threat of imminent "greetings" from their local draft boards. Ironically, both men found th emselves inducted into the U.S. military when the country entered World War I five years later. Af­ ter the Armistice was signed, Johnson returned to Wahoo, where he worked as a builder until he died on March 23, 1978. 51 Halva eventually settled in Emil Brandeis's watch. Courtesy Western Heritage Museum. Omaha. O'Neill, and worked as an electrical contractor until his death on December conversant in English to practice medi­ person. Three days before the "funeral 4, 1958s2 With no direct descendants to cine, it seems likely that he should have ship" returned to Halifax th e family re­ mourn his passing, the memory of Emil been able to understand the gravity of ceived a telegram from Mrs. Arthur Brandeis-Nebraska's most prominent the situ ation and the need to get the two Brandeis: "Emil identified. Body on Titanic victim-soon fad ed. women an d six children in his entou­ Steam er Mackay-Be nnett. Have directed Titanic still lies 12,460 feet below the rage into a lifeboat. it forwarded to Omaha from Halifax."48 surface of the North Atlantic. "Safe from The body of Emil Brandeis was For one reason or another, it was de­ Sea Ghouls" said an article in th e Sioux among the first to be recovered. An ar­ cided to have Emil's body cremated. City Journal, Ap ril 4, 1912. "No human ticle in the Randolph Tim es reported Cremation was a relatively new fun eral hand will ever reach into Titanic's rest­ that $16,000 in cash was found on his custom and extremely rare in Neb raska. ing place." And none did until Robert

91 Nebraska History - Summer 1997

Ballard found her in 1985. Since then 14 Walter Lord, "Maiden Voyage," American Heri- ,. Wahoo Wasp, May 2, 1912; Wahoo Democrat, the mechanical hands of several remote­ tage 7 (Dec. 1955): 103. May 2, 1912; "Titanic Carl Johnson: Omaha World­ controlled submersibles have removed 15 Eaton and Haas, Triumph and Tragedy, 93. Herald, May 15, 1927. more than 4,000 artifacts from Titanic's I. Harris, "Her Husband Went Down," 27. 31 The earliest reference to Johnson's survival was a short note in the Apr. 25, 1912, Wahoo Wasp grave. One that did not lie at the bottom 11 Eaton and Haas, Triumph and Tragedy, 97, 116. of the Atlantic was Emil Brandeis's that said Johnson floated on a door until picked 18 Omaha Evening World·Herald, Apr. 17, 1912; up by a lifeboat. This story is consistent with a list watch, which was recovered with his Omaha Daily Bee, Apr. 17, 1912. of survivors in Eaton and Haas, Triumph and Trag­ body and is now in the collections of edy, 342, which has Johnson being rescued from " Harris, "Her Husband Went Down: 27. Omaha's Western Heritage Museum. Collapsible "A". In all subsequent accounts, '0 Eaton and Haas, Triumph and Tragedy, 132-33. Johnson maintained he clung to a floating plank Notes The weekly bill of fare for third-class passengers is or door until Carpathia arrived. Given the water given on p. 116. temperature of twenty-eight degrees, it is unlikely I Omaha World-Herald, Apr. 19, 1912. Johnson could have survived under those circum­ 21 Omaha Evening World-Herald, Apr. 20, 1912. 'Ibid. stances. He may have determined that all male 22 Loss of the Steamship Titanic, Report of a For­ survivors in lifeboats might be suspected of cow­ 'Ibid. mallnvestigation Attending the Foundering on 15th ardice. But there was no cowardice associated 4Ibid., Apr. 16, 17, 1912; Omaha Daily Bee, Apr. April 1912 of the British Steamship Titanic of with spending the night clinging to a door in the 18,1912. Liverpool . .. (New York: Dorset Press, rpt. 1987). ocean.

5 Geoffrey Marcus, The Maiden Voyage (New 2' Robert Gannon, "What Really Sank the Ti­ '8 Rostron's report to general manager, Cunard York: Viking Press, 1969), 18. tanic: Popular SCience, Feb. 1995,49-55. Steamship Co., Apr. 19, 1912, cited in Mowbray, Memorial Edition, 199-200. • Omaha World-Herald, Apr. 16, 1912. 24 Walter Lord, A Night to Remember (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1955, 1976),35-39. '9 Randolph Times, Apr. 25, 1912. 1 "Titanic Carl Johnson and the Tale He Lived to Tell," Omaha World-Herald, magazine section, May '5 Omaha World·Herald, Apr. 20, 1912; Jay Henry 40 Laurel Advocate, May 2, 1912; Randolph Times, 15, 1927. A copy of this article was supplied to the Mowbray, Memorial Edition: Sinking of the Titanic July II, 1912. (Harrisburg, Penn.: The Minter Co., 1912),281-87. author by Howard Manstedt of Wahoo, Carl 41 "Titanic Carl Johnson," Omaha World-Herald, Johnson's nephew. ,. Omaha Evening World-Herald, Apr. 20, 1912. May 15, 1927. 8lbid. 21 Lord, A Night to Remember, 48. "Lincoln Star, Apr. 21,1912. • Halva seems to have cloaked his status well. '8 Wahoo Wasp, May 2, 1912; Wahoo Democrat, 43 Omaha Daily Bee, Apr. 22,1912; Omaha His name has not been found on any published May 2,1912. Evening World-Herald, Apr. 22, 1912. list of passengers, nor on a list of survivors picked up by Carpathia. Halva's story was told in an ar­ ""Titanic Carl Johnson," Omaha World-Herald, 44 Mowbray, Memorial Edition, 261-62. May IS, 1927. ticle, "Vic Halva Remembers Titanic: The Frontier, 45 Michael Davie, Titanic: The Death and Life of a O'Neill, Nebraska, May 8, 1952, and in his obitu­ 30 AI Darr, "Stowaway's Tale Recalls Tragedy of Legend (New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1987),227. ary, also in The Frontier, Dec. II, 1958. Both clip­ Liner Titanic," Grand Island Daily Independent, 4. Lincoln Star, Apr. 30, 1912. pings supplied to the author by Halva's son, Fred Mar. 28, 1958. T. Halva of Denver. 41 Loss of the Steamship Titanic report, 39-40 31 Wahoo Wasp, May 2, 1912. 10 John P. Eaton and Charles A. Haas, Titanic: 48 Randolph Times, May 9, 1912; Omaha Daily 32 Laurel Advocate, Apr. 25, 1912. Triumph and Tragedy, 2d. ed. (New York: W. W. Bee, Apr. 28, 1912. Norton & Co, 1994),76. 33 Omaha Evening World-Herald, Apr. 20,1912. 49 Omaha Sunday Bee, May 5,1912. "Ibid. "Ibid. 50 Omaha Daily Bee, May 4, 1912. 12 Rene Harris, "Her Husband Went Down With 35 Wyn Craig Wade, The Titanic: End of the 51 Wahoo Newspaper, Mar. 30, 1978. the Titanic," Liberty Magazine, Apr. 23, 1932,26-32. Dream (New York: Rawson-Wade Publishers, 1979),256. 52 The Frontier, Dec. II, 1958. 13 Marcus, Maiden Voyage, 20-21.

92