News of Titanic Disaster Spreads Despite Efforts of the Officers of Vessel
New York, April 20--[Special]--The Celtic of the White Star line arrived in port today with the news that she had received the "S.O.S." call from the Titanic last Sunday night. The Celtic was 700 miles east of its sister ship and could not reach it. The wireless operator who caught the message also picked up other Marconigrams which told him that other boats nearer than the Celtic were rushing to its aid.
When the Titanic distress call was reported to Capt. Hambleton of the Celtic he gave instructions that the news was to be kept from the passengers and crew. In some unexplained manner a man passenger in the first cabin heard of the Titanic's plight on Tuesday night. The report gradually spread. On Wednesday everybody in the first cabin knew that the Titanic had been lost with over two-thirds of its passengers and crew.
After Wednesday the nervousness spread. Few passengers, if any, took off their clothing when they retired. When Mrs. H. C. Bergh, wife of a Rochester business man, refused to go to bed, her example was followed by most of the married women passengers. A minister, the Rev. W. S. Hovis, of South Bend, Ind., was pressed into service as a story teller to help relieve the gloom of the cabins.
The news of the disaster was kept from the second cabin and steerage until yesterday.
Chicago Tribune, Sunday, April 21, 1912, p. 2, cx. 5
