Dear Max,
Hello, how are you doing? It is nice to "meet" you. I agree with your opinion completely regarding the Rigel the dog story, which is complete and utter nonsense. I also share your doubts about the Widener account of seeing an officer shoot himself.
You wrote:
"And how could George Rheims see the event from the sea better than Col. Gracie or Harold Bride
(etc.)"
George Rheims did not see the event from the sea. This is what one website states, but it is an entirely innacurate statement. Rheims was standing on deck when he claims to have witnessed the unnamed officer shoot a man who was trying to push his way into the last boat, bid those around him farewell and then shoot himself in the head. Rheims mentioned this in a private letter to his wife, and in a press interview given the following day.
Also, Harold Bride did not know any of the officers of the Titanic personally, and was on the port side of the ship when the Titanic sank (he stated this in all of his 1912 accounts), so he would have been unable to state anything regarding the fate of First Officer Murdoch, or any of the other officers who were on the starboard side of the ship at the time, despite his alleged 1950s interview, which is completely at odds with his 1912 accounts. The same can be said of Colonel Gracie, who states in his book that he did not know any of the officers personally. He also did not see Murdoch or any other officer swept overboard, although he believes that they were.
"It's just Cameron-like people who can use false info to make their stories more dramatic!!"
James Cameron did not make up the story at all, although the scene did make the story more dramatic.
"And the last -H.T. Wilde(chief off.) was the first person (from the officers ) who was blamed in shooting himself and yet his rich relatives closed the "Wilde" story and press had changed it to "Murdoch" suicide."
This is entirely innacurate. The first officer implicated in the suicide was actually Captain Smith, but the focus then shifted largely to First Officer Murdoch. Only a few small claims about Wilde shooting himself have ever been found (and never any eyewitness testimony about this), these claims being outnumbered by the press claims about Chief Engineer Bell being the one who shot himself, which is pretty improbable.
The claims about Wilde's relatives have been largely emphasized by the webmaster of one website, but there has never been any solid evidence brought forward to support the assertion that Wilde's relatives tried to hush up any suicide stories or shift the blaim to anyone else. Geoff, have you been able to uncover anything new about this story?
"And about passengers being shot- .
No statements from reliable witnesses were
discovered by my research."
How about George Rheims, as mentioned above, and Eugene Daly, who was on the ship at the time, and mentioned the incident in over twelve accounts, including private letters, to family members, in press accounts, and in his 1915 testimony in the limitation of liability hearings? Or what about the statements of Richard Norris Williams in his privately published account, in which he states as the boat deck was going under, he heard gunshots right behind him, but "did not look around"? He was standing in the same area as Rheims and Daly, and heard gunshots, and at the same time that both alleged the incident happened. The list of witnesses does not end there, although everyone can agree that it is difficult to find any rock solid evidence implicating a specific officer, though we can narrow down the list of possibilities.
"And all of existing statements...well,
such people made their fortune on stories like
those..."
I fail to see how Rheims, Daly or Williams made money on telling stories such as these. Rheims and Williams were
first class passengers and rich, so this would not be much of a motivation for them to make up the stories, especially since they told of the incident in private accounts, except for the one press interview Rheims gave about it. As for Daly, he certainly did not make any money writing letters to his family, or testifying in the courtroom under oath.
I hope that you don't think I am being overly critical of your assesments here, but I just thought that I would point out that some of them are incorrect. I have been researching this subject for a few years now, and this never ceases to be a very controversial subject, and will probably remain so. If you have not already done so, I definitely suggest checking out George Behe's website for a page about this subject, and definitely recommend visiting Bill Wormstedt's website page entitled "Shots in the Dark" for a thorough look at all the evidence, without any spinning, which allows you to make up your mind for yourself. It's definitely worth a look. The addresses can be found in the links section on this site. I hope that this information helps. All my best,
Tad Fitch
