Cam Houseman
Member
Archibald Gracie died at the end of 1912, I believeAs best as I've been able to track, at least 48 of the 712 Titanic survivors died prior to April 15, 1922, the 10 year anniversary. Other than the ones mentioned above, there was John Kennedy who died of Anthrax poisoning, Hannah O'Brien and one other who died in the influenza epidemic, several who died during World War I, some who succumbed to common diseases even though they were fairly young, and several whose natural lifespans just came to an end. And in that short period the deaths of those survivors were spread out all over the world--as far away as Mrs. Hewlett in Naini Tal, India, another on the island of Malta,
one in Syria, and of course in various places in America and Europe.
There were of course the suicides (amply covered in other threads) and I think I'm counting a total of 14 or 15 of them now. Hangings, shootings, throat-slashings, and even one who drank bleach.
Regarding Iain's mention of Agnes McCoy--there is no proof she was murdered and she died in 1957 when she was an old woman. Her great-niece who now lives in Virginia told me that she remembers visiting Agnes with her father shortly before Agnes's death and that she was a "very sick old woman who couldn't have lived much longer." A coroner's inquest was held because of what appeared to be bruises on the body but the official cause of death listed on her death certificate is heart disease. Of course "murder" makes a better story than succumbing to heart disease and I know that the younger generation of the McCoy family, in some cases, still believes in the murder scenario. It was interesting, though, that the niece in Virginia said that her father never even mentioned the possibility of Agnes being murdered--even at the time of her death.
The Titanic experience was a tragedy of epic proportions--but other tragedies awaited those lucky enough to survive. I suspect there were those among them who at one time or another wished they had not been among the 712 survivors.
