Encyclopedia Titanica

Lost Her Husband in Terrible Sea Disaster; Arrived in New York Penniless and Alone

Latifi Baclini Interview 1912

Graham Guardian

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Faigued, nervous and occasionally crying, Mrs. Lathefy Baikleen, accompanied by her 4-year-old daughter, Marie, survivors of the ill-fated Titanic occupied seats in the waiting room at the union depot one night last week for an hour. They were waiting for a train to take them to Morenei, Arizona, where Mrs. Baikleen was to meet her two brothers-in-law.

Mrs. Baikleen, accompanied by her husband and daughter, sailed on the Titanic as steerage passengers from Shieare, Syria. When the Titanic struck the iceberg which sent it and 1,600 persons to a watery grave, Mrs. Baikleen said, the passengers in the steerage were imprisoned for an hour during which time the first and second class passengers were placed in lifeboats. When the word was given for the steerage passengers to make their way to the deck there was a panic. Men, crazed with the thought the ship was sinking, crushed women and children beneath them in an effort to reach the lifeboats. Four men, she said, were shot down by officers and the passengers of the steerage walked across their bodies on the way to the boats.

Mr.[sic] Baikleen told her experiences to Michael Sayeg, a policy officer at the depot, who is a native of Syria. When she arrived in New York she was penniless. Her husband carried all their money and their ticket to Morenei, Arizona.

Though Mrs. Baikleen says she is but 22 years of age, she looked to be a woman of forty. The suffering the passengers on board the lifeboat, twenty-five of them, besides the crew, endured was indescribable. She said one man jumped from the top deck of the Titanic and landed in the middle of the lifeboat. He was stunned only. – Kansas City Post

[Note: Contrary to the article, Laţīfah's husband was not aboard the Titanic and she was travelling with her two daughters, not just one.]

Related Biographies

Laṭīfah al-Ba'qlīnī

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Gavin Bell, UK

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  1. vonfrieddorf vonfrieddorf
    Actually, Mrs. Ba'qlini was traveling with three daughters, and Adele, a family friend. Her name and Marie's seem to be about the only things the paper got correct (oh, and their approximate ages, too). ARIZONA?!?!
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Encyclopedia Titanica (2019) Lost Her Husband in Terrible Sea Disaster; Arrived in New York Penniless and Alone (Graham Guardian, Friday 17th May 1912, ref: #65, published 5 July 2019, generated 11th December 2024 06:17:27 PM); URL : https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/lost-her-husband-in-terrible-sea-disaster-arrived-in-new-york-penniless-and-alone-65.html