Cleveland Plain Dealer (Ohio), 19 April 1912, p. 1

Youngstown Woman Relates Story of Escape from Sinking Titanic

Men Tire and Passengers Row Boats to Safety From Disaster

From reports received from the steamer Carpathia when it docked at New York it now seems certain that included in the list of those who went down to death with the Titanic were a number of Ohioans. Many of them have not been accounted for, and lists of rescued do not include them. Those headed for Cleveland who are still reported as missing are Ernest Crease, Roland Stanley, Harry Davison, W. F. Hoyt, Mrs. P. C. Corey, Catherine McGowan, and Henry Rouse. Others bound for other sections of the state are also reported lost and there is little hope that they will be found among the rescued.Mrs. W. F. Bonnell, 1972 Ford drive N. E., last night received telegrams from Miss Caroline Bonnell and Miss Elizabeth Bonnell. They said they had arrived safely and had suffered little from exposure in the lifeboats. They said Mrs. George D. Wick and Miss Natalie Wick of Youngstown had been saved, but that Col. George D. Wick had gone down with the Titanic.It was a thrilling story of a night of horror that Miss Caroline Bonnell of Youngstown, O., who, with her aunt, Miss Elizabeth Bonnell, who was rescued, told on landing from the Carpathia last night. They were rushed into a lifeboat with only coats thrown over their nightgowns. Their experience was similar to those of many of the Ohioans on the unlucky ship.

Aroused by Crash

"We were asleep in our berths when the Titanic crashed into the iceberg," Miss Caroline Bonnell said. "We immediately rushed on deck, only stopping to throw coats over our nightgowns. The night was bright and starlit. We could see the crowds of passengers falling down the stairways, while the officers sought to reassure them of their safety. Maj. Butt and Col. Astor stood by the lifeboats bravely and helped the women. They did not think the boat was going to sink."The Titanic kept settling lower and lower, however. Then word came that the engine room was flooded."There was some shooting. They would not allow those half crazed men to get into the boats."I was in one of the lifeboats. After we were lowered away the men in our boat started to row. I looked back to the Titanic and could see the big ship settling. She seemed already to be only half her former height. The officer in charge of our lifeboat kept urging the men at the oars to row harder.Some of the oarsmen fell exhausted. Then we women took turns at the oars, We must have been about a mile away from the Titanic when she went under."There was a big wave. The sea was calm, otherwise, and I asked a sailor what it was. He said, 'the Titanic has sunk!'"It was bitterly cold. We half dressed women suffered intensely until we were picked up."William Witt of Conneaut, O., received no word that his brother Frederick was among those saved.The name of Anna Turga appears among the list of third-class passengers saved. Mattie Turja of Conneaut, whose sister, Anna, was a passenger on the Titanic, believes it is his sister.Several Finnish families who were to make that city their home were traveling steerage on the Titanic and, it is believed, were lost.Mr. and Mrs. John Fink, sr., 4106 E. 131st st, received a letter Tuesday from their daughter Mrs. Harry Davison of Chippenham, England, telling them that Mrs. Davison and her husband had booked passage on the Titanic. Davison is believed to have drowned, but his wife was saved.Henry Davison, 32, and his wife Mary, 31, visited the latter's parents four years ago and decided to make Cleveland their permanent home. They were third-class passengers.The name of Miss Mary Davidson appearing on the list of first-class survivors affords relatives hope that she may have been saved.