There were aboard six men whose fortunes ran into tens of millions, besides many other persons of international note. Among the men were leaders in the world of commerce, finance, literature, art and the learned professions. Many of the women were socially prominent in two hemispheres.
Wealth and fame, unfortunately, are not proof against fate, and most of these notable personages perished as pitiably as the more humble steerage passengers.
The list of notables included Colonel John Jacob Astor, head of the Astor family, whose fortune is estimated at $150,000,000; Isidor Straus, merchant and banker ($50,000,000); J. Bruce Ismay, managing director of the International Mercantile Marine ($40,000,000); Benjamin Guggenheim, head of the Guggenheim family ($95,000,000): George D. Widener, son of P. A. B. Widener, traction magnate and financier ($5,000,000); Colonel Washington Roebling, builder of the great Brooklyn Bridge; Charles M. Hays, president of the Grand Trunk Railway; W. T. Stead. famous publicist; Jacques Futrelle, journalist; Henry S. Harper, of the firm of Harper & Bros.; Henry B. Harris, theatrical manager; Major Archibald Butt, military aide to President Taft; and Francis D. Millet, one of the best-known American painters.
Major Archibald Butt, whose bravery on the sinking vessel will not soon be forgotten, was military aide to President Taft and was known wherever the President traveled. His recent European mission was apparently to call on the Pope in behalf of President Taft; for on March 21st he was received at the Vatican, and presented to the Pope a letter from Mr. Taft thanking the Pontiff for the creation of three new American Cardinals.
Major Butt had a reputation as a horseman, and it is said he was able to keep up with President Roosevelt, be the ride ever so far or fast. He was promoted to the rank of major in 1911. He sailed for the Mediterranean on March 2d with his friend Francis D. Millet, the artist, who also perished on the Titanic.
John Jacob Astor was returning from a trip to Egypt with his nineteen-year-old bride, formerly Miss Madeline Force, to whom he was married in Providence, September 9, 1911. He was head of the family whose name he bore and one of the world’s wealthiest men. He was not, however, one of the world’s “idle rich,” for his life of forty-seven years was a well-filled one. He had managed the family estates since 1891; built the Astor Hotel, New York; was colonel on the staff of Governor Levi P. Morton, and in May, 1898, was commissioned colonel of the United States volunteers. After assisting Major-General Breckinridge, inspector-general of the United States army, he was assigned to duty on the staff of Major-General Shafter and served in Cuba during the operations ending in the surrender of Santiago. He was also the inventor of a bicycle brake, a pneumatic road-improver, and an improved turbine engine.
Next to Colonel Astor in financial importance was Benjamin Guggenheim, whose father founded the famous house of M. Guggenheim and Sons. When the various Guggenheim interests were consolidated into the American Smelting and Refining Company he retired from active business, although he later became interested in the Power and Mining Machinery Company of Milwaukee. In 1894 he married Miss Floretta Seligman, daughter of James Seligman, the New York banker.
Isidor Straus, whose wife elected to perish with him in the ship, was a brother of Nathan and Oscar Straus, a partner with Nathan Straus in R. H. Macy & Co. and L. Straus & Sons, a member of the firm of Abraham & Straus in Brooklyn, and has been well known in politics and charitable work. He was a member of the Fifty-third Congress from 1893 to 1895, and as a friend of William L. Wilson was in constant consultation in the matter of the former Wilson tariff bill.
Mr. Straus was conspicuous for his works of charity and was an ardent supporter of every enterprise to improve the condition of the Hebrew immigrants. He was president of the Educational Alliance, vice-president of the J. Hood Wright Memorial Hospital, a member of the Chamber of Commerce, on one of the visiting committees of Harvard University, and was besides a trustee of many financial and philanthropic institutions.
Mr. Straus never enjoyed a college education. He was, however, one of the best informed men of the day, his information having been derived from extensive reading. His library, said to be one of the finest and most extensive in New York, was his pride and his place of special recreation.
{illust. caption = ACTUAL PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ICEBERG THAT SUNK THE TITANIC
Lady Duff Gordon, a prominent English woman who was aboard the…}
{illust. caption = HEART-BREAKING FAREWELLS
Both men and women were loaded into the first boats, but soon the cry of “Women first” was raised. Then came the real note of tragedy. Husbands and wives clung to each other in farewell; some refused to be separated.}
The best known of Philadelphia passengers aboard the Titanic were Mr. and Mrs. George D. Widener. Mr. Widener was a son of Peter A. B. Widener and, like his father, was recognized as one of the foremost financiers of Philadelphia as well as a leader in society there. Mr. Widener married Miss Eleanor Elkins, a daughter of the late William L. Elkins. They made their home with his father at the latter’s fine place at Eastbourne, ten miles from Philadelphia. Mr. Widener was keenly interested in horses and was a constant exhibitor at horse shows. In business he was recognized as his father’s chief adviser in managing the latter’s extensive traction interests. P. A. B. Widener is a director of the International Mercantile Marine.
Mrs. Widener is said to be the possessor of one of the finest collections of jewels in the world, the gift of her husband. One string of pearls in this collection was reported to be worth $250,000.
The Wideners went abroad two months previous to the disaster, Mr. Widener desiring to inspect some of his business interests on the other side. At the opening of the London Museum by King George on March 21st last it was announced that Mrs. Widener had presented to the museum thirty silver plates once the property of Nell Gwyn. Mr. Widener is survived by a daughter, Eleanor, and a son, George D. Widener, Jr. Harry Elkins Widener was with his parents and went down on the ship.
Colonel Washington Augustus Roebling was president of the John A. Roebling Sons’ Company, manufacturers of iron and steel wire rope. He served in the Union Army from 1861 to 1865, resigning to assist his father in the construction of the Cincinnati and Covington suspension bridge. At the death of his father in 1869 he took entire charge of the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, and it is to his genius that the success of that great work may be said to be due.
One of the most notable of the foreign passengers was William T. Stead. Few names are more widely known to the world of contemporary literature and journalism than that of the brilliant editor of the Review of Reviews. Matthew Arnold called him “the inventor of the new journalism in England.” He was on his way to America to take part in the Men and Religion Forward Movement and was to have delivered an address in Union Square on the Thursday after the disaster, with William Jennings Bryan as his chief associate.
Mr. Stead was an earnest advocate of peace and had written many books. His commentary “If Christ Came to Chicago” raised a storm twenty years ago. When he was in this country in 1907 he addressed a session of Methodist clergymen, and at one juncture of the meeting remarked that unless the Methodists did something about the peace movement besides shouting “amen” nobody “would care a damn about their amens!”