William H. Randolph of This City Hears Sad Account of the Wreck From His Employer’s Widow

MRS. WALTER DOUGLAS SAFE

In Interview She States That Bruce Ismay, After Receiving Warning, Kept Boat at Full Speed

William H. Randolph of this city, who represents in New York City the firm of Douglas and Co., of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was today in personal communication with one of the survivors of the Titanic disaster, Mrs. Douglas, wife of the head of the concern, who was interviewed by him this morning at the Waldorf-Astoria. Mr. Randolph’s interview with Mrs. Douglas was given exclusively to the Daily Record.

Husband Among Missing

Mrs. Douglas is at the Waldorf-Astoria, heartbroken and ill, mourning the loss of her husband, who went down to his death bravely, in company with hundreds of noble Americans who chose a watery grave in order that their wives and children and wives and children of others might have a chance to live.

Mrs. Douglas stated to Mr. Randolph that the night was clear, and the sea calm, and that nothing was further from the minds of the passengers aboard the great vessel than disaster.

She also stated to him that Mr. Ismay was one of the first men to take to the boats and that he had his boat crew miles away when the vessel went down.

She stated that she and her husband felt only a comparatively slight shock when the vessel struck. At first they thought little of it, the concussion being little more than would be felt if the propellors had raced.

Said Last Goodbye

They came on deck and when it was seen that the vessel was going down Mr. Douglas said goodbye to his wife and refused to take a seat in the boat until all the women and children had been taken care of. The last she saw of him was as he stood on the deck of the steamship when the boat in which she was placed was pulled away fro the side of the vessel, which was at that time wallowing in her death throes.

Of the horrors of those final hours before the Titanic took her fatal plunge Mrs. Douglas can say little. She says it passed before her like some horrible nightmare---too horrible to be real.

Ismay Says Full Speed

Mrs. Douglas corroborates statements which have already been sent out as to the warnings which were sent to the Titanic of the presence of icefields in the vicinity of the vessel.

She said to Mr. Randolph that a marconigram was received by Bruce Ismay at least an hour before the vessel struck the iceberg telling him of the presence of large quantities of ice. In company with Mrs. Ryerson, one of the first cabin passengers, she saw Mr. Ismay read the dispatch and Mrs. Ryerson the asked him what he intended to do. “Do you intend to slow the boat down?” asked Mrs. Ryerson of Mr. Ismay. “No, we’re going ahead at full speed,” was the reply Mr. Ismay made to her.

No Hope for Keefe

Mrs. Douglas, when seen by Mr. Randolph, was still suffering severely from the terrible experiences she has undergone since the Titanic went down. Her husband, Walter D. Douglas is one of the most prominent men in Cedar Rapids, and is well known in commercial circles in New York and in fact throughout the country generally.

Rahway still mourns the disaster. There is practically no possible hope that Arthur Keefe, the genial “Mayor of East Rahway” has escaped the doom which befell the hundreds of his fellow passengers.