|
Welcome
Taphophilia (dot) Com...
A repository of morbid curiosities:
Thanatology and Taphophile Issues, Cemetery,
Funeral Industry and Death Related News.
A Taphophilia Thank You...
Taphophilia (dot) Com would not be possible without the knowledge, experience and talent of DarkestWeb. From its conception and early development, DarkestWeb was faced with many challenges; from inspiring and motivating, to providing guidance and direction. The continued dedication and support has produced results greater than ever expected, and for this, I owe a huge debt of gratitude.
Announcements
Graveyards of Chicago:
The People, History, Art, and Lore of Cook County Cemeteries
By Matt Hucke And Ursula Bielski. Discover a Chicago That Exists Just Beneath the Surface - About Six Feet Under! Take a tour of Chicago's permanent residents! Please visit the Lake Claremont Press website to purchase your copy of Graveyards of Chicago today!
Green-Wood Cemetery Arcadia Publishing announces the release of Alexandra Mosca's historic account of one of New York's most famous cemeteries. Aracdia Publishing's Images of America series has an extensive catalog of many cemetery publications! Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Green-Wood Cemetery and to browse other available titles!
Men of Mortuaries Calendar
To purchase your 2008 calendar, learn more about the KAMMCARES Foundation, or to be featured in the 2009 calendar, please visit Men of Mortuaries.
Epitaphs: The Magazine for Cemetery Lovers By Cemetery Lovers
For information regarding subscriptions, single issues, submission guidelines, deadlines, classifieds or advertising for future issues, please visit The Cemetery Club.
Guardians of the Soul: Angels and Innocents, Mourners and Saints, Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture
with photography by John Bower and foreword by Claude Cookman is now
available. Please visit
Studio Indiana for more information.
West Springfield Massachusetts: Stories Carved in Stone by Rusty Clark features information on early New England gravestone carvers with more than two hundred photos and illustrations. Please visit the Dog Pond Press website.
|
|
Titanic survivors letters stun exhibits staff |
|
|
|
|
Written by DeadGirl
|
|
Friday, 10 June 2005 |
June 03, 2005
BY DAVID N. DUNKLE
Of The Patriot-News
Most Titanic artifacts are plucked at great expense from a watery grave 12,500 feet down in the North Atlantic.
But a few recently walked in the front door of the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts, carried by the grandson of a Titanic survivor.
Documents delivered by Thomas G. Bell, a vice president at PNC Bank in Harrisburg, tell the story of William J. Mellors, of Chelsea, England, who was a second-class passenger of the Titanic.
"They were in my mother's attic in California for about 20 years," Bell said. "All this stuff, just stuck in an envelope."
The trove includes a letter written by Mellors on Titanic stationery and another on the stationery of the rescue ship Carpathia.
"I had heart failure when I saw what was in that envelope," said Jonathan Elias, Whitaker director of exhibits and programs. He said the collection is worth at least $30,000.
The Mellors documents can be seen by the public for the first time during "Titanic: The Artifacts Exhibition," which opens at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow.
Mellors' story will be part of a Pennsylvania Connection room put together by Whitaker in conjunction with the larger show designed by RMS Titanic Inc. The room explores links between the ocean liner and the state.
Bell said that when he heard about Whitaker's Titanic exhibit, he recovered his grandfather's documents from a bank lock box and offered them for display.
"Each one of the letters had been folded the same way since 1912," Elias said. "We had to cautiously open each letter. My heart was beating fast because I was very concerned that in unfolding them, something might happen."
The documents, preserved in plastic, tell the story of Mellors' time aboard Titanic and his ordeal after the ship struck an iceberg April 14, 1912.
Mellors was 19 when he took his place among the 2,223 passengers on Royal Mail Steamship Titanic's maiden voyage to America.
In a letter to his mother dated April 10 and possibly mailed from France, the 19-year-old was thinking mainly about his future.
"I am sure I shall arrive in New York quite safe & then I shall get on," Mellors wrote. "You must think of me coming back in two or three years time with a good bit of money in my pocket, not as if I was going away for good."
He makes little reference to his journey on the ship other than to note he has not "felt anything of sea-sickness yet."
When Titanic sank, Mellors stayed on board until the end. He wrote that he was sucked under when the ship went down then pushed back to the surface by an explosive force.
He floated on an overturned lifeboat for several hours in the frigid ocean. He shared the raft with Pennsylvania resident John B. Thayer Jr., the son of a Pennsylvania Railroad vice president.
When the rescue ship Carpathia arrived the next morning, Mellors and Thayer were among fewer than 700 survivors. More than 1,500 people lost their lives.
Mellors wrote a commemorative note while on the Carpathia, then wrote again to his mother from Hotel Imperial in New York, ending with a shaky postscript: "Excuse scribble as my nerves are shattered."
Mellors became an anti-fascism crusader for the National Republic newspaper during the 1930s. He died in 1947.
His Titanic documents landed in the California attic of Bell's mother. Bell brought the papers east with him several years ago when he moved to the Harrisburg area.
Elias said he has no doubt the documents are authentic.
He points, for example, to the fact that Mellors name was misspelled as "Mellers" in newspaper stories and other accounts, including Walter Lord's 1955 book, "A Night to Remember."
"Anyone wanting to forge a document in Mellors' hand would almost certainly repeat that spelling error," Elias said.
DAVID DUNKLE: 255-8266 or
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
http://www.pennlive.com/news/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/news/111780600076800.xml&coll=1&thispage=2
|
|
