Q. D., messages, "Struck on iceberg, C. Q. D."
"Shall I tell captain to turn back and help?" flashed a
reply from the Carpathia.
"Yes, old man," the Titanic wireless operator responded.
"Guess we're sinking."
An hour later, when the second wireless man came into the
boxlike room to tell his companion what the situation was,
he found a negro stoker creeping up behind the operator and
saw him raise a knife over his head. He said afterwards--he
was among those rescued--that he realized at once that the
negro intended to kill the operator in order to take his life-
belt from him. The second operator pulled out his revolver
and shot the negro dead.
"What was the trouble?" asked the operator.
"That negro was going to kill you and steal your life-belt,"
the second man replied.
"Thanks, old man," said the operator. The second man
went on deck to get some more information. He was just in
time to jump overboard before the Titanic went down. The
wireless operator and the body of the negro who tried to steal
his belt went down together.
On the deck where the first class passengers were quartered,
known as deck A, there was none of the confusion that was
taking place on the lower decks. The Titanic was standing
without much rocking.
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