Athenia Man's Daughter Tells About Wreck

Miss Ilett, Titanic Survivor, Got Into Leaking Life Boat-Craft Sank Later

SHE HEARD BAND AND SHRIEKS

Returned to Bed After Crash, Believing Matter Trivial

Miss Bertha Ilett, eighteen-year-old daughter of Edward Ilett, who is at the United States quarantine station at Athenia, was among the survivors of the Titanic disaster. It was not until 7:30 o'clock last night that her father, who is about sixty years old, heard of her safety.

Dr. E.T. Davison, superintendent of the quarantine station, had been in communication with the White Star Line and New York newspaper offices from the first, but was unable to gain definite information about Miss Ilett until the rescue ship Carpathia was off Sandy Hook.

Friends Greet Party.

Dr. Davison and Mr. Ilett hurried to New York on the first train, met Miss Ilett at the pier, and were in time to make the last train for Athenia, where anxious friends awaited the arrival of the little party. Miss Ilett and her father returned to New York on business this morning.

She told a graphic story of her rescue and the scenes following the order that all passengers put on lifebelts and go on deck.

She Went to Bed After Crash.

"I did not hear the crash nor even feel it," said Miss Ilett to her father and others at Dr. Davison's house. "I was asleep. A woman aroused me. We heard something had gone wrong, but were assured that everything was all right. I went back to bed and was sleeping when a steward awoke me. He said I should dress and put a life preserver on. No one thought there was any great danger. I dressed, put on a heavy sweater and coat, and then went on deck.

Life Boat Leaked.

"There were quite a number of people there and life boats were being lowered. The women were ordered to go first and the men to stand back. Several boats put out and then I stepped into one of them. There were perhaps 50 persons in the boat. It began to leak. Everything was done to stop it but the water came in fast and we rowed alongside another life boat. About half the people were transferred to this boat and those remaining to still another. Then it sank. We drifted several hours.

Heard the Band and the Shrieks.

"I could hear the band on the Titanic playing 'Nearer My God to Thee' and other hymns, also the heartrending shrieks of those who went down with the Titanic. It was terrible. We drifted about for a long time before we saw the Carpathia. It seemed like five or six hours after leaving the Titanic that we finally reached the side of the Carpathia and were taken aboard. Our boat was the last of the life boats picked up."

Miss Ilett was coming from England, where her mother lives, to visit her father and other relatives and friends in this country. Mr. Ilett makes several trips between England and the United States every year, in charge of shiploads of cattle, which are quarantined at Athenia before proceeding to their destination in this country. He is well known in Athenia. His daughter Elise was employed by Mrs. Davison for three years. About a year ago she married a man named Olsen and is now living at Geneva, N.Y.