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Show FALL 2013 UHQ pp 304-385_UHQ Stories/pp.4-68 9/16/13 1:25 PM Page 332 UTAh hISTOrICAL QUArTErLy Chester. The media reports insinuated that the Marconi operators had failed to respond to the messages because they hoped to profit from stories regarding the Titanic when they arrived in New York.20 Marconi asked whether the Times could get him a pass to board the Carpathia and find out from his operators why they had not responded to Taft’s inquiries.21 Russell knew that the Times had only four passes, that the paper had already allotted all those passes, and that the passes only permitted reporters to approach the pier and not board the ship in any event. Nevertheless, he telephoned the Times offices and asked Greaves whether Marconi, whose invention had such an important place in the rescue efforts, could have a pass. According to Russell, Greaves was flustered and did not seriously consider who was asking for a pass. “‘Tell Marconi nothing; all our passes are in use,’” came the reply. Russell did not want to discourage Marconi from visiting the pier, however, because he was confident that New York City policemen, United States Marines, and anyone else guarding the Carpathia would not follow instructions and would suspend all rules to let Guglielmo Marconi, savior for the Titanic survivors, onto the Carpathia.22 Russell did not tell Marconi that the Times had no pass for him. Instead, he lied and said “Yes, I have your pass for you. I can take you down all right.” Bottomley signed the release letter; unfortunately for the Times, it authorized Marconi operators to talk to anyone from the press, and the Times had hoped to pay $500 for an “exclusive.” Russell told Marconi the quickest way to the Cunard Line pier and instructed him how to catch the Ninth Avenue elevated line, which he could board on 130th Street, just a few blocks away. Meanwhile, Russell hurriedly went ahead of Marconi and delivered the signed letter of release to the Times’s rented space in the Strand Hotel. He then met Marconi at the Fourteenth Street station on the “El” and “settled down for a beautiful adventure in which seeing Marconi aboard would be the objective.”23 While the Times had no passes for Marconi, it did have a taxicab waiting 20 Shortly after the Titanic sank, Frederick Sammis, the chief engineer of the Marconi Wireless Company, testified that he had wired the Marconi operators on the Carpathia that they could probably sell their stories of the Titanic tragedy for “big money” after they landed. He denied having them refuse to respond to any incoming messages. “United States Senate Inquiry, Day 10,” Titanic Inquiry Project, accessed June 2013, http://www.titanicinquiry.org/USInq/AmInq10Sammis01.php. 21 [Russell], “Marconi Pays Visit,” April 19, 1912; Russell, “Why Boy Kept Silent,” April 8, 1924. 22 Russell, unpublished manuscript on visit with Harold Bride, 4, Russell Papers; [Russell], “Marconi Pays Visit,” April 19, 1912; Russell, “Why Boy Kept Silent,” April 8, 1924. 23 [Russell], “Marconi Pays Visit,” April 19, 1912; Russell, “Why Boy Kept Silent,” April 8, 1924; Russell, “Met Survivors of Titanic,” July 6, 1917; Russell, unpublished manuscript on visit with Harold Bride, 4, Russell Papers. The allegation that the Times had paid for an exclusive right to obtain and publish the wireless operators’ story became controversial; other New York papers seized on the allegation and the United States Senate investigated it, among other charges. Russell stated that he had delivered the release and then gone “off duty” to try to get his own story, because reporters were paid primarily for the “space” used to publish a story; wages for “errand” assignments were negligible. He worried that “errand” pay “meant tragedy with a haunting vision of babies at home for whom no daily bread was being earned.” Russell, unpublished manuscript on visit with Harold Bride, 4. 332 |
