C. E. H. Stengel, first cabin passenger (Am. Inq., p. 975):
Senator Smith: Did you see any man attempt to enter these lifeboats who was forbidden to do so?
Mr. Stengel: I saw two. A certain physician[23] in New York, and his brother, jumped into the same boat my wife was in. Then the officer, or the man who was loading the boat said: “I will stop that. I will go down and get my gun.” He left the deck momentarily and came right back again. I saw no attempt of anyone else to get into the lifeboats except these two gentlemen that jumped into the boat after it was started to lower.
[23] Dr. H. W. Frauenthal.
Senator Bourne: When you were refused admission into the boat in which your wife was, were there a number of ladies and children there at the time?
Mr. Stengel: No, sir, there were not. These two gentlemen had put their wives in and were standing on the edge of the deck and when they started lowering away, they jumped in. I saw only two.
N. C. Chambers, first-class passenger (Am. Inq., p. 1041):
Witness referring to boat No. 5 as appearing sufficiently loaded says: “However, my wife said she was going in that boat and proceeded to jump in, calling to me to come. As I knew she would get out again had I not come, I finally jumped into the boat, although I did not consider it, from the looks of things, safe to put many more in. As I remember it, there were two more men, both called by their wives, who jumped in after I did. One of them, a German I believe, told me as I recollect it on the Carpathia that he had looked around and had seen no one else, and no one to ask whether he could get in, or not, and had jumped in.” Witness describes the difficulty in finding whether the plug was in, or not, and recalls someone calling from above: “It’s your own blooming business to see that the plug is in anyhow.”
Mrs. C. E. H. Stengel, first-class passenger, writes as follows:
“As I stepped into the lifeboat an officer in charge said: ‘No more; the boat is full.’ My husband stepped back, obeying the order. As the boat was being lowered, four men deliberately jumped into it. One of them was a Hebrew doctor—another was his brother. This was done at the risk of the lives of all of us in the boat. The two companions of this man who did this were the ones who were later transferred to boat No. 7, to which we were tied. He weighed about 250 pounds and wore two life preservers. These men who jumped in struck me and a little child. I was rendered unconscious and two of my ribs were very badly dislocated. With this exception there was absolutely no confusion and no disorder in the loading of our boat.”