Every one in the office was astir in a moment and came over to see the cable editor write on a sheet of copy paper the following head [which he indicated was to be set up in this form]:
TITANIC SINKING
IN MID-OCEAN; HIT
GREAT ICEBERG
“Boy!” he called again; but it was not necessary—a boy in a newspaper office knows news the first time he sees it.
“Tell them that’s the head for the ‘Titanic.’”
Then he wrote briefly this telegraphic dispatch, and as he did so he said to another office boy at his side: “Tell the operator to[Pg 13] shut off that story he is taking and get me a clear wire to Montreal.”
This is what he wrote to the Montreal correspondent, probably at work at his desk in a Montreal newspaper office at that hour:
Cape Race says White Star Liner “Titanic” struck iceberg, is sinking and wants immediate assistance. Rush every line you can get. We will hold open for you until 3:30.
“Give that to the operator and find out if we caught the mail on that ‘Titanic’ dispatch,” he said quickly to the boy.