The Titanic:
Some criminals!
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Background 2: Some criminals will sink to any depths!

If you were a passenger on the Titanic, and had good eyesight, you may have seen this notice tucked away opposite the first page of the printed passenger list:

SPECIAL NOTICE

The attention of the Managers has been called to the fact that certain persons, believed to be Professional Gamblers, are in the habit of travelling to and fro in Atlantic Steamships.

In bringing this to the knowledge of Travellers the Managers, whilst not wishing in the slightest degree to interfere with the freedom of action of Patrons of the White Star Line, desire to invite their assistance in discouraging Games of Chance, as being likely to afford these individuals special opportunities for taking unfair advantage of others.

Obviously there were many rich ‘victims’ on board the Titanic and probably a large number of gamblers and card-sharp. In fact one of these dastardly criminals was very active. Walter Lord in his book ‘The Night Lives On’, relates this series of events:

"George Brayton had been in the Titanic’s smoking room stalking a prospective victim when the ship struck and by the time the Carpathia docked in New York he was already at work again!

Henry Stengel was walking along the deck on the second day after the rescue when he saw Brayton looking very downcast. When he inquired Brayton told him that he needed money for the fare to Los Angeles. Stengel advised him to contact White Star, which he did. Later Stengel received a phone call from Brayton telling him of his success and later in the conversation, Stengel invited Brayton to his home for dinner.

During the evening Brayton mentioned a big deal pending in New York, which would come to a head as soon as his brother-in-law, an executive with Western Union, got back from a trip to Mexico. Several weeks later Stengel received another phone call from Brayton, reporting that the brother-in-law was back and in a position to make some money. He’d like to cut Stengel in on the deal.

Stengel rushed off to New York, where he, Brayton, and the brother-in-law ended up in a room at the Hotel Seville. Here the brother-in-law explained that he was in charge of the ‘RD’ Department of Western Union. This was the department responsible for flashing the results of horse races, and he was in a position to withhold the results for at least eight minutes – allowing a wonderful opportunity to bet on a sure thing. It would cost Stengel just $1000 to get in on the scheme.

Stengel later said that at this point he sailed into the brother-in-law, and when Brayton pleaded with him not to ‘squeal’, Stengel began punching him too. Finally the scuffle ended, but by the time the police were called, the con men had slipped away."

There were also a known number of Australian criminals on board as evidenced by this extract from the May 25, 1912 edition of ‘The Argus’:

CRIMINALS PERISH
The Melbourne police have received information that among the victims of the Titanic disaster were three well-known Australian criminals. Two of the criminals were confidence men, and one is said to have performed some very clever work in Europe after having left Australia a few years ago.

The third man had served several sentences for housebreaking in different states of the Commonwealth, but is said to have been a versatile criminal, who could safely take a hand at almost any kind of daring work.

According to the information received by the police, this man had joined forces with the other Australians, who,no doubt, expected a good haul on the voyage in the Titanic, which carried a great number of wealthy passengers.

Investigation 2: Some criminals will sink to any depths!

Let’s try to identify some potential victims! There would certainly have been some among the millionaires, but there were many other rich people on board - a look at a list of occupations of the passengers will reveal others that might have been potential victims.

  1. Try to identify as many potential ‘victims’ as possible.

Unfortunately no records exist to tell us who the Australians were, however, we do have some information about the American gamblers and card-sharps on board.

  1. How many gamblers and card-sharps can you find; who were they?

Stengel and Brayton obviously survived.

  1. What can you find out about these two gentlemen?
  2. What lifeboat(s) were they in?

The panic and confusion often meant that the strangest people rubbed shoulders in the lifeboats.

  1. Who else was in the same lifeboat(s) as these two gentlemen?

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