From The Western Morning News (Plymouth, England) of Monday , April 29 1912
    (contributed by Inger Sheil)

First Officer Shot Himself

One man said: During the last scenes on the Titanic there was a little panic with the steerage, and one or two Italians tried to rush the boats, but the chief officer kept them back, and finally fired at them, whether he killed them he could not say. Then the officer shot himself. The first shot was fired to frighten them, but the second was directed at them. The impact was a glancing blow on the starboard side. If she had gone in nose on and her forward bunkers had been full of coal, she would not have gone down.