SENATOR SMITH: These messages that you have are, some of them, over a code or cipher signature of the company. I would like to ask you whether there was any attempt made, through land or sea wireless stations, to enjoin silence or secrecy on the part of any officer or member of the crew, or passenger, on bard the Carpathia, after the accident happened?
MR. FRANKLIN: Not to the very best of my knowledge and belief; absolutely, no.
SENATOR SMITH: You gave the company's cipher signature in the transmission of any messages, by wireless telegraph and cable, the other day?
MR. FRANKLIN: I gave the company's signature. Generally speaking, the cable address of the company, between officers, for cables and long­distance messages of that kind, is "Ismay."
SENATOR SMITH: Whether the communication be sent from this country to the London office or aboard ship, or from the London office or other British ship to a ship or office here, the same cipher is employed?
MR. FRANKLIN: I could not say "yes" to that, for this reason, that we have a great many cable addresses. For instance, when the passenger office at the London office or the Southampton office is sending a cable purely on details of the passenger department, asking for reservations of rooms, or something of that kind, we will use one cable address, the result of which is that that cable, when received at the office, will go immediately into the passenger office. If that office is cabling about freight matters, they will use another cable address, which will result in that cable going into the freight office. But if it is a general cable on general business, as a rule the cable address "Ismay" is used.
SENATOR SMITH: What are the others used?
MR. FRANKLIN: I could not tell them. We have a lot of them.
SENATOR SMITH: Are they registered?
MR. FRANKLIN: They are all registered with the cable companies.
SENATOR SMITH: And with the telegraph companies?
MR. FRANKLIN: The telegraph companies, as a rule, are practically the cable companies; so they are with the telegraph companies also.
SENATOR SMITH: Have you a cipher for your own personal use?
MR. FRANKLIN: If you mean by "cipher" a cable address­­.
SENATOR SMITH: (interposing). Code or cable address.
MR. FRANKLIN: (continuing). If you mean a cable address for cables exchanged between Mr. Ismay and myself, I have the word "Islefrank."
SENATOR SMITH: And that denotes yourself?
MR. FRANKLIN: That denotes that the cable is for me.
SENATOR SMITH: Did you receive or send on Sunday, the 14th of April, or any succeeding day up to the time of the arrival of the Carpathia in New York, any message to its officers, employees, or passengers giving that signature?
MR. FRANKLIN: On Sunday, no.
SENATOR SMITH: What about Monday?
MR. FRANKLIN: No.
SENATOR SMITH: On Tuesday?
MR. FRANKLIN: No; and no other day.
SENATOR SMITH: No other day up to that time?
MR. FRANKLIN: No.
SENATOR SMITH: And you received no message addressed to you in that manner?
MR. FRANKLIN: That is, I sent no message to any ship at sea, or any place else, under the code address of "Islefrank."
SENATOR SMITH: Did you send any to your London office under that address?
MR. FRANKLIN: To the London office I would never use it. I would only use it to the Liverpool office.
SENATOR SMITH: Did you use it to the Liverpool office?
MR. FRANKLIN: Not to the best of my knowledge and belief.
SENATOR SMITH: Or to any other office of the company, anywhere?
MR. FRANKLIN: Not to the best of my knowledge and belief. In the file of exhibits, or rather telegrams exchanged with Mr. Ismay, you will probably find a message sent by Mr. Ismay after he got on the Carpathia which did not reach us until Wednesday morning, and I think you will find that addressed to "Islefrank"; but that message as received is in your possession.
SENATOR SMITH: Is that the message you refer to [handing witness telegram]?
MR. FRANKLIN: Yes, sir; This is the one I mean. That is the one sent by Mr. Ismay. You see, that is the first message.
SENATOR SMITH: There is another one there.
MR. FRANKLIN: But these were addressed; you asked me "sent to."
SENATOR SMITH: I asked you "sent or received."
MR. FRANKLIN: I did not understand you to say received. These are all addressed that way.
SENATOR SMITH: Sent or received?
MR. FRANKLIN: Mr. Ismay addressed that in that way. I said I did not send any.
SENATOR SMITH: Have you filed with the committee all the messages you received, addressed to "Islefrank," from the Carpathia, its officers, crew, or passengers?
MR. FRANKLIN: I have.
SENATOR SMITH: From the day of the accident until its arrival in New York?
MR. FRANKLIN: I have.
SENATOR SMITH: Who put the memorandum on that message in lead pencil, "Received 9 a.m., 4­17­12"?
MR. FRANKLIN: I did.
SENATOR SMITH: That was Wednesday.
MR. FRANKLIN: Wednesday morning about 9:30.
SENATOR SMITH: 9. a.m., you say here.
MR. FRANKLIN: 9. a.m., then.
SENATOR SMITH: When did you receive the first tidings from the Titanic disaster, and from whom did you receive such tidings?
MR. FRANKLIN: As I testified on Monday, at about 20 minutes of 2 on Monday morning I was aroused by the telephone and the door bell, and was informed by a reporter, evidently of some paper, that they had heard this rumor or had this information. Who that was I can not tell you.
SENATOR SMITH: But you had your first information from the Carpathia or from Mr. Ismay, or from any other source that was official or authentic, at what time?
MR. FRANKLIN: I got my first information from any source that was official or authentic from the captain of the Olympic, and a copy of his message is filed with you, all of his messages, to the best of my knowledge and belief, being filed with you. They are not in that load [indicating].
SENATOR SMITH: They are marked "Haddock"?
MR. FRANKLIN: "Haddock."
SENATOR SMITH: Is that the cablegram to which you refer [exhibiting cablegram]?
MR. FRANKLIN: No, sir; that is a cablegram that we sent to Liverpool. That is a copy of a message we sent to Liverpool.
SENATOR SMITH: Find the message that came from Haddock.
MR. FRANKLIN: It is not here, sir. These are the cables between Liverpool and ourselves.
SENATOR SMITH: Have you that cablegram?
MR. FRANKLIN: I have it here some place. Here is the first telegram, to the best of my knowledge and belief, that I received from Haddock.
SENATOR SMITH: Read it.
MR. FRANKLIN: [reading]: VIA HALIFAX, STEAMSHIP "OLYMPIC" , April 15, 1912.
ISMAY, New York:
Since midnight, when her position was 41.46 north, 50.14 west, have been unable to communicate. We are now 310 miles from her, 9 a.m., under full power. Will inform you at once if we hear anything. COMMANDER.
SENATOR SMITH: What reply did you make to that?
MR. FRANKLIN: The three messages that we sent to Capt. Haddock that morning are as follows:
About 3 a.m., April 15, from 168 Gates Avenue, Brooklyn, by telephone: "Haddock, Olympic: Make every endeavor communicate Titanic and advise position and time. Reply to Ismay, New York."
SENATOR SMITH: That was sent from your house.
MR. FRANKLIN: No, sir; this was telephoned by me to the manager of our steamship department, Mr. Rodger, living in Brooklyn. I did not want to leave my telephone or communicate with anybody except the people in connection with the Titanic.
SENATOR SMITH: That was 3 a.m., Monday morning?
MR. FRANKLIN: That was 3 a.m., Monday morning.
SENATOR SMITH: After the accident?
MR. FRANKLIN: The next one was 6:05 a.m., the same day, April 15:
Commander "Olympic": Keep us fully posted regarding Titanic.
The next one has no hour on it; no time. April 15:
Haddock, Olympic: Can you ascertain extent damage Titanic?
Those are the telegrams we sent to Capt. Haddock that morning.
SENATOR SMITH: All of them?
MR. FRANKLIN: All of them, to the best of my knowledge and belief.
SENATOR SMITH: Have you his replies?
MR. FRANKLIN: I read you off the first telegram. The next telegram we received from Capt. Haddock is as follows:
Parisian reports Carpathia in attendance, and picked up 20 boats of passengers, and Baltic returning to give assistance; position not given.
SENATOR SMITH: What time was that and what day?
MR. FRANKLIN: That was received April 15.
SENATOR SMITH: Monday?
MR. FRANKLIN: Monday.
SENATOR SMITH: What hour?
MR. FRANKLIN: To the best of my knowledge and belief, it was around about 1 o'clock; between 12 and 1. Do you want me to read these? They are all in the evidence verbatim.
SENATOR SMITH: I wanted to make very sure that they contained all the communications you had with Capt. Haddock, of the Olympic, to him or from him.
MR. FRANKLIN: We have made every research, and as far as I can find out in any way, or from recollection or anything else, they contain every telegram we have exchanged with Capt. Haddock, from the time of the disaster to date.
SENATOR SMITH: And yet, as I understand you this morning, that is the first authentic information you received of the sinking of the Titanic?
MR. FRANKLIN: The first and only authentic information we received, not only of the sinking, but in connection with the Titanic sinking, until we got Mr. Ismay's telegram on Wednesday morning, which was to the same effect, of course.
SENATOR SMITH: I want to read into the record from the Anaconda Standard, published at Anaconda, Mont., Monday morning, April 15, 1912, the following, headed
"TITANIC" STRIKES ICEBERG AND IS SINKING
CAPE RACE, Newfoundland, April 15 ­ At 10:25 o'clock last night the steamship Titanic called "S.O.S." and reported having struck an iceberg. The steamer said that immediate assistance was required. Half an hour afterwards an additional message said they were sinking by the head and that women were being put off in the lifeboats.
Then I skip a few unimportant facts, and this follows:
The last signals from the Titanic were heard by the Virginian at 1:37 a.m. The operator in the Virginian says these signals were blurred and ended abruptly.
SENATOR SMITH: I simply quote this newspaper announcement because it comes from the far West, and seems to give more information of a definite character than you had in your possession at that hour.
MR. FRANKLIN: That is perfectly true, except that we had exactly that same information from various telephone communications, and Associated Press and other reports; but we had no authentic information except what I am giving you in those telegrams.
SENATOR SMITH: You said the other day that you had rumors­­
MR. FRANKLIN: Rumors and reports.
SENATOR SMITH: Rumors of this character, which were called to your attention by newspaper reporters and others that morning; but that you had no authentic information of an official character until the afternoon of Monday?
MR. FRANKLIN: Until the afternoon, except the telegram which we have just read from Capt. Haddock, which advised that he was proceeding. All of our telegrams and all of our information were given at once to the press as received.
SENATOR SMITH: At 6:15 a.m., Monday, this message was sent to your Liverpool office [handing witness paper].
MR. FRANKLIN: Shall I read it?
SENATOR SMITH: Please read it, giving the date and to whom it is addressed.
SENATOR SMITH: Give us the code words. Read the code words.
MR. FRANKLIN: I will just have to spell them out. The next word is ­
Iznak 41.46 north Joyam 50.14 west. Women being put lifeboats; steamer Virginian expects reach Titanic 10 a.m. to­day. Olympic Baltic proceeding Titanic. We have no direct information.
SENATOR SMITH: Who sent that message?
MR. FRANKLIN: I sent that message myself.
SENATOR SMITH: How did you get that information that the Virginian was going to the relief of the Titanic at 6:15 a.m. Monday?
MR. FRANKLIN: I had a telephone conversation with Montreal about, I should say, half past 2 in the morning ­ between half past 2 and half past 3 ­ and I gathered from that, and also from other information that we were probably receiving from other sources, that the Virginian was going there.
SENATOR SMITH: That circumstance would reveal the fact that it was rather an important matter, would it not?
MR. FRANKLIN: My understanding is that the Virginian got practically the first information passed ashore regarding the Titanic.
SENATOR SMITH: I understand that, Mr. Franklin.
MR. FRANKLIN: And she proceeded at once.
SENATOR SMITH: I want to know who got the first information in your company. You said you received idle rumors that she had had this accident. You considered it important enough to send to your Liverpool advices of that character at 6:15 Monday morning?
MR. FRANKLIN: Right, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Did you consider it of sufficient importance to inform the public that this accident had occurred?
MR. FRANKLIN: As a matter of fact, the newspapers were informing me; the newspaper reporters were in our office the entire morning, and we were giving them about every 15 or 20 minutes anything we had received, any rumors or communications of various kinds; and when our telegram came in from Capt. Haddock, we gave them the contents of that. We gave the newspapers everything we had.
SENATOR SMITH: I am not concerned about your giving out Capt. Haddock's information. What I am concerned about is whether you considered that the information you had received from Montreal about half past 2 Monday morning, and which was the basis of your advices to your Liverpool office, was of sufficient importance to have justified your announcement of the sources of your information to the public at that time?
MR. FRANKLIN: I do not quite follow you, for this reason­­
SENATOR SMITH: Read the question. I think I made in plain. I do not want to be to searching about it, but if it connects with other things I have in my mind, I want it down.
MR. FRANKLIN: Quite right.
The reporter repeated the question as follows:
SENATOR SMITH: I am not concerned about your giving out Capt. Haddock's information. What I am concerned about is whether you considered that the information you had received from Montreal about half past 2 Monday morning, and which was the basis of your advices to your Liverpool office, was of sufficient importance to have justified your announcement of the sources of your information to the public at that time?
MR. FRANKLIN: The sources of my information at that time were from the press, whose representatives were in our office.
SENATOR SMITH: One moment. The sources of your information were in Montreal. I would like to know what they were.
MR. FRANKLIN: What we did was ­ we got Mr. Thom­­
