(The witness was sworn by Senator Smith.)
Senator SMITH.
Will you give your full name and address?
Mr. SAMMIS.
Frederick M. Sammis; 143 Mount Prospect Avenue, Newark, N. J.
Senator SMITH.
And your business?
Mr. SAMMIS.
I am chief engineer of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. of America.
Senator SMITH.
State your age, please.
Mr. SAMMIS.
I will have to figure it; it is something I can never remember. I was born in 1877 anyway.
Senator SMITH.
You are chief engineer of the Marconi Co.?
Mr. SAMMIS.
Yes, sir.
Senator SMITH.
How far does your jurisdiction extend?
Mr. SAMMIS.
I do not know that I quite understand the question as put.
Senator SMITH.
How extensive is your jurisdiction? What is your authority, and over what territory are you supposed to act?
Mr. SAMMIS.
With respect to our territory, the American Co. has jurisdiction over the United States and its possessions, and on American registry ships only. My part of the business is to see that the ships are properly fitted, and the land stations are kept in good working order, and generally, I have to do with the technical side of the business, not the traffic; we have a separate manager for that.
Senator SMITH.
Are you an officer of the British Marconi Co.?
Mr. SAMMIS.
No, sir.
Senator SMITH.
Or the Marconi Co. in any other country?
Mr. SAMMIS.
No, sir.
Senator SMITH.
Have you anything to do with Mr. Marconi's personal arrangements with the Government of Italy?
Mr. SAMMIS.
No.
Senator SMITH.
So that your part of the work is such as you have just described?
Mr. SAMMIS.
Yes, sir.
Senator SMITH.
Where were you when the accident happened to the Titanic?
Mr. SAMMIS.
In bed, asleep.
Senator SMITH.
In New York?
Mr. SAMMIS.
In Newark.
Senator SMITH.
When did you first learn of this accident?
Mr. SAMMIS.
My best recollection is that it was the next morning when I got into the office. I discovered I had carried the paper under my hand all the morning, with news of the accident in it, and had not noticed it.
Senator SMITH.
What paper did you have in your hand?
Mr. SAMMIS.
The New York Times.
Senator SMITH.
What time did you reach your office?
Mr. SAMMIS.
I should think it was about half-past 9, my usual time.
Senator SMITH.
You reached your office before you heard of this accident?
Mr. SAMMIS.
Yes, sir. I may say I had some very important business with a fellow passenger, or I should not have done so.
Senator SMITH.
That does not indicate the indifference of your place of residence to incidents going on in the outside world, does it?
Mr. SAMMIS.
Hardly. I think I ought to be allowed to explain that we were looking for a trans-Atlantic site, and I had arranged with one of my men to meet me at my home that morning and to send him down to the county clerk's office in New Brunswick, and we were discussing this matter, and I took my paper and put it in my pocket, and we were discussing it when we got to the office, and for that reason I did not open my paper or read it.
Senator SMITH.
It did not take you very long after you arrived at your office to discover something had happened in the world, did it?
Mr. SAMMIS.
No, sir; it did not.
Senator SMITH.
What did you find there?
Mr. SAMMIS.
Titanic had struck an iceberg, I believe. I heard of the accident by some means or other, I think probably from Mr. Bottomley. Of course, the office was all astir with it as soon as I got in.
Senator SMITH.
Did you find many people there looking for information?
Mr. SAMMIS.
I do not think there were many people there that morning at that time.
Senator SMITH.
Did you remain at the office during the day?
Mr. SAMMIS.
I do not think I left it very much for the next five days.
Senator SMITH.
Up to the time of the arrival of the Carpathia?
Mr. SAMMIS.
Yes. I did go home, but not any longer than I felt absolutely necessary.
Senator SMITH.
While you were at the office were you bestirring yourself about the business of the company?
Mr. SAMMIS.
Disturbing myself?
Senator SMITH.
Bestirring yourself.
Mr. SAMMIS.
Yes sir; always; normally so.
Senator SMITH.
Did you have occasion to send any message yourself to the Carpathia?
Mr. SAMMIS.
Not that I remember. Some of the messages which Mr. Marconi has already offered in evidence, I think, were sent at my request and by my judgment, together with that of Mr. Bottomley. I knew they were sent.
Senator SMITH.
I will come right to the point and ask you whether the following message, which was intercepted by the chief wireless operator, J. R. Simpson, chief electrician United States Navy, is familiar to you:
8:30 P.M.
To Marconi officer, Carpathia and Titanic:
Arranged for your exclusive story for dollars in four figures. Mr. Marconi agreeing. Say nothing until you see me. Where are you now?J. M. SAMMIS, Opr. C.
Mr. SAMMIS.
I only know about that exact message from what I have read in the newspapers.
If you will allow me, I will describe this unpleasant business, because it is unpleasant, as it has brought upon me a country-wide publicity that I little desire, and has pointed the finger of scorn at me by my neighbors, simply because in their estimation, either intentionally or otherwise, the date and time of these messages, when they were first published, at any rate, were not disclosed. In the second place because it has not been stated, I believe, thus far, that at 8:30 the ship was either across the end of her pier or nearly so.
I sat in my office at 8:10 on that night and was told by the operating department that the ship had passed the Narrows, and the Seagate Station itself is at the Narrows, New York Harbor.
It is not my desire to throw onto anybody else any responsibility for the sense of this message. Mr. Marconi did agree that the boys, when they got ashore, should be allowed to sell the report of their personal experience, which numerous other people on board the ship did. In these days, when corporations are counted as not caring very much about their employees or what happens to them, or what they get, it seemed to me that the men who had been responsible mainly and chiefly for saving 700 lives ought in some way to be recognized substantially.
It was not I who originated this scheme or this arrangement at all. The arrangement was made, however, and the information was telephoned to Seagate Station, which I say is at the Narrows, New York, to explain to these boys. In telephoning that I told them, "I know the boys are exhausted, but give them this news; maybe it will spur them on and make them feel better." I remember definitely telling them that.
Senator SMITH.
With whom were you talking at that time?
Mr. SAMMIS.
To Mr. Davidson, the man temporarily in charge of Seagate Station. He is not regularly in our employ, but was sent there because he was an expert operator and one of the best men we have ever had. But he was not regularly under our control. He was sent there, and we made use of his services, and he handled the wireless entirely. I have a statement from him, and he made an affidavit, that messages about which so much noise has been made were of his own construction, and that he realizes, as we all do, that they were not gems of English literature, but they were, on the spur of the moment, instructions to the men, carrying out and explaining to them the arrangements which had been made.
Senator SMITH.
We are not passing upon the literary character of these productions.
Mr. SAMMIS.
I do not think I ought to be -
Senator SMITH. (interposing)
And the work of digging into the story you are telling has not been entirely pleasant to me. But these messages were picked up and transmitted to me by the Secretary of the Navy, and they bear your signature, and I would like to know whether or not you are responsible for that injunction of secrecy to the operators of the Carpathia?
Mr. SAMMIS.
There was no injunction of secrecy whatsoever, except with respect to their actions after they got ashore.
Senator SMITH.
I will read one. "Seagate to Carpathia, 8.12." Do you know what time the Carpathia passed quarantine?
Mr. SAMMIS.
I was told that night that she passed the Battery at 8.10. I have not verified that. She was certainly very close, however.
Senator SMITH.
As a matter of fact, she did not land until 9.30?
Mr. SAMMIS.
You mean the passengers did not land?
Senator SMITH.
No; I mean the boat was not made fast to the Cunard Dock until 9.30. Am I right, Mr. Franklin?
Mr. FRANKLIN.
Yes.
Mr. SAMMIS.
I should say that half an hour, or 45 minutes possibly, would be consumed from coming from the Battery up to the pier, in the slow way they usually go.
Senator SMITH.
Here is a telegram which was intercepted by the Navy Department.
Mr. SAMMIS.
May I interrupt to say that the one you have already quoted is quite evidently erroneously copied. The initial, you may note, is not correct. The words after the signature have absolutely no meaning to me. I say those are self-evident facts to anybody. I did not know what these messages contained until I read them in the paper.
Senator SMITH.
I will proceed:
Seagate to Carpathia:8.12 p. m.
Say, old man, Marconi Co. taking good care of you. Keep your mouth shut and hold your story. It is fixed for you so you will get big money. Do your best to clear.
Do you know anything about that message?
Mr. SAMMIS.
Only what I have already stated. I read it in the paper.
Senator SMITH.
And you disavow all responsibility for it?
Mr. SAMMIS.
I do not. I telephoned the information to Seagate - I have already stated that - that such an arrangement had been made with reference to the boys' stories after they got ashore.
It is quite evident that in the vernacular of the wireless men the last few words which you have just quoted were sent in response to my injunction that perhaps this would spruce the boys up a little bit, and make them feel happy, and they would clear their traffic. That is what is meant by the sentence: "Do your best to clear." In other words, "Get your messages off, all you have, hurriedly."
Senator SMITH.
He could not have been at the dock at that time, or that could have been sent to him personally.
Mr. SAMMIS.
I understand that the man was found telegraphing after he was tied up to the pier, absolutely unconscious of the fact that he had arrived there.
Senator SMITH.
Which operator?
Mr. SAMMIS.
Mr. Bride.
Senator SMITH.
But Cottam, the regular operator of the Carpathia, left the ship immediately when she arrived, did he not?
Mr. SAMMIS.
I understand so; yes.
Senator SMITH.
Did he do that in obedience to your request to meet you at the Strand Hotel?
Mr. SAMMIS.
He probably did; yes.
Senator SMITH.
Why did you want him to meet you?
Mr. SAMMIS.
Simply so that he could get in touch with the New York Times reporter, with whom the arrangement had been made, and give him the story.
Senator SMITH.
Then we may presume the arrangement he made with the Times and carried out was with your consent?
Mr. SAMMIS.
With the consent of the company, Mr. Marconi, and Mr. Bottomley, as well. I simply passed along the arrangement which had been made.
Senator SMITH.
But with your consent?
Mr. SAMMIS.
Yes. I had not very much to say. He did not need my consent.
Senator SMITH.
With your concurrence?
Mr. SAMMIS.
With my approval yes, sir. My unofficial approval.
Senator SMITH.
Did he meet you at the Strand Hotel, or was he to meet you?
Mr. SAMMIS.
No.
Senator SMITH.
Were you there?
Mr. SAMMIS.
I was at the Strand Hotel; yes. That was the headquarters of the New York Times.
Senator SMITH.
Five hundred and two West Fourteenth Street?
Mr. SAMMIS.
Yes, sir.
Senator SMITH.
Whom did you go there to meet - Mr. Cottam?
Mr. SAMMIS.
I went there to meet the operators; yes.
Senator SMITH.
To meet Mr. Cottam?
Mr. SAMMIS.
Not Mr. Cottam any more than Mr. Bride, particularly but to meet both of them.
Senator SMITH.
Did you go to the side of the Carpathia at all when she docked?
Mr. SAMMIS.
Yes.
Senator SMITH.
At what time?
Mr. SAMMIS.
I have not the least idea. It took me 45 minutes to get across the street. At the time I got to the Carpathia I lost all sense of time. I should say, roughly, it might have been a couple of hours after she had docked.
Senator SMITH.
Did you find Mr. Bride there?
Mr. SAMMIS.
Yes.
Senator SMITH.
But had you seen Mr. Cottam in the meantime?
Mr. SAMMIS.
No.
Senator SMITH.
Did you go to the Cunard Dock with Mr. Marconi?
Mr. SAMMIS.
Yes.
Senator SMITH.
Was that the first time he had been there that evening?
Mr. SAMMIS.
I assume so.
Senator SMITH.
Was he with you at the Strand Hotel?
Mr. SAMMIS.
No.
Senator SMITH.
Was anybody with you?
Mr. SAMMIS.
You could not be in the Strand Hotel that night without having somebody with you. There were Times men and all the other newspaper men.
Senator SMITH.
Yes; but who went with you to the Strand Hotel?
Mr. SAMMIS.
Nobody.
Senator SMITH.
Who left the Strand Hotel with you?
Mr. SAMMIS.
One of the Times men; I have forgotten his name.
Senator SMITH.
How much was Mr. Cottam, the operator on the Carpathia, to get for that story?
Mr. SAMMIS.
The Times agreed to pay $1,000 for the two stories. I do not know how they were going to divide it; I did not interest myself in it.
Senator SMITH.
For his and Cottam's story of the loss of the Titanic?
Mr. SAMMIS.
Yes.
Senator SMITH.
With whom was that arrangement made?
Mr. SAMMIS.
With the New York Times.
Senator SMITH.
I know; but who made it in behalf of these boys?
Mr. SAMMIS.
You mean what representative of the Times?
Senator SMITH.
No; who made the arrangement on behalf of the company?
Mr. SAMMIS.
Well, everybody had something to do with it. I had something to do with it; Mr. Bottomley had something to do with it; it was a general conversation carried on by the New York Times office and our office and Mr. Bottomley's house.
Senator SMITH.
Was the contract on the part of the operators completed? Did they give their stories?
Mr. SAMMIS.
I think they did.
Senator SMITH.
Both to the same paper?
Mr. SAMMIS.
I think so.
Senator SMITH.
Did they receive their money?
Mr. SAMMIS.
I understand they did, and more besides.
Senator SMITH.
How much more?
Mr. SAMMIS.
I understand they got $250 more apiece than was promised them.
Senator SMITH.
That is, they got $750 apiece?
Mr. SAMMIS.
That is my rough recollection: I did not see the money or handle it, and do not wish to. That is hearsay.
Senator SMITH.
In order that we may clear this up as we go along, were you to have any part in this yourself?
Mr. SAMMIS.
Absolutely none.