watson_stephanie@yahoo.com
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I suppose you might ask what a girl from the southside of Youngstown is doing, hoping to take on Dalbeattie, Scotland's website. But before I explain why I'm going to do this, I'd like to take the time to explain why it has to be done in the first place.
Everyone knows, in some way or another, about the RMS Titanic going down on April 15th, 1912. They know that there were fifteen hundred lives lost, and that the survivors bore the scars long after the ship was on the bottom of the Atlantic. They know that there were many acts of heroism that evening, and that those heroes deserve praise even today for their valiant efforts.
What they do not know is that there's an injustice being done.
Cameron's film drew a lot of attention from both teenyboppers and historians alike. One you looked past the shallow love story, and into the depths of the historical aspects, you could find a good deal of accuracy. Not entirely, perhaps, but more than most people put into a teenagers movie. As we watched, Wallace Hartley played "Nearer My God to Thee", and Thomas Andrews stood in the First Class Smoking Room, as he was reported to. As we watched, Harold Lowe went back in Lifeboat #14 to face a nightmare of dead bodies that likely haunted him for the rest of his life. And as we watched, First Officer William Murdoch took his own life with his pistol.
Needless to say, anyone who knew anything of Will Murdoch was not happy about this particular portrayal of him.
I can understand why, then, that Dalbeattie (his childhood hometown) was up in arms. I know I certainly would be if someone accused one of my hometown boys of being a bribe-taking, suicidal killer. I could understand why they decided to fight this allegation with everything they had, trying to clear his name and reputation so that he wouldn't be remembered as this.
I will NEVER understand why they had to drag another man's name through the mud to do it.
If you've ever surfed Dalbeattie's website, you'll see that not only do they try to clear Murdoch's name, but they offer an alternate scenario as near fact, focusing on the Chief Officer.
His name was Henry Wilde, and he was just as much a man as Murdoch was.
I sometimes think that Dalbeattie's webmaster forgets this in his almost ludicrously obsessive attempts to clear Murdoch's name, for there's an entire section dedicated to Henry, listing the reasons why he might have shot himself, and not only that, but clearly trying to establish that he was an emotionally unstable individual. Strangely enough, the webmaster seems to ignore nearly every other statement from far more noted historians saying that Wilde was a very capable and respectable officer.
I won't go into a great deal of information, fact or otherwise, but I will say this: Mr. Edkins, in my honest opinion, you are no better than James Cameron, who painted Murdoch in dark colors. In fact, I will go so far as to say that you're worse, for you present everything there as fact or near-fact with absolutely no remorse as to whose name you have to tarnish.
And to the rest of the world, I say this... when you visit this man's website, bear in mind that though his intents may have been noble to begin with, he's beyond reason. I, personally, have e-mailed him and tried to reason with him, as have many other historians. None of those letters -- or pleas -- have lead him to removing his grim and unfounded interpretation of Chief Officer Wilde.
I'll be the first to admit that there's a possibility Henry did shoot himself that night. I'll also admit that I don't think he did, but if someone presented me with evidence proving it beyond a shadow of a doubt, I would listen.
When presented with evidence, Dalbeattie's webmaster seems to have taken no notice.
It would be one thing to have proof, but it's another to drag a man's name through the mud without so much as a shred of remorse. To this day, there is no completely solid evidence that Wilde or Murdoch did or did not shoot themselves that night. There are a small handful of witness statements made under a panic situation, and not all of them even correspond. Everything leads back to speculation.
So what am I asking? I'm asking that Mr. Edkins remove all rumors from his site, as well as idle speculation. If he would like to present the theory that Wilde's a possible candidate for suicide, he's welcome to. But as for the speculations and anything that isn't proven fact, it has to go.
I must say that I'm disappointed that Wilde's decedents haven't reacted to this injustice, or that if they have, they haven't apparently pressed the issue. I know that if my ancestor had acted as honorably as Henry had... and yes, it's proven that he did his job in a situation where most wouldn't have even been able to think... then I would be up in arms and quite ready to fight it to the highest courts.
Unfortunately, I can't. I'm not much more than poor, white trash with little to my name, living on the bad side of town.
So why do I do this? Because Henry Wilde had a name, a family... he had a life. He was just as human as William Murdoch, and just as deserving of praise for his role that night. He does NOT deserve to be a scapegoat. He does NOT deserve to be hounded on the basis of superstitious rumors and inaccurate 'facts'. What he does deserve is to be left with his name intact, and the honor he deserves left there as well.
If I don't succeed, Mr. Edkins, eventually someone who has the means and the motivation will. And if not? I'll hopefully be waiting on Judgment Day while you answer why you tarnished a man's name to hundreds of thousands of people, no matter how noble your intent.
I can only hope you'll have to face the man you seem to condemn so gracelessly, and that justice is ultimately served to you.
To the rest of the world, I beg you to take down links to Dalbeattie's Murdoch site until something's been done to combat this injustice. I beg you to read carefully, and triple-check every so-called fact this site presents. I beg you to remember that every man and woman who died that night had a heart and soul, from the stoker to the officer, and from the steerage to the rich.
Most of all, I beg you to remember Henry Wilde, be it as a hero or simply as a man.
I know I always will.
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For more accurate information as to the 'suicide', check out George Behe's site, and Page 11 in particular: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Carpathia/
If you're interested in taking a more active stand against this injustice, by way of petition or a ribbon campaign, for the love of all that's good, e-mail me at watson_stephanie@yahoo.com Anything that can be done to help should be.