Prof.
EDWIN WILLIAM FRIEND, Saloon Class Passenger
[No Picture Provided]
Edwin Friend, 28, was a graduate of Harvard University in Cambridge,
Massachusetts who had studied classics and Indic philology. He continued
to do graduate work at the University of Berlin and returned to the United
States in 1911 on the Celtic. Friend went on to teach at Princeton
and then returned to Harvard to receive his final degree in philosophy.
Around 1913, Friend was appointed by Professor James Hyslop of Columbia
University in New York City as his assistant and future successor to the
American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR). Friend's salary of
$2000 a year was appropriated from a donation made to the organization by
one of its founders and directors, Theodate
Pope.
Theodate appropriated Friend and his wife Marjorie for herself, housing
them on Theodate's Hill-Stead estate in Farmington, Connecticut. With
further assistance from Theodate, Friend became editor of the Journal
of the ASPR. Hyslop sent Friend articles that were to be published,
but instead, Friend opted to write articles about séances held
in Farmington where Marjorie produced automatic writing while communicating
with deceased members of the ASPR. Enraged that his assistant was
no longer under his control, Hyslop repossessed the editorship of the Journal
of the ASPR. Both Edwin Friend and Theodate Pope resigned from
the board of directors in protest.
Edwin and Theodate would form their own psychical organization, and
hoping to receive the backing of the English Society for Psychical Research,
the two booked passage for the 1 May 1915 sailing of the Lusitania.
Marjorie, 23 and pregnant at the time, would stay in the States.
While in England, Theodate and Edwin were to be guests of England's
leading spiritualist, Sir Oliver Lodge. Their tablemates during meals
for this crossing would be Dr. James Houghton
and Marie Depage, more concerned about finding
decent medical help along the Western Front than in matters of psychic phenomena.
Edwin's cabin onboard was E-47, which cost $149.50.
Edwin and Theodate were also guests at George
Kessler's party on Thursday, 6 May. At lunch the next day, they
were sitting down to ice cream when a table companion joked that "he would
hate to have a torpedo get him before he ate it." Their conversation
then turned to how slowly the ship was running, almost as "though the
engines had stopped." They then left the dining room as the orchestra
was playing "The Blue Danube," exchanging greetings with Oliver Bernard, and went out onto the B Deck
promenade. They agreed that the sea was a "marvelous blue" and very
dazzling in the sunlight." As they rounded the aft corner of the
promenade, they heard an explosion. Water and timbers "flew" past
the deck, and Friend struck his fist with his hand and remarked, "By Jove,
they've got us!"
The two ran inside, missing a shower of soot, only to be thrown against
the wall of a corridor as the ship listed ominously to starboard. Recovering
their balance, they headed toward the Boat Deck portside, where they and
other friends had agreed to meet in the case of an emergency. The
deck was crowded. Theodate and Edwin passed two crying women and heard
an officer shout orders to stop lowering the boats and for passengers to
go to B Deck level where the lifeboats would be hanging. He was ignored.
For a moment, before going down to B Deck, they saw a lifeboat being
filled and lowered as the ship was still plowing ahead. The lifeboat
up-ended, spilling its load into the water (possibly lifeboat #12). Sickened,
the pair passed Lady Margaret Mackworth
and Dorothy Conner and went down to
B Deck, starboard. There, they watched another boat getting away
safely, but as the ship was listing so far over and sinking so quickly,
the Lusitania threatened to roll on top of the starboard lifeboats
and anything or anyone on that side of the ship. Theodate said to
Edwin, "It's not a good place to jump from."
Side by side and arms around each other's waists, the two made for
the companionway leading back to the Boat Deck. They passed Marie
de Page, Dr. Houghton, and Matt Freeman along the way. Up top, they
saw a boat being filled rapidly and Friend told Theodate, "You better get
in."
Theodate refused to get in without Edwin and he in turn would not get
into one as long as there were women still on the ship. They made
for the stern as water came over the forecastle and Theodate's maid, Emily
Robinson, appeared before them.
"Lifebelts!" Edwin suddenly exclaimed.
Ducking into the nearest room, they found themselves three lifejackets.
Edwin tied them onto the women. The ship was going so rapidly
that they could see the funnels move and the bare steel of where the waterline
began. They had to jump.
"You go first." Theodate urged Friend.
Edwin Friend grabbed a rope from a davit of a departed lifeboat and
jumped. Theodate and Emily waited for Edwin to come back up before
they jumped. Seconds later, Friend resurfaced, smiling and encouraging
the two women to join him.
Theodate lost track of Edwin after she jumped. She survived,
but Edwin and Emily did not. Neither body was recovered.
Theodate held several séances the following year where the spirits
of Edwin Friend and Elbert Hubbard made
appearances. Edwin was reportedly "flushed" and thundering about
the "dastardly deed" that ended his life.
Edwin's daughter Faith was born on 22 September 1915, and in the words
of Marjorie Friend, "will always remain defective." Marjorie believed
that the grief over losing Edwin was the cause of Faith's disability.
Marjorie enrolled Faith in the Massachusetts School For the Feeble
Minded at a rate of $364 a year up through 1924. Marjorie's financial
condition was such that she was said to have needed to have been supported
by friends.
In 1920 Marjorie remarried, this time to Eastman A. Weaver She
was granted $10 000 for her loss in 1924 and made the custodian of a
$10 000 payment for Faith. Marjorie is believed to have died in
1981.
Contributors:
Jim Kalafus
References:
Hickey, Des and Gus Smith. Seven
Days to Disaster. G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1981.
Hoehling, A. A. and Mary Hoehling. The Last Voyage
of the Lusitania. Madison Books, 1956.
Preston, Diana. Lusitania: An Epic
Tragedy. Berkeley Books, 2002.
Smith, Sharon Dunlap. Theodate Pope Riddle: Her
Life and Architecture. Online. <http://www.valinet.com/~smithash/theodate/>
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