Continued from page 3.
 

Once survivors were released to al-Ittihad's delegation, they were either taken to hotels on Washington Street or to Syrian residences to wait to settle official claims for losses. (45) Survivors were advised to give their information to the General Relief Committee as monetary relief was being provided for claims. Those who had not were advised to return to the hospital and do so. (46)

A group of lawyers from the community met with al-Huda to discuss the possibility of claims against the company or individuals once the American Inquiry in Washington, DC was completed. (47) al-Huda remained behind the process, consulting with six lawyers as to whether the Syrian passengers had the right to file a claim against the White Star Line.

Haddari signed for the release of the survivors from hospitals with a promise that al- Ittihad would care for and transport them safely to their destinations. On April 27th, Mir'at al-Gharb reported the release of some of the survivors and their eventual destinations.

Al-Ittihad gave each adult survivor $5.00 and each child $2.50 to tide them over until claims were settled. The committee wrote letters for the survivors to their families in the U.S., Canada and Syria. (48) The address of each survivor's destination was documented so that they could be contacted once monetary settlement by the survivors' fund was reached. Similarly, al-Muntada wired messages to family and relatives of the Syrian survivors, informing them of their location in the city. Many responded by arriving in New York to meet their surviving relatives in the hospitals to which they had been taken.

Such was the delegation from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania that arrived to corroborate names of those who perished and those who survived from their village of Hardin, one of the villages with the largest loss. (49) The delegation included: Jirjis Bashur, Mikha'il Anton Faris, Salam Tannus Makhkhul, Iskandar Tannus, Ishaq Hanna Dib, Isbir Jirjis Mubarik, Antonyus Jirjis Mubarik, Kan an Jirjis Mubarik, Hanna Dahdah Hanna, Hanna Musa Yazbak, Yusif Musa Yazbak, Antonyus Jirjis, Ilyas Abu Ramah and Yusif Faris who was from Ibrin.

Furthermore, al-Muntada contacted Mayor Gaynor of New York with information regarding the Syrian passengers so that their correct names could be included with those of the other passengers. Al-Muntada also purchased personal items for the survivors. (50) Although community members offered their homes fox temporary lodging, Mr. Habib Asi, a member of al-Muntada, took 15 survivors to his Syrian hotel on Washington Street. Mr. Jirji al-Shawa, owner of Shawi's Restaurant on Washington Street. received the others.

Jam iyat al-Sayyidat al-Suriyyat al-Khayriyyah (51) was also involved and recognized for its assistance. Six of its members took it upon themselves to visit and meet with the survivors and tend to their needs. Miss Anastasiyah Khuri, for example, was commended for accompanying the American Ladies Agencies and helping the Syrian survivors. (52)

As contemporary sources, the Arabic newspapers published in New York, became archival treasures for information on the impact of the sinking and the response of the Syrian community. The print media became the voice of the community that sought to assist in relief efforts. Together, the Arabic print media, organizations and members of the Syrian community coordinated their efforts to assist both survivors and families of the victims.

The Syrian survivors found comfort knowing that there were people in this new country ready to help. It was a time of communal solidarity, a demonstration of cohesiveness within and assimilation with those outside the community. Suffering was universal, all peoples had been affected and the Syrian community was part of the humanitarian call for assistance and relief for all passengers.

ENDNOTES

(1.) April 17, 1912.

(2.) On April 17th and 18th al-Huda included certain names that, after research, could not be matched to the names of later passengers that this author was able to confirm--Nakid Nahra,, Mariyam (Mary) Latif Abd allah Hasan, Hanna Wakim, Sabat al-Tannuri.

(3.) Names of the third class Syrian survivors, "blurred in transmission" and which appeared in the New York Tribune_on the 19th included misspellings of, for example, Bannurah Ayyub, which appeared as 'Aloun, Bednoura and then as 'Ajul, Bemora' on the 20th; Fatimah Muslamani as 'Musulman, Mina; Maryam Yusif as 'Yusef, Madera'; and on the 20th the name 'Yaslick, Salamy' for Silanah Yazbak. In fact, Adal Nasr Allah's name in the Tribune appeared as second-class survivor 'Delia Nassar' on the 19th. In the New York Herald, the name Naserael, Mrs. Adelia was given as a survivor "now on board the Carpathia" and then corrected in parenthesis as Israel Nesson. Nesson was, in fact a second class passenger from Russia who did not survive (April 19 and 21, 1912).

(4.) The New York Times, April 25, 1912.

(5.) April 17, 1912.

(6.) This was actually third class passenger Franz Karun who boarded at Cherbourg.

(7.) April 17, 1912.

(8.) Al-Huda, April 24, 1912.

(9.) Al-Dalil, April 20, 1912.

(10.) List of names in both newspapers appeared on April 17, 1912.

(11.) On April 27th, Al-Huda published a letter from Hanna Yusif Dib, resident of New Castle, Pennsylvania informing readers that Shacninah, wife of Jirjis Yusif of Fighal and survivor of the Titanic arrived in New Castle and related that the four men with whom she had traveled had drowned and that the newspapers had not published their names. The passengers' names were given as Hanna Tannus Mucawwad and his son Tannus, Tannus Dahir and Jirjis Yusif Abu Sach, all of Tuham.

(12.) On May 1, 1912, queries were published in Mir'at_al-Gharb requesting information from Mariyam 'Assaf regarding Titanic passenger Ascad Khalil and his village of origin and the other from Habib Ascad in Gowganda, Ontario asking if Nasif Makhkhul Sacd and Karam Yusif Karam of Kafar Mishki were passengers.

'Assaf confirmed the names of those from Kafar Mishki with whom she had traveled: Ilyas Yusif Shahin, Mansur Hanna al-Haj, cAssaf Jirjis Tucmah, Karam Yusif Karam and his newlywed wife who was also the daughter of Ilyas Yusif [Mariya Ilyas], Ascad Hanna Rizq, Katarin Barbarah wife of Isbir Dawud, Sacadah daughter of Khalil al-Basha, Ilyas Tannus Ibrahim, and Sulayman Tannus Ibrahim.

(13.) Al-Huda May 15, 1912. Malakah 'Atta Allah and her brother-in-law Yusif Ibrahim (al-Shaccer).

(14.) Al-Huda May 7, 1912.

(15.) The same issue also reported the confusion of Niqula Nasr Allah's name with that of John Jacob Astor's as upon recovery of the body, the name wired in was that of 'Niqula Rashir' (Nicholas E. Rasher) confusing it with that of Astor's. The New York Times reported that recovery of this body caused much speculation over Col. Astor's name as the dispatch of the name Nicholas Rasher was examined by the wireless and telegraph men who concluded that it might stand for Colonel John Jacob Astor (April 23, 1912). After details developed, however, the name corresponded, instead, to that of Nasr Allah's. Readers were also informed that his deeply grieving wile was staying with her relatives in Brooklyn.

(16.) Dahir Abu Shadid was identified as "Nakhlah Shadid or Dahir Shadid' and in the New York Times as Nihil Schedid (April 23 and 24, 1912).

(17.) May 2, 1912.

(18.) "The martyr." al-Sa'I,h May 9, 1912, p. 3.

(19.) Mir'at al-Gharb May 22, 1912.

(20.) Karam Yusif Karam and his wife, Mariyah Ilya.s

(21.) Al-Huda, April 20, 1912.

(22.) Al-Huda, April 26, 1912. al-Sa'ih, April 23, 1912, also includes the name of al-Shaykh Nucum Hatim.

(23.) April 27, 1912.

(24.) April 23, 1912.

(25.) Al-Dalil, April 27, 1912.

(26.) April 19, 1912.

(27.) April 23, 1912.

(28.) April 23, 1912.

(29.) The Syrian-American Club

(30.) Al-Dalil, April 20, 1912.

(31.) The Lebanon League of Progress

(32.) Al-Dalil, April 20, 1912.

(33.) Al-Huda, April 26, 1912.

(34.) April 20, 1912.

(35.) Al-Huda, April 26, 1912.

(36.) Especially to the American Red Cross Society and to the quickly organized Relief Committee established by the women of New York to aid the steerage passengers. The New York Women's Relief Committee to Aid Titanic Sufferers, headed by Mrs. Nelson Herrick Henry had begun to raise money, collect clothing and organize lodging arrangements in its appointment as guardian of the immigrants New York Herald, April 19, 1912.

(37.) Gaynor's letter was dated April 23, 1912: