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"Remember. If we get separated in the water we'll all meet at the Roosevelt Hotel."
Grace Morgan Holden
VICTIM OF THE S.S. MORRO CASTLE FIRE
Daughter of John Davis and Ellen Hoyt Morgan. Wife of Reuben A. Holden, Jr. Grace died from accidental drowning in the burning of the S.S. Moro Castle in the Atlantic Ocean, off of Point Pleasant, New Jersey.
For the Reuben Holden family, the situation aboard the Morro Castle must have been particularly appalling. They were not supposed to be aboard the ship.
The Holdens were originally booked aboard the older, considerably less deluxe Ward Liner Orizaba's August 29th sailing and, by the morning of September 8th, they should have been at their Michigan Avenue home in Cincinnati. The change of plans was so sudden that their names remained on the Orizaba's voyage manifest, with a notation "Failed to board" appended.
Mr. and Mrs. Holden traveled in the Morro Castle's best cabin, C-238 while their sons John Morgan, 12, and Reuben Andrus, 16, shared C-245.
The Holdens were awakened by the reflection of fire outside of their porthole. Mr. Holden roused his sons, and the family went aft together. Grace Holden remained calm, and when the smoke drove the family overboard she took the time to kiss each of her boys and tell them "Remember. If we get separated in the water we'll all meet at the Roosevelt Hotel."
The family was separated, and Mrs. Holden
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