Milam County Historical Commission
Milam County, Texas
Milam County, Texas
Rockdale’s ‘Titanic’ Souvenir
Hotel owner took photo of iceberg
by Mike Brown
Rockdale Reporter - June 7, 2012
Of all the historical documents which have passed through Rockdale and been lost to
history, there’s one that stands out.
One hundred years ago a Rockdale father sent his son a photo, taken with his own hands,
of the most famous iceberg of all time.
In the late morning of April 15, 1912, Anton Wolf, stood on the freezing, icy deck of
the German steamship Frankfurt and snapped a photo of the iceberg which sent the
Titanic, and 1,517 passengers and crew, to a watery grave.
Wolf and wife Elizabeth were on the way back to their native Austria for a visit after
a long and, apparently quite happy, life running a hotel in Rockdale.
They steamed into history. After getting the photo developed and printed, the Wolfs
sent it to son Edmund back in Rockdale.
LETTER
How do we know this? On May 16, 1912, Reporter Publisher John Esten Cooke wrote:
“Edmund Wolf is in receipt of a Kodak picture, made by his father, A. Wolf, from the
steamship Frankfurt, and shows the iceberg which wrecked the Titanic on the 14th of
April.
“Mr. and Mrs. Wolf were passegers on the Frankfurt, which was the first ship to catch
the Titanic’s wireless call for help but, on account of the distance, arrived too late
for service.
“The photo is clear and gives a splendid picture of the berg. “Mr. and Mrs. Wolf have
written several letters home since their arrival in the old country and report a most
enjoyable trip in every respect.” (Sort of “aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you
enjoy the play?” one would imagine.)
‘CQD’
Capt. Hermann Hattorff of the Frankfurt said he received the first wireless message
from Titanic at 12:10 a.m. April 15, asking that he reply with Frankfurt’s position,
which he did.
Titanic Capt. Edward Smith replied that his ship was “fast in the ice” and needed
assistance. The Frankfurt changed course and headed for the site of what would become
one of the world’s most famous disasters, but it was more than 140 nautical miles away
and Hattorff told Smith he couldn’t arrive until around 11.
At 12:14 a.m. Hattorff received the universal morse code signal CQD-A French acronym
meaning “all stations, distress!” - from Titanic.
At 1:03 a.m., the Titanic wireless told Frankfurt her passengers were being put into
lifeboats.
But at 1:15 a.m. Titanic’s communications with Frankfurt ceased. Hattorff later told
the committee of inquiry that’s when he believed Titanic sank.
HORROR, PHOTO
Frankfurt steamed at its top speed to the scene but didn’t arrive for nine more hours.
By that time it was all over. Titanic had been on the bottom of the North Atlantic for
hours. Several ships, which had been closer to the disaster scene, were already there,
including the British liner Carpathia, which picked up the survivors.
Frankfurt, Carpathia, the Russian steamer Birma, and the American liner Virginia
cruised among a field of icebergs looking for survivors but there were no more.
Capt. Hattorff told the inquiry his ship passed three huge icebergs and 22 smaller
ones, in an ice field 30 miles long and 10 miles wide.
He said the largest was 120 feet high and 900 feet long.
Hattorff pointed out one particular berg to his passengers, obviously including Anton
Wolf, who were gathered on deck watching the sad spectacle.
“It had a darkly colored patch and was badly splintered,” the captain said. “I believe
that’s the one which sank the Titanic.”
That’s the one in Anton’s photo.
FOUNDER
The Wolfs were prominent Rockdale residents in the late 1800s-early 1900’s. Anton Wolf
was from Vienna and Elizabeth “Lizzie” Jatel from Brauowitz, Austria.
Anton’s first wife - Edmund’s mother - had died and Anton and Lizzie were married in
1875. On Jan 8, 1880, they stepped off the train in the six-year-old town of Rockdale.
They were soon busy with two projects, the Hotel Wolf andthe formation of Rockdale’s
St. Joseph’s Catholic Church. The hotel was Rockdale’s finest. A number of photographs
remain of the structure, which was on the site of today’s Wolf Park. It had a
restaurant and saloon and did a bustling business in the frontier town.
Anton Wolf and Leo Strelsky were responsible for bringing priests from St. Edward’s
University, Austin, to Rockdale to hold masses for a growing Catholic population.
In 1880, a small wooden church was built and dedicated to St. Joseph the Worker.
When the long-time St. Joseph’s Church—still standing after being moved to the corner
of Belton and Crockett in 1967—was built, also in 1912, Edmund Wolf was one of the
contractors and Anton was on the building committee.
LOVE STORY
Anton and Edmund operated the hotel until Anton retired in 1912. That’s when the Wolfs
decided to revisit the “old country” one last time before settling down at their home
on Cameron Avenue next to City Hall.
Fate directed them to the Frankfurt. Their departure was duly reported in The
Reporter’s society column.
They returned after the month-long trip and lived the rest of their lives at that home.
Anton died in 1924, Lizzie in 1935. A friend recalled the Wolfs “spent their later
years in reading and meditation”. adding “they could not stand to be separated from
each other for any length of time.”
They are buried - side by side, of course - in Rockdale’s old city cemetery, their
graves adorned by two iron crosses, rusted and reddened by time.
What a story they must have had to tell their grandchildren!
All credit for this article goes to
The Rockdale Reporter
and
Mike Brown, Editor
The Rockdale Reporter
and
Mike Brown, Editor
Anton (R) and Elizabeth
Wolf are buried in
Rockdale’s Old City
Cemetery.
He died in 1924, she in
1935.
Their gravesites are
marked with a pair of
striking iron crucifixes.
It’s believed this is
Anton (yard) and Elizabeth
Wolf (porch) at their
longtime home on East
Cameron Avenue. Today the
building at right houses,
appropriately, Antique
Queens.
This, of course, is
only an artist’s
conception of what
happened the night of
April 14-15, 1912, in
the North Atlantic.
But Rockdale resident
Anton Wolf snapped an
actual photo of the
iceberg which sank the
famous liner.
Wolf was on the
steamship Frankfurt.
The Hotel Wolf was once
Rockdale’s finest.
It boasted ‘we meet all
trains’ and kept horses
and a buggy for that
purpose.
It was managed by Anton
Wolf and later his son,
Edmund.
For many years the
bottom floor was the
American Legion
Building.
Today, Wolf Park is on
the site.
.