Editing Benjamin Guggenheim (section)

==''Titanic''==
[[File:19120420 Guggenheim, Dying, Sent Wife Message - The New York Times.png|thumb|right|upright| This article in ''The New York Times'' relates a description from an assistant steward of Guggenheim's last hours, including helping other passengers to board lifeboats, donning formal wear instead of a life preserver, and saying that he and his secretary were "prepared to go down like gentlemen".<ref name=NYTimes_219120420>{{cite news |title=Guggenheim, Dying, Sent Wife Message |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/new-york-times-apr-20-1912-p-9/ |work=The New York Times |date=April 20, 1912 |page=9}}</ref>]]
Guggenheim boarded the {{RMS|Titanic}} and was accompanied by his mistress, a French singer named [[Léontine Pauline Aubart|Léontine Aubart]] (1887–1964); his secretary, Victor Giglio (1888–1912); his chauffeur, René Pernot (1872–1912); and Madame Aubart's maid, Emma Sägesser (1887–1964). His ticket was number 17593 and cost £79 4s (other sources give the price as £56 18s 7d). He and Giglio occupied stateroom cabin B84 while Aubart and Sägesser occupied cabin B35. Pernot occupied an unknown cabin in second class.<ref name=message/>

Guggenheim and Giglio slept through the ''Titanic''{{'s}} collision with the iceberg only to be awakened just after midnight ship's time by Aubart and Sägesser, who had felt the collision. Sägesser later quoted Giglio as saying, "Never mind, icebergs! What is an iceberg?"{{Citation needed|date=April 2015}} Bedroom steward Henry Etches stopped by Guggenheim's stateroom, B-84 and awoke Guggenheim and Giglio, telling them to get dressed. During the evacuation, Steward Etches returned to Guggenheim's stateroom; Guggenheim answered the door on the first knock, leading Etches to conclude that the magnate had only just retired and undressed for bed. Etches entered the room, pulled their three lifebelts out, and placed one on Guggenheim. "This will hurt", Guggenheim complained. Etches helped to pull heavy sweaters over them both. Giglio and Guggenheim stayed together as they left the cabin and went out on deck. Etches saw them on their way.{{sfn|Fitch|Layton|Wormstedt|2012|p=187}}<ref name=message>{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/guggenheim-dying-sent-wife-message.html|title=Guggenheim, Dying, Sent Wife Message |date=April 20, 1912 |access-date=April 17, 2012|quote=Efforts to find the body of Benjamin Guggenheim, who was the fifth of the seven Guggenheim brothers, as well as the bodies of other victims, will be made by the six surviving brothers.|newspaper=[[The New York Times]] }}</ref>
Etches later testified that Guggenheim and his valet went from lifeboat to lifeboat ensuring the women and children were safely aboard and that the two were of great assistance to the officers.<ref>{{cite web |title=GUGGENHEIM, DYING, SENT WIFE MESSAGE |url=https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/guggenheim-dying-sent-wife-message.html |website=Encyclopedia Titanica |date=September 10, 2004 |publisher=New York Times |access-date=17 March 2023}}</ref>

Guggenheim ultimately realised that the situation was much more serious than he had implied.<ref name=message/> ''Titanic'' survivor Rose Amelie Icard wrote in a letter, "The millionaire Benjamin Guggenheim after having helped the rescue of women and children, got dressed and put a rose at his buttonhole, to die."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/titanic-anniversary/10713889/Titanic-letter-reveals-new-first-hand-account-of-disaster.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140322111403/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/titanic-anniversary/10713889/Titanic-letter-reveals-new-first-hand-account-of-disaster.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 March 2014|title=Titanic letter reveals new first-hand account of disaster|publisher=The Daily Telegraph|author=Poppy Danby|date=21 March 2014|access-date=24 September 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/03/19/titanic-letters-reddit_n_4992956.html|title=Titanic Letters Translated by email Reddit, Reveal Harrowing New Perspective on the Tragedy|work=The Huffington Post|date=21 March 2014|access-date=24 September 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.reddit.com/r/French/comments/20qk9t/request_i_own_the_only_set_of_letters_written_by/|title=REQUEST. I own the only set of letters written by Rose Amélie Icard (longest French living ''Titanic'' survivor) describing a first hand account of what happened as the ''Titanic'' sank. It's written in French and I would love to have it translated so I could have them framed.|publisher=Reddit|author=md28usmc|date=21 March 2014|access-date=24 September 2016}}</ref> Sometime after arriving on deck, Etches saw Guggenheim and Giglio; they were dressed in their evening clothes and had taken off their sweaters and lifebelts. Guggenheim explained, "We've dressed up in our best and are prepared to go down like gentlemen."<ref name=message/> Etches, who survived the sinking, recorded Guggenheim's message to give to his wife: "If anything should happen to me, tell my wife in New York that I've done my best in doing my duty."<ref name=message/> Etches next watched Guggenheim and Giglio pass from Boats Nos. 7 and 5, "helping the women and children". Guggenheim shouted repeatedly, "Women first" and the two men were of "great assistance" to the officers. Another steward reportedly said Guggenheim sent another message to his wife, asking to tell her "that I played the game straight to the end and that no women was left on board this ship because Ben Guggenheim was a coward. Tell her that my last thoughts will be of her and our girls". The steward said Guggenheim "lit a cigar and sauntered up to the boat deck to help load the lifeboats."{{sfn|Fitch|Layton|Wormstedt|2012|p=194}} As Aubart and Sägesser reluctantly entered Lifeboat No. 9, Guggenheim reportedly was on the deck nearby and spoke in German, "We will soon see each other again! It's just a repair. Tomorrow the ''Titanic'' will go on again."{{sfn|Fitch|Layton|Wormstedt|2012|p=213}} Etches reported that "shortly after the last few boats were lowered and I was ordered by the deck officer to man an oar, I waved good-bye to Mr. Guggenheim, and that was the last I saw of him and [Giglio]."<ref name=message/> Guggenheim and Giglio, as well as Guggenheim's chauffeur Pernot, died in the sinking. Their bodies were never recovered.