One day before John went to work in mid February, he overheard the farm owners neighbors talking about some big phenomenon. Little did he know they were talking about the Titanic, he didn't know much about it just that it was all the gossip these days and how it is really big. He wasn't interested in how much a ship weighed, how much it cost to build, or even why so many people were talking about it. He just guessed this new hot topic would fade away like things usually do in 1912.
He was very wrong indeed. A few months later in March he came across a dramatically dressed man, in a plaid suit and an umbrella, who was practically bragging about how much money he had and how he was the richest man in the world. John didn't believe him, what would the 'richest man in the world' be doing in Winchester in the United Kingdom. It didn't make sense to him and puzzled him on his whole walk down the street. John didn't know it then but he was about to find out that the man he had just seen in the plaid suit was indeed John Jacob Astor IV, the richest man in 1912. He had just dropped some money, as he had been bragging. John definitely did not think this through as you'll see later when he picked up this money from the sidewalk. John was a humble man, but recently he had been hungry, not just for food, for clothes, a bath, even a decent haircut.
When he picked up the money he quietly put it in his pocket. He didn't know why because the street wasn't as busy as usual and no one ever seemed to notice a dirty lanky farm boy. He made his way to the end of the street and turned to enter an alleyway to make his way to the railroad station to find next week's work. He looked back at the almost deserted street, sighed, and as he was about to try and make it to the station before the last train left in the night, he saw two very broad men walking carefully towards him. This did not intimidate John, he had been used to fights at school, and had been used to trying to stay invisible. This tactic did not work as it should have. The men should have not noticed him sneak behind a wall to make his way around this situation, but they did. They walked right up to him, one grabbed John's shirt collar while the other one watched and said,
"I think you've got something of ours" The man holding John's collar breathtakingly hard said. He smirked as a look of fear passed over John's face. John had a hunch what they were talking about but he hoped he was wrong.
"What do you mean sir?" John said trying to sound convincing and confident that he did nothing wrong a few minutes ago.
"I think you know what we mean you filthy git."
John gulped. Which was relatively hard considering the man's death grip. He had to get out of this, he had to run, he had to get these men off his tail. If the man he had just stolen cash from was really important then he was in deep trouble. These men had probably seen him put the cash away in his pocket, bit how? It was so dark in the street and much more in the alley they saw him slip into.
"What do you want from me?" John finally concluded he shouldn't lie about facts. They had seen him, the only question now was what were they going to do with that information.
"We want," Said the man watching, looking at him. "You to get what you deserve for being a no good thief."
"I-I'm not I swear," John was getting worried now. "I only saw it and took it because I need food, I need new clothes, I-I need something to keep me going." The men nodded to each other and with a final smirk, punched John square in the jaw. John fell to the ground, finally gasping for air before he went out cold.
Luckily when he woke up, he wasn't in some prison about to get electrocuted in a chair. He was about a block from where the man punched him, as far as he could tell he was in a pretty good condition after getting beat up and threatened. He slowly got up and made sure everything was working properly, he could feel blood dripping from his jawline. That didn't matter to him as long as he was out of this town quickly. He remembered a few months ago how people were talking about this ginormous ship that could carry about 2,000 people.
John decides after 10 minutes of thoughtful thinking that he should board the titanic to try and escape his threats. As the days got colder, John's worrisome thoughts didn't help. He had been threatened, beat up, and punched before, he had even stolen a couple cents before, why was this time so much more concerning? Why does he feel so uneasy?
He was thunderstruck about 10 days later about why he didn't think of this before. He didn't have a ticket, he couldn't board the ship, he didn't see how he could've missed it. He guessed he had to sneak onto this ship at night where no one would be looking. He found a stray map oddly enough on the ship itself, advertising how so many rich people, and first class men were recommending boarding. He eyed the map and figured out the best route to enter the ship through would have to be in the laundry entrance. No one would be expected to guard it, and no one would suspect someone going in it. It seemed to fit perfectly, he would wait until next dawn to make his move and board the most famous ship in history.
John made it to Southamton by foot in the earliest hours of the morning the next day. He read that was where people boarded to get onto the ship. He snuck behind barrels and food carts, trying to gain headway where the laundry entrance or exit was. Once he found it to be on the far end of the ship he ran towards it. He then miraculously found a ladder and squished himself into the hole where the laundry came out and caught his breath feeling like a weight had been lighted off his shoulders. He made it. He was on the Titanic, and no one knew. For the next hour he waited to make sure no one would be coming in, then he stole some baggy clothes in one of the binns he was by to hide his body shape. He thought he should change to blend in. No one wants an underweight skinny boy anywhere near a picture perfect ship.