It's reminiscent of the beautiful love story of Rose and Jack in the James Cameron movie "Titanic." It involved two lovers aboard the ill-fated Titanic, one of whom died when the British passenger liner sank, and a lost jewelry that was later found.
Real-Life Rose And Jack
The couple, however, did not meet aboard the ship. They were on a belated honeymoon in Europe and decided to board the ship so they could be home early. It was also neither a necklace with blue diamond pendant that was found on the ocean floor. It was a locket.
The public, however, can get a glimpse of the real love story that tragically ended after the Titanic sank on April 15, 1912.
The couple's story and the items they owned that were found on the seabed will be displayed for a limited time inside Luxor Hotel & Casino between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. daily in commemoration of the 105th anniversary of the sinking of the ship.
Among the items discovered inside the suitcase that belonged to Walter Miller Clark and Virginia Estelle McDowell Clark were a locket, gambling chips, and a cuff link.
The couple decided to book as first-class passengers on the maiden voyage of the Titanic so they can be with their son, who was then a toddler, on his birthday.
Virginia later recalled that her husband was in the saloon playing poker when she felt the iceberg hit the boat so she interrupted her husband and informed him that she felt something seems wrong. Walter decided to leave the game and eventually helped Virginia get into a lifeboat.
"The personal artifacts on display offer haunting, emotional connections to the forever-altered lives of those on board the Titanic," Luxor described the exhibit. "Visitors even have a chance to walk through authentically re-created first- and third-class rooms, with furnishings by original manufacturers."
Just like Rose and Jack, Virginia survived the tragedy and Walter did not. Premier Exhibitions, Inc. vice president of collections Alexandra Klingelhofer said that the boat was supposed to lower and get more passengers but it could not take passengers from the gangway door.
"There was quite a bit of room on the boat, so there would have been a spot for [Mr. Clark] if it had worked out differently," Klingelhofer said.
Tracing Owners Of Titanic Items
Klingelhofer explained how they were able to associate the locket to Mrs. Clark. When they research the artifact, she said, they try to come up with potential passengers who they can relate the item to. In the case of the Clark's item, they found the initials V.C. on the locket. Fortunately, the initial V.C. is not common among passengers of the Titanic.
The researchers linked the items to Virginia Clark, the wife of Walter Clark whose father worked with U.S. Sen. William Andrews Clark, William's uncle, to build a railroad from Salt Lake City, Utah to San Pedro and Los Angeles, California.
The couple met in Montana when they were young and later married.
