Men who missed the Titanic

The Smithsonian Magazine listed a group of men who survived the Titanic by not being aboard the ship when it made its maiden voyage. It is interesting to note who they are and why they did not take the voyage when it was offered. A few had already paid for their rooms or had made deposits, and two were offered free trips but declined them. I am wondering why it is that these chosen few decided not to take the trip. Since there were many predictions of disaster, one cannot help but wonder if they had been influenced by those fears. Did that save some of them? One, Theodore Dreiser, American author and poet, journalist, was urged by his English publisher to take a lesser expensive ship which he in fact did. Milton Hershey had made a 10% percent deposit on a stateroom but apparently canceled his plans at the last minute. He is famous for chocolate and the town of Hershey in Pennsylvania which is named for him. J. Piermont Morgan, banking captain, who had single handedly saved the banking industry five years earlier in 1907, had had a specially built stateroom built for his travels, which included specially made cigar holders. He opted to stay in Aix, France to take soothing sulfer baths and have massages rather than enjoy the luxury of exquisite dining, appointments, and grandeur aboard the famed Titanic. Why? Was he warned? Later, he is said that it is better to lose financially than to lose life? That dreadful death? A friend of his, Henry Clay Frick, stayed in Italy, because his wife suffered a sprained ankle and needed medical care. A millionaire sportsman who had taken a tour of Europe, Alfred Vanderbilt, canceled his planned journey also, but managed to take the illfated Lusitania three years later where he met his destiny with death. John R. Mott, famed evangelical offical of the Y.M.C.A. had been offered a free room for himself and his friend and companion but declined it to take the Lapland, a more humble vessel. Why did these men survive? Fate? Intuition? Fear? or just dumb luck? Chance? Men who were vital to the interests of the nation...men who had accomplished great success for the well being of our society. These men are deserving of our attention. Their lives were spared so that they could continue in their own personal affairs, business, and creations. I wonder at how they celebrated each and every anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Did they recall the reason that they were not amongst the casualty lists?