So what's the big deal, they had parachutes!
Twenty years ago, while I was still current in DC-3s, a dentist bought one for a jump plane. I ran a GS for him and flew it a couple weekends. We flew to the DZ and no one would get on till we flew it around the pattern one time, even though we had just flown 40 miles to bring the plane over. They didn't like the way the engines loped at idle! I said the same thing then, they'd all bail (literally) if something happened.