Spray courier. (Spray, Or.) 1???-19??, 1915-07-29
Piuikers Poured Into River
Few Feet From Shore.
MANY DEAD STILL REMAIN IN WATER
Local and Federal Authorities Busy
EndeavoriDg to Fix Blame for
Awful Steamer Disaster.

NhitnBV "A shNbo0hA RSAo1 AoDs
their lives in the Chicago River Sstur.
day by the capsizing Of the excursion
steamer Eastland, while warping from
It's wharf with more than 2400 en-
ployes of the Western Electric com
pany and their relatives and friends on
board, bound for a pleasure trip across
Lake Michigan.
After ceaseless work all day and far
into the night, the bodies Of 842 vic
Tins Of the catastrophe, most Of them
women and children, were collected
from the temporary morgues and taken
to the Second Regiment armory.
When these bodies had been tagged,
Coroner Hoffman, taking into consid-
Grafton estimates of bodies thought to
be In the hold Of the steamer lying on
its side in the river and in the stream
itself, said he had hopes that the total
dead would not exceed 1000.
The Eastland, said by marine archi-
tects to have been top-heavy and bal
lasted in an uncertain manner, turned
over inside Of five minutes after it
began to list, pouring its passengers
into the river or imprisoning them in
its submerged hull.
Every effort was made by thousands
of persons on the river wharf to rescue
the drowning men, women and chill
dren, but many drowned almost within
grasp of the river bank.
Mothers went to death while their
children were snatched to safety.
Other children died in the arms of
their parents, who were finally saved.
Hunrdeds of girls, freed for day
from their tasks of making telephones
and other electrical apparatus in the
factory of the Westeron Electric COM
pany, dressed in their smartest white
frocks, drowned miserably.
Chicago - Bodies of S09 persons
killed in the capsizing of the steamer
Eastland at its wharf in the Chicago
river had been recovered Sunday night
after 40 hours of searching by divers
around the steel hulk, still lying on its
side, half submerged, where it rolled
Saturday while laden with 240S excur-
sionists.
The total dead as a result of the
turning over of the ship still remains
at approximately 1000, according to
estimates made by Coroner Hoffman,
whose reports indicated that probably
200 bodies still were held in the mud
of the river by the superstructure of
the overturned boat.
Chicago who is to blame?"
Chicago faces task Of fixing the
for the Eastland ca
While divers are still cropping on the
river bed and in the hold of the East
land for bodies of victims, while the
morgues are filled with lamentations
of bsreaved and cemeteries are receiv-
ing harvest of death, all authorities
having jurisdiction will open their in
vestigations.
The Federal government, state,
county and city will search for causes
of the disaster. They will determine
who was guilty of negligence and take
steps for the punishment of those re-
sponsible.
"Who is to blame?" is the vital
question to which the combined au-
thorities will seek an answer.
The chief questions to be settled are:
Was the Eastland overcrowded? If
so, who is to blame?
= Was its water ballast out of adjust
ment? If so, who is to blame?
Was the carrying capacity of the
Eastland overrated by the inspectors
of the Federal government? If so,
who is to blame? Was the hull of the
vessel modelled on lines giving the
requisite stability? If not, who is to
blame for granting it permit?