New Britain herald., 1915-07-24

1 friends, many of who made attempts
 to force their way through to the l police lines.
 Captains Story of Accident. Captain Harry Pedersen, of Benton
 Harbor, Michigan, who was com- mander of the boat, says: VI was on the bridge and was about l reaoy to pull out when I noticed the
 poal hal begin to list. shouted orders to l open the gangways nearest the dock anu give the people a chance to get out. The boat continued to roll, and siiortiy afterward the hawsers broke ana the steamer turned over on it's sue. It all happened in two minutes cause is a mystery to me- Chief Stewards Story. onlef Steward Albert Wyckoff said: was in the lunch room on the nan deck when noticed the boat be- sninlng to list. scene of wild ex- sssaIgnaeesnt Inent followed. I shouted for the peop1e 'to Save themselves. A moment .a'er Jumped into the water and sed to rescue three women.
 Lysle Goyatte, 1853 South Ayers avenue, Chicago, said: My wife and had just entered the boat and were n the crowd on the main deck near tne gangway Then heard someone ssnout:5 get back and we were pushed over to one side. moment later the boat started to list. We were all panic stricken and could do nothing. q lifted my wife in my arms and Iad N,,k upper side of the boat as it slowly went over''
 Officers to Blame. Y
 Mrs. O'Donnell of Berwyn, TIL, said:
 The steamer was getting ready to leave with excursionists. The officers or the boat pushed crowds back, which Were around the plank, in order to pull it in. I think this is what caus- ga the boat to list to one side. T saw dozens of people drown By a great effort I was able to climb on the upper side of the boat and man. aged to. hold on until taken off by res- cuers,
 Accident Mysterious.
 w. K. Greenbaum, manager of the Indiana Transportation Company, who was in charge of the excursion said
 We had chartered five steamers Tor the excursion of the Western EIec tric Company's employees to Michigan Clty, Ind, today We had five steamers Eastland. Peteosky, Thep- dore Roosevelt, Racine and Maywood.
 The Eastland was the first boat to load and the docks :, were crowded with passengers, who were to be takenson the other boats nearby One Unlted States team boat inspector and Two assistants watched the Eastland load. They stood at the gangplank and counted the passengers as they went aboard.
 Their report shows there were 1,oOO passengers on the Eastland. it's Iult Iuult capacity, under the United States steamboat regulations. I have no idea how the accident occurred"
 Says 1000 Dead. \ First Deputy Supt. of Police Scbeut- tier said:
 Two hundred and fifty bodies have been recovered and I believe that one thousand in all perished. I be- Heve the other bodies will be recov- cred when the inner compartments or the boat are reachd. We are re- coVr1ng bodies rapidly and the list of dead is growing fast
 My estimate of one thousand dead IS based on information I got iron, !, purser on the boat who had a narrow escape"
 Candy Butchers Story.
 L. D. Gadory, employed as a ca,. dy butcher on the steamer was tho first eyewitness to tell a detailed story of the accident.
 It was about TAO o'clock tb;s morning and the boat was lying a, the dock near Clark street brid ge oadlng passengers" said Gadory. We were to leave in twenty minutes and the upper deck and cabins were crowded with passengers. There were hundreds of women and children. ! ssumate that there was between two | and three thousand on the boat at the l lme of the accident. I was standing | Dn tne lower deck near the gang plank, watching the people come apoard. Suddenly I noticed the ooat Hst toward the center of the riv- z. CT It rolled slightly at first and men seemed to stop. Then it started .o roll again. I became alarmed and | shouted to the crowd to keep still Ap- parently majority of the passengers were on one side of the boat and this nad naad overweighed and it caused it to lst. Suddenly the hawsers winch held the boat to the dock snapped and the officers pulled the gank plank in and refused to allow any more on the boat.
 Everybody Panic Stricken.
 At this time everybody was nanic stricken. attempted to reach an up- per deck but could not because of he crowd and excitment and ran ba .Jx to the port side Where the earruau