Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-07-28

six indictments for responsibility
for the Eastland disaster of last
Saturday will be returned by the
state grand jury today, according
to. an announcement by State s
Attorney Hoyne. 1t will not be
decided until late in the day
whether to ask for indictments on
charges of commercial careless
ness or manslaughter.
There is plenty of evidence for
either charge" Mr.. Hoyne said.
The coroner's inquest, it is ex-
pected, will be completed late to-
day, and Immediately thereafter
the state grand jury plans to 60
into session.
Explaining the taking into custody
of w. K. Greenebaum, general manager
of the Indiana Transportation Com
! pany. which leased the Eastland last
Saturday, Mr.. Hoyne said:
Mr.. Greenebaum, in response to
questions at the inquest. admitted
that he knew nothing about the East
| land, but added that he knew or had
heard that she was not seaworthy.
| The wrecking boat Favorite, said to
be one of the largest and best equipped
of it's kind, began today the task OF
raising the half-submerged Eastland'
! and federal officials replaced the police
| in charge of the wreck. 1t will take
! ten days to raise the boat, according to
those in charge.
While this is going on forty divers will
search the river bottom for a radius or
| boat capsized. One more body was re-
covered early today.
Coroner's Inquest Resumed.
What happened in the engine room
of the Eastland in the seventeen min
| utes just before the steamer over
| turned last Saturday morning was told
at the coroner's inquest today.
| Frederick S. Snow. assistant engineer.
said that he and Chief Engineer J. NJ.
Erickson were busy trying to trim the
ship and restore it to an even keel by
pumping water into the starboard or
dock side water ballast tanks and at
the same time trying to empty two
tanks on the river side.
| Snow said he had been on the East
| land two days and had worked as en-
glneer on lake DOatS IOT ten years, Dut
never on boats having water ballast
| tanks similar to the Eastland
There were five water ballast tanks
on each side of the Eastland." said
| Snow. THAT morning, when the boat
was loaded we started to fill tanks tw o
| and three on the dock side and empty
| tanks two and three on the river side. -
why did you work only on tanks two
| and three. instead of on all?" asked AS
| sistant States Attorney Sullivan.
f1Cn IN nnyU
| The intake pipe would not fill all at
| once and tanks two and three were
supposed to respond more quickly tina n
| the Others
Ignorant of Conditions.
Were the ballast tanks full or empty
when you tied up at the dock that
morning"
| Il don't know. There was nothing in
| the engine room which would indi-
| cate whether the tanks were full Or
empty. 1t was customary to empty the
tanks when the ship docked, then we
knew how much water we had
| The witness said he did not know
| how long it would take to fill the bal
| last tanks and trim the ship. He said
| he did not think 1t necessary for the
| engineer of such a ship as the Eastland
| to know how long it would take to fill
| the ballast TANKS SnO" SalQ ne ola
| not know how much water the ballast
| tanks held.
"The vessel first listed to the dock
side and we let water into the tanks
| on the river side. Then when the load
| ing became heavier she listed to the
river side and we began to fill the dock
! side tanks and empty the port or river
side tanks
Snow said he left the vessel when the
| list became so great that water poured
| into the gangWay.
| Describing efforts to fill the starboard
| tanks, Snow said:
! 1--WE had pumped out the port tanks
and began to fill the starboard tanks
| when Mr.. Erickson said: I think it is
| catching" meaning that the intake was
| working. We had no idea that the
| tanks were not filing
Heard Eastland Was Cranky.
| Walter X. Greenebau um, manager OF
the Indiana Transportation Company
told yesterday Of chartering the East
land from the St Joseph Chicago
! Steamship Company for the Western
| Electric Company excursion. He said
his company was to have nothing to
do with the running of the ship, 1t SIM
ply agreeing to furnish the passengers
"Mr. Greenebaum. did you have any
| occasion to believe that the Eastland
| was a cranky boat?" ask ed the coroner
| Il heard that several years ago the
| Eastland listed in South Haven harbor
because its water ballast was not prop
erly adjusted" replied the witness
IF boat was loaded to capacity and
the crowd surged to one side would 1t
cause the vessel to list"' asked Coroner
| Hoffman.
YES" was the reply. I'VE have
guarded against that listing on our
boats by placing benches through the
center of the boat and distributing the
passengers SO az to minimize that
danger"
States Attorney Hoyne asked:
| do you think any boat that carries
| water for ballast and not simply for
i (CantinuAd IN Ninth pa "a