The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-07-24

Ny husband disappeared among them.
l held Harry with my right arm and
| Helen with my left. L seemed to lose
all strength in my left arm and l had
| to let go of Helen. She went down
in the struggling mass. Then some
! one-a man with a uniform on grab
! bed me and began swimming with me.
L chung to my son and when swept
near the river bank some men pulled
me up. Helen and her father must
have gone down."
No Chance to Escape.
Apparently scores of women and
children in he cabin were drowned
without being given a chance to es-
were able to climb on the side of the
boat which is above water and were
later taken off by rescuers.
Scores Saved by Life Preservers.
Life preservers were cast into the
river from the steamship. Theodore
Roosevelt which was locked across
the river, and scores of the Eastland's
passengers chung to them until picked
up by boats.
City fire boats. police launches and
lifeboats from nearby steamers in the
river rushed to the rescue.
A hole was cut through the side of
the lower deck by life savers and the
bodies of six victims, five OF whom
We're women, were soon taken out.
L. d. Gadory employed as a candy
butcher on the steamer, was the first
eyewitness to tell a detailed story of
the accident.
Crowded With Passengers.
ut was about 7:40 o'clock this
morning and the boat was lying
at the dock near the Clark street
bridge, loading with passengers" said
Gadory. I'VE were to leave in twenty
minutes and the upper deck and cab
ms were crowded with passengers.
There were hundreds of women and
children. L estimate that there were
between two and three thousand on
the boat at the time of the accident.
l was standing on the lower deck near
the gangplank, watching the people
come aboard. Suddenly I noticed the
boat list toward the center of the river.
1t rolled slightly at first and then
seemed to stop, then it started to roll
again. [ became alarmed and shouted
to the crowd to keep still.
Hawsers Snapped Suddenly.
apparently a majority of the pas
sengers were on one side of the boat
and this had overweighted it and
caused it to list. Suddenly the haw-
sers which held the boat to the dock
gangplank in and refused to allow any
more on the boat.
Il did not see my wife or children
after the boat turned. They were
carried into the river with the crowd
Some one grabbed me around the
woman, but L could not save her"
Women and Children to Death.
Policeman Henry II. Sesher, one of
the first to go to the rescue, gave
vivid description of the accident.
II saw scores of men and women women
plunge into the water. 1 jumped into
a rOwboat and pulled out to the
drowning. L think l got about fifty
ashore. The fire boat and tugs hur-
r-ia fn he ial- cd 1nI-fa
than a hundred persons.
AT this time everybody was panic
stricken. Women screamed and men
tried to quiet them. L attempted to
because the crowd and excitement,
and l ran back to the port, where the
gangway had been. The boat then
slowly drifted away from the deck,
rolling as it slipped into midstream,
and n moment later it had turned over
on its side. l climbed over on the side
of the boat and stayed there until l
was taken off by life savers. Many of
the passengers leaped into the water
as the boat went over. Scores of 9TH
ers were caught
Women Cut and Bruised.
Women were cut and bruised, hys-
terical or half insensible. Some bore
red marks or bloodstains. Their
clothing, torn and wet, chung to their
bodies. Others were screaming.
''StilI others calmly held to the up
per railing or stood on the upper side
of the steamer.
Five Hundred on One Side.
John Morey. a Western Electric
company employee, was one of the
rescued.
Il was on the upper deck" said
Morey, when the boat began 20 list.
L caught hold of the rail and held on
as the boat went over on its side.
"A loose chair swung around and
struck on the forehead. Some
thing else hit mel don't know what
it was-but L managed to keep my
hold on the rail until L was helped
to land There were more than five
hundred on my side of the boat at
the time and many of them must have
been drowned
Boats Turn Over.
George Haber, an employee of
South Water street commission firm
was a witness of the accident.
Il was standing on a dock less than
100 feet away when the boat began to
turn over" said Haber. Some of the
men on the boat were loosenlng some
of the ropes. 1 noticed one heavy
cable still fast to the stern; then the
boat began turning.
1T was seven or eight minutes in
turning over on its side
The big steamer lying overturned
was a strange sight On it's curved
side stood hundreds of passengers who
had climbed over the ratings and
stood awaiting rescue. In the depths
below and in the inner compartments
of the steamship they said there were
scores, maybe hundreds, whose fate
was unknown.
City Plunged in Gloom.
Scenes similar to those that followed
the Iroquois theater disaster cast
gloom over the city. Along South
Water street. Chicago's great produce
center. commission firms practically
Inns M
the doors of their establishments as
temporary morgues and hospitals.
All the big downtown department
stores hurried truck loads of blankets