The Kendrick gazette. [volume] (Kendrick, Idaho) 1892-1968, 1915-07-30

600 women, children and few men
who were burned and crushed to
death in the Irquios theater New
Years eve several years ago.
Efforts to resuscitate those taken
from the river were unsuccessful,
except in two or three instances.
1t was also said that many of those
injured would die.
Many Identified
At 9 o'clock Saturday night 831
bodies had been removed to the Sec
ond Regiment armory. They were
laid in rows of IS, across the whole
length of the armory.
Revised figures show 176 bodies
have been identified. Of ia parti-
ally identified bodies. At were men,
48 women, 7 boys and IL girls.
Preceding the admission of the
hundreds who were seeking friends
and relatives, the bodies were
brought in and numbered and then
laid in the particular row that the
number called for.
Blankets were supplied by the ar
mory, and carefully wrapped, the
victims presented a very similar
appearance until the crowd was
admitted, when the blankets were
turned back from the faces of the
dead as the attempt of identifi cation
began.
Squads Of twenty-five were admit
ted at time. Shortly after the
opening of the great morgue to the
public. the first Identification took
place when an elderly woman, ac-
compained by young man, dropped
upon her knees. then fell upon what
proved to be the body of her daugh-
ter.
Street Nearly De-pepulatsd
Kolin avenue, small street near
the factory of the Western Electric
company, was in universal mourning
Saturday night. Every house lost
from one to all it's occupants in the
disaster. And many of the ill-fated
residents of this street lay in the
morgue, or beneath the steel hull
of the Eastland over which search
lights shot their binding glare while
hundreds of men searched for more
bodies.
Grand Jury Ordered
Federal Judge Lands ordered a
grand jury empaneled to investigate
the catastrophe; States Attorney
Hoyne prepared county grand jury
inquiry; Coroner Hoffman selected
a jury to look into the cause of the
deaths; the police arrested all the
officers of the Eastland, and the
health commissioners arranged tc
purify the river, for the fear dis.
ease might be spread by the presence
of so many bodies in the stream
Officer is Arrested
W. c. Steele. secretary and trea
surer OF st. Joseph Chicago Steam
ship company, which owned tn,
steamer Eastland, built on Lake
Erie in 1908 and remodeled later
because she was top heavy, it is said
was arrested and locked up at ;
police station. The steamer wa
leased by the Indiana Transportation
company, whose office said the,
were not responsible for the lincen
, sing of the ship and did not contro
the crew.
Inspectors Investigating
, Steamboat Inspector William
/ Nichols is investigating a repor
that water ballast was pumped fror
the hold of the Eastland as the pas
: sengers boarded it so that the vesse
would rise and that more passenger
| might be carried.
: Ship Faulty in Design
Marine architects asserted tina
the Eastland was faulty in design
. that the top deck had been remove
S because of the tendency of the shi
S to list and also pointed to the poss
bility that the ship had been ur
e evenly or insufficently ballasteC
The Eastland used water ballast, S
that it could pump out some o
e entering shallow lake harbors, an
investigators are working on theC
s ry that the ballast tanks were n
e filled, and the rushing of passenger