The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1915-07-28

sigh or air escaping from the nOIC
mingled with crying OF children an
shrieks of women and the ship wa
on the bottom of the river, causin!
hundreds of living creatures to tn
water.
Many sank entangled with cloth
ing and bundles and did not rise, bu
hundreds, coming to the surface
seized floating chairs and other OBJ
jects. Persons on shore threw ou
ropes and dragged in those wh'
would hold the lifelines.
Employees of commission firm
along the river threw crates, CHECKER
coops and other floatable objects int
the water, but most of these wer'
swept away by the current.
Boats put out, tugs rushed to thu
scene, with shieking whistles ane
many men jumped into the river tt
aid the drowning. With thousand:
of spectators ready to aid and thu
wharf within grasp hundreds wen
to death despite every effort at res
cue.
One mother grasped her two chill
dren in her arms as she slipped from
the steamer into the water. One
child was torn fro mher. but she anC
the other were saved. Fathers were
drowned after aiding their wives an6
children to safety.
One man was seen to clip to {
spike in the side of the wharf while
two women and three .ildren STEP
ped upon his body to safety. He fell
exhausted into the river as the last
Of one of the five reached the pier.
Instances of heroism we're almost
as numerous as the number Of per.
sons on the scene. Boats as soon as
full took rescued passengers to the
wharf or to the steamer Theodore
Roosevelt, which was tied up oppo-
site the Eastland.
In an hour the water was cleared
of excursionists. Those who had not
been taken to land had sunk or were
swirIing down the river toward the
drainage canal locks at Lockport, lit,
many miles away. The locks were
waised tc stop the current and ar
rangements were made to take bodies
from the river along its course
through the southwest part of Chi
cago.
Shortly after the water was clear
ed, city fremen and workmen were
on the exposed side of the Eastland' S
hull, cutting through its steel plates
with gas flames. Divers were hur-
ried into underwater suits A tug
was moored as a bridge between the
pier and the capsized ship.
AS the divers gained entrance to
the hull, the scene of distress moved
for the time being from the river to
the extemporized morgues. Ware
houses of wholesale companies along
the river were thrown open and
bodies were placed in rows on the
floors.
Scores of persons rescued from the
water were injured and these were
taken to the IroQuois hospital, built
in memory Of the six hundred wo-
men and children and few men who
were burned and crushed to death in
the Iroquois theatre several years
ago.
Efforts to resuscitate those taken
from the river were generally unsuc-
cessful. Only two or three were thus
saved. It was tlso said that many OF
the injured would die.
The whole city was in consterna-
ton ofer the catastrophe. Word Of
the accident spread rapidly and to
the thousands already at or near the
wharf other thousands added them
selves. The Clark street bridge near
the wharf was crowded until it
threatened to collapse. Streets had
to be cleared by the police to allow
the passage Of ambulances.
Business men sent their automo-
biles and motor trucks to help aid
the injured and carry away the dead.
One warehouse soon was filled with
bodies and other dead were taken to
the Second regiment armory, mile
away.
While those on land were dispos-
ing of the dead, injured and rescued,
the divers in the heart of the sunken
vessel sent up an almost constant
stream of corpses from the submerg-
ed decks.
First, 1t was a gaily dressed girl in
her teens who had been caught be-
tween a pile of chairs and a cabin
wall. Next it was slight boy, gath
cred from the lifeless arms of a fond
father, who had clung to his Off
spring, even il death.
Then followed an old woman, who
had gone aboard the ship to watch
the youthful pleasure of her grand
children, or a little girl with bare
legs and bootees, with gay ribbons
sodden against lace of her holiday
gown.
A thrill passed through the crowd
as word came from the steamer that
girl baby had been found alive
among the hundreds of dead in the
ship. She was found in a starboard
stateroom, where she had been held
from the water by chair that jam
med against the berth. The baby
only half awakened as it was carried
to the land It's mother could not be
found
Two women were found alive in
another stateroom in protruding
side of the Eastland. There were
still three hundred persons in the
hold when these persons were taken
out alive and the explorers Of the
hulk said that all were dead.
Work of tagging the bodies Of the
lead and placing them in accessible
places for Identification proceeded all
day and night. Reports from vari-
Gus temporary morgues gave d total
Of TO bodies, but tabulation became
50 confusing that it was decided to
take all bodies to the Second resi-
ment armory. so that those who were
looking for lost friends and relatives
could view all the victims in one
place.
Identification was slow and scenes
at the morgues were as affecting as
those at the river when the steamer
capsized. Mothers fell across the
biers of children whom they had sent
away a few hours before on what was