The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-07-25

launches and small boats tnat WsH'
to the rescue.
i Adding to the struggle In the water
were the cries of hundreds still I'M
prisoned in the hull. For hours,
these kept UP the terrible calls for
aid that so many were franticaii,
working to get to them, only the
i width of a steel plate away. Those
drowned under decks suffered the
most terrific agony during their last
moments, as they pounded with
boxes that had lately held picnic
lunches and with chairs while the wa
ter slowly crept above their heads.
CRIES OF LYNCH THEM!'
| The only sign of real trouble, how
ever, occurred when squad OF twen
/ ty police were taking Captain Peder-
sen and First Mate Bell Fisher to the
| city hall, under custody. As the po-
iIicemen left the docks the crowd rec
! ognized the boat officers and started
/ for them. yelling: Lynch them.
Lynch them!
] Two men broke through the police
tcordon and struck Petersen. the,
I the police drew their clubs and swung
them viciousIy before they could beat
path through.
] Far into the night, heart-sick ana
hand weary workers kept up their
deIvina into the hold of the Eastiand
for what they knew was still there,
but fairly hated by that time to find.
| It was repetition upon repetition for
the men who were working shoulder
( deep in water inside and for those
who let down the noosed ropes from
the outside. 1t was in this way that
the bodies of adults were taken out.
The babies we're more tenderIy hand
led
Coroner Arrests Officials.
| CHICAGO, July 24.-Coroner Peter
Hoffman late tonight ordered into Gus
tody the officials of the st. Joe-Chi-
cago Steamship company, who char
tered the steamer Eastland to the In
diana Transportation company. to be
used as one of the Western Electric
excursion boats today. The police i'm
mediately began a search for the par
! ties wanted. and at II o'clock William
Steele, secretary-treasurer of the st.
Joe-Chicago line, and twsnty-eight 9th
| er officials and officers and crew of
| the Eastland were in custody. Coro-
ner Hoffman would not say the men
| charges. If any they were held on. He
said they were merely sin custody"
| Other officials whom Coroner Hoff-
man was seeking to take into custody
were: G. T. Arnold. president; W. H.
Hull. vice president, and r. W. Davis,
assistant secretary and treasurer.
/ At a late hour tonight Martin Fla
| tour, the company's local excursion
agent, was taken into custody.
| Dead and Missing.
CHICAGO, July 24.-Seventeen hun
dred and fifty-eight were drowned, or
are missing, early tonight as result
| Of the capsizing today Of the 265 foot
steel steamer Eastland, as she lay at
! her North Clark street dock. Accord
/ ing to General Manager w K. Green
baum of the Indiana Transportation
company, which owned the vessel,
there were $500 men, women and
children aboard when the boat turned
over They were the employees. wives,
children and relatives of the Western
Electric company, which was giving
its annual picnic to Michigan City.
The estimate of nearly 1900 dead,
which would constitute the greatest
water disaster the world has known,
was made tonight from Manager
iGreenbaur's figures and the figures
of Charles Culp. a Western Electric
superintendent in charge Of tabulat-
ing those saved. Superintendent Cu1p
said late this afternoon that he had
accounted for 742. At the same time
Deputy Police Superintendent Schuet-
tier said reports from the men he had
ASSIGNED to the temporary morgues,
established throughout the district
were that 6S1 bodies bad been recov.
cred. He believed at least 600 more
We're in the upturned hulk or at the
rivers bottom. The work OF remov.
: ing the bodies was to be continued all
night, by the light OF dozens Of high
power lights strung all over the
scene this afternoon.
Several theories as to the cause OF
the disaster were advanced tonight
Some marine men said they believed
= the jam Of the passengers on the tor
or hurricane deck caused the boat tc
:. tip. Federal. state. county and MUM
d cipal authorities who began investi
= cation had report before them that
the port side ballasts on the dock side
were empty. while those on the port
= Or outer side were full OF water Sew
7. tug pulled a rope which held the
Il kastlanPs bow to the dock. thus tin
j. ping her and causing rush of pas
a. sengers to the outer rail.
D. The depth Of the water whera tbe
If Eastland sank is about twenty feet
IS This left her port side sticking etgb-
:; or nine feet out OF the water a fac
n which saved the lives of scores VIII,
n We're imprisoned below decks and II
/; state rooms on that side One man
n Charles Bollinger, his wife and for
' children were thus imprisoned in ;
D. state room for four hours.
Is 1t was only possible to get the i'm
prisoned dead and alive out after SOW
y eral of the side plates had been Gu