McNairy County independent. (Selmer, McNairy County, Tenn.) 1902-1969, 1915-07-30
EASTLAND DISASTER
APPALLS CHICAGO
MORE THAN 1000 PERISH WHEN
HEAviLY-LADEN STEAMER
CAPSIZEs AT WHARF.
$500 PEOPLE WERE ABOARD
Employees Of Western Electric Com
pany Were OF For Day of Pleas
ure-Boat Sinks In Sight of
of Thousands.

Chicago.-A thousand persons lost
their lives in the Chicago river on
July "a by the capsizing of the excur-
sion steamer Eastland while warping
from its wharf with more than 2,4O0
employees of the Western Electric
Company and their relatives and
friends on board, bound for pleasure
trip across Lake Michigan.
After working ceaselessly all day
and far into the night, the bodies of
S42 victims of the catastrophe, most
OF them women and children, were col
lected from temporary morgues and
taken to the Second Regiment Armory.
When these bodies had been tagged,
Coroner Hoffman, taking into consid-
GRAFTON estimates OF bodies thought to
be In the hold of the steamer, lying on
its side in the river, and in the stream
itself. said he hopes that the total dead
would not exceed 1000.
The Eastland, said by marine archi-
tects to have been topheavy and ba
lasted in an uncertain manner, turned
over inside Of Ave minutes after It be
gan to list, pouring its gala passengers
into the river or imprisoning them LII
its submerged hull.
Every effort was made by thousands
of persons on the river wharf to res
cue the drowning men, women and
children, but many went down almost
within grasp of the river bank Moth
ers went to death while their children
were snatched to safety. Other chill
dren died in the arms of their parents,
who finally were saved. Hundreds of
girls, freed for day from their tasks
OF making telephones and other cleo
trical apparatus in the factory of the
Western Electric Company, dressed in
their smartest white frocks, drowned
miserably.
A pail of sorrow hung over the en-
tire West Side of Chicago, where the
majority of the victims lived. Kolin
Avenue, small street near the fac
tory of the Western Electric Com
pany, was in universal mourning, Ev-
cry house lost from one to all its occu-
pants in the disaster.
Efforts to discover the cause of the
accident were begun long before the
work Of rescue was over. Federal and
county grand tries were ordered, a
coroner's jury was empanelel and all
the officers and crew of the Eastland
were arrested.
W. c. Steele, secretary and treas
urer Of the st. Joseph Chicago Steam
ship Company, who owned the East
land, built on Lake Erie in 1908, and
remodeled later, because top-heavy, it
is said, was also arrested and locked
up at police station. The steamer
was leased by the Indiana Transporta.
tion Company, whose officers said
they were not responsible for the Ii.
censing of the ship and did not con-
troll the crew.
Under the glare of searchlights
scores of men worked in the hull of
the vessel to remove the bodies. The
steamer lay on the bottom OF the river.
one side protruding like monument
to the hundreds 1t had drowned as 1t
turned over.
Marine architects asserted that the
Eaotlapd xrac Faulty 4, dae;cv kl.ot
the top deck had been removed be
cause of the tendency of the ship to
list. and also pointed to the possibil-
ity that the ship had been unevenly
or insufficiently ballasted. The East
land used water ballast, so that 1t
could pump out some on entering
shallow lake harbors; so many inves-
tigators are working on theory that
the ballast tanks were not filled and
that the rushing Of passengers to one
side of the decks caused 1t to roll
over.
Under misty skies 1000 men, wom-
en- and children went to the Clark
Street dock early on the morning of
July "a to I'LL five large lake steam
ers with holiday mirth in trip to
Michigan City. The steamer Eastland
was the first to be loaded.
Rain began to fall as the wharf SUI
perintendents lifted the gang planks
from the Eastland, declaring that this
government limit Of $500 passengers
had been reached.
The passengers swarmed to the left
side of the ship as the other steamers
drew up the river toward the wharf.
A tug was hitched to the Eastland.
ropes were ordered cast off and the