The Oskaloosa herald., 1915-07-29
Thirty or Forty Undertakers at Work
Preparing Remains, Which Are
in Shocking Condition When
Brought From the Water.

SuAChEOg July Gull Tue great uLit
floor Of the Second regiment srmory
at Curtis and Sangamon streets, thu
dead from the .Eastland were assem-
bled for Identification. es~..-
They lay In rows that reached from
one end OF the armory to the other
At i've O'Clock the work of bringing in
the dead from undertakers' shops
Reid Murdoch & Co.'S warehouse and
the various other temporary morgues
began. s.E IA, ..,....4-. .........
At $3.50 over 700 bodies were laid
out on the drill floor and patrol wag-
ons, ambulances and motor trucks be-
longing to private firms we're con.
tinnally bringing more.
Stretchers in Steady Stream.
A never-ending procession of police
men carrying stretehers on which lay
the victims of the great disaster came
In two doors.
Outside great crowd packed the
streets for two blocks in each diree-
ton A double line of policemen
drawn around the armory had all it
could do to hold back crying, agonized
men, women and children, begging to
be admitted that they might claim
their dead.
The people outside we're continually
told that not until ten o'clock would
relatives of the victims of the disaster
be admitted, but they refused to go
away Sometimes the screams and
sobbing of those waiting outside the
arinory penetrated to the interior of
the building In spite Of the solid brick
walls.
In the armory the scene was. one
never to be forgotten. In one corner
arc lamps had been rugged up and shed
a brilliant light, under which, thirty
OF forty undertakers were at work EN-.
balming the bodies. -
Police stretcher bearers picked up
the bodies one by one from each row
and brought them TO the embalmers
and then returned them again to the
floor ri.
A volunteer corps OF sixteen men
from the Hamilton club was put. to
work putting the personal. .eftects
found on the bodies into envelopes
and numbering them TO agree with the |
number on the tag tied to the wrist
or toes of the bodies.
When the bodies were brought in !
from the outside they we're shocking /
to see, The clothing was torn and dis
arranged, and the features sometimes I
covered with dirt and blood.
All This Is Changed.
But after the uAdertakers had .
finished their work the poor victims OF [
the Eastland lay as serene and peaSe- I
full as though asleep. Some of them
seemed fairly to smile.
There were young girls, children !
and grown-ups Of all ages, but most of /
the victims seemed to be young. Girls l
In their teens or the early tWenties
and young men not yet +
twenty-five. ..... Il
At times in spite of the police guard i
around the armory relatives would
slip In and hunt down the long rows
looking for their loved ones. L
ououenly fino0 wire,
A man in oyeralls,. who was thought |,
to be one. OF the electricians at work
putting in the emergency lights, sud
denly burst into hysterieal sobs and 4
sank by the side of a young woman y
who had just been brought back from
the embalmer's table. The black L
haired, pretty girl wrapped in the
shroud was his wife.
he was taken by the police to rooms
In the armory belonging to the head. Il
quarters staff, where Or. C. Pruyn ,
Struggled with a corps OF volunteer "a
nurses had established an emergency IL
ospital TO take care, OF the relatives IN
Sho were overcome, Within a few \
minutes a young man who had found :
ale sister among the dead was car f,
led In and second later a young I
fri who had found in one Of the long, D
silent rows the body of her sister. h
Federal Grand Jury Called.
II was toward the investigation to c
u conducted by the federal grand lc
ury that the chief interest was turn a
d to-day. Judge Lands called the
uTy without hesitation when the dis c
lster was formally brought to his at I
entiOn by U. S. district attorney I
llyne. At the time Lansing made no y
Mort TO conceal his feelings
Members Of Crew eiId. a
Forty-four members OF the East
and crew, including Captain Peder. !
on, First mate Fisher and other stan
Ulcers, were STIR held to-day by the
once. Up 10 near noon to-day no
orbits effort had been made BY anyl
4 them to obtain bail. Ii was be- !,
leyed such effort would not be made !,
ntil public feeling has subsidized.
Besides the members OF the crew :
ED by the police, Walter c. Steele, !
ecretary treasurer, and Martin Sla-
ow, excursion agent and traffic man
ger OF the st. Joseph Chicago line
'srs stili in custody today.
After Other offieiais. lp
Deputy Chief Schuettler announced rs
hat his men are after other officials 4
I the line He saii he would hold
very man among them who sets foot
! Chicago but for the time being
metals have decided not 10 get out Ia
dc this Jurisdiction 20 make arrests D
Ons Of the most wanted the poiica \