New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-07-25
Women Calmly Await
Fate as Men Fight

with passengers" said Gadory. 1--WE
, were to leave in twenty minutes. and
the upper deck and cabins were crowd
ed with passengers. There were hun
dreds of women and children. | estl-
mate that there were between 2,OOO
and 5000 on the boat at the time OF
the accident. | was standing on the
lower deck near the gangplank watch
ing the people come aboard.
Suddenly | noticed the boat list
toward the centre of the river. 1t
rolled slightly at first and then seemed
to stop. Then it started to roll again.
! became alarmed and shouted to the
crowd to keep still. Apparently ma
jority of the passengers were on one
side of the boat, and this had over
, weighted it and caused it TO list. Sud
denly the hawsers, which held the boat
to the dock, snapped and the officers
pulled the gangplank in and refused
to allow any more on the boat.
AT this time everybody was panic
stricken; women screamed, and men
tried to quiet them. | attempted to
reach an upper deck, but could not be-
cause of the crowd and excitement, and
ran back TO the port side, where the
gangway had been. The boat then
slowly drfted from the dock, rolling
as il slipped into mid-stream, and a
moment later it had turned over on
its side. ! climbed over the side Of
the boat and stayed there until | was
taken off by lifesavers.
MANY of the passengers leaped into
the water as the boat went over. Scores
of others were caught in the cabins
and drowned. When the small boats
began coming out to US | worked with
the other survivors in taking passen-
gers out of the water and cutting holes
in the cabins to remove bodies"
Mrs. Paulina Nantak, mother OF
three children, was among the drowned.
The children are believed to have been
lost. Henry Nantak, the husband and
father, was pulled out of the water.
81 could not believe the boat was
turning over" Vantak said. About a
dozen of the $50 persons on the upper
decks jumped. The rest were thrown
into the river. | did not see my wife
or children after the boat turned. They
were carried into the river with the
crowd. Some one grabbed me around
the neck and kept pulling me. 1t was
woman. but could not save her"
Patrolman Rescues Many.
Patrolman Henry II. Sesher. one Of
the first to go to the rescue, described
the rescue work.
81 saw scores Of men and women,
many of them holding children, plunge
into the water" he said. 81 jumped
into a rowboat and pulled out TO the
drowning. | think | got about fifty
ashore. The freboat and tugs hurried
TO the scene and picked up more than
a hundred persons.
1--WE grabbed those nearest US first.
At one time | had four women in the
boat with me. Others | aided by drag
ging them from the water to the docks"
The Eastland was filled to capacity,
and hundreds turned TO other boats, ac-
cording to S. G. Hall, one of the pic
nickers. He estimated that 1000 tick
cts had been distributed to the en-
ployes and that more than $500 were
on the steamer.
81 went TO the dock" said Hall, "and
was told to go to the other boats, as
the Eastland was already too crowded.
There were fifteen or twenty persons
behind me and more coming fast.
was told that there were to be SIX
boatloads. The only boats that heard
were to be used. however, were the
Eastland and the Theodore Roosevelt.
81 had scarcely gone ten feet toward
the Roosevelt when the Eastland began
TO list Hundreds ran 10 the rail. and
many climbed over its side as it turned
over All were thrown into the water.
John Morey, one of the rescued, was
on the upper deck when the boat began
to lis. He caught hold Of the rail and
held on as the boat went over on It's
side.
"A loose chair swung around and
struck me on the forehead he said
"but managed to keep my no ID on the
rail until was helped TO land. There
were more than five hundred on my