The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1915-07-29

ined each body as it came ashore. He
said that many Of them had died from
suffocation. There was no water In
their lungs, he said. They had foated
on top of the water in the recesses of
the boat until the air had become ex,
hausted
Occasionally a passenger was found
alive in a pocket of air. In mid-after-
noon, when, with an acetylene torch,
hole had been made in the steel
plates forward, two women were TAX
en- out raving. A few minutes later
one Of the divers, his brain turned by
the horrors, came up and rushed
about the hull shrieking until the po-
lice got him under control.
And last night, with spot lights and
electric arcs turning the stream into
a CHASTITY river Of death, the work Of
taking the bodies from the hull con-
tinued.
The spectacles we're narrowing. Pc
licemen wept as the bodies OF women
were taken out, with their babies still
clutched to their bosoms in the grasp
OF death
GREATER THAN lRoQUOlS.
Chicago is still counting its dead.
The mortuary lists are still growing
A despair has settled over the city
akin to that following the Iroquois
disaster. It's roster of victims Is
greater 1t is the worst excursion
| boat horror on record in America, II
claimed more victims than the wreck
OF the fire-scourged General Slocum,
eleven years ago, off Hell Gate in New
York harbor.
Ii is the worst ship disaster In his
tory-greater than the Titanic and the
Lusitania catastrophes In its appalling
roster of the dead.
All day long and all night great
crowds thronged the waters edge and
choked the streets leading to the
scene OF the disaster. On the side OF
| the boat, which protruded several feet
above the water, groups of men gath
cred around the portfolios and with
ropes dragged up the dead bodies as
fast as the divers would get them.
| Many are still In the boat. while the
! river still holds bodies, and 1t will be
| days before the final number Of dead
| is established.
AUTHORITIES PROMPT TO ACT.
Within an hour or two OF the disas-
| ter the authorities had started the
! task Of fixing the responsibility.
! States Attorney Hoyne took the mat
ter in charge and sent out grand Jury
| subpoenas for witnesses.
| Was the Eastland crowded be-
yond capacity" This is the gravest
| question into which inquiry will be
made. Eyewitnesses assert that the
boat was carrying from five hundred
to one thousand more persons than
the $500 for which she was licensed.
Some OF the holiday-makers, who got
az far as the gangplank and then de-
cided to take another boat, fearing
the crowds on the Eastland, say that
between 5000 and $500 persons were
aboard, and that the ticket-takers
kept admitting eycursionists up to
within few minutes Of the capsiz-
ing
This is denied by the government
inspectors Robert II. McCreary,
chief Of the marine bureau. says an
exact check of the passengers was
taken, and that as soon as $500 had
| gone aboard no more were allowed ad.
mission
OTHERS CRY OVERcRoWDING.
On the other hand, Emil G. Gros-
| choll and George Mock, employees OF
! the Western Electric company, who
aided in arranging the outing, esti-
mate that 100 persons were aboard
/ the boat
One thing on which tho bewildcred
1 survivors and the eye witnesses In
general appear TO agree is that even
after the boat started to list neither
| the captain nor the crew gave warn
/ iugs 10 the passengers. The Oryhos.
/ ira kept on playing until the chairs
/ Of the musicians slid across the deck
and the vessel had attained a perlous
angle before the laughter and Joking
were turned to shricks and cries
Before the waters had claimed n
victim, company officials on shore saw
the danger and began TO prepare for
the work Of rescue ". X. Greene.
baum, general manager of the Indiana
transportation company which had
chartered the Eastand for the day
from the st Joseph Chicago Steam.
ship company, when called before
State.e Attorney Hoync. said:
about 100 a. m was standing at