Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1915-07-29
EASTLAMD DISASTER
APPALLS CHICAGO
MORE THAN 1000 eERisH WHEN
HEAvILy-LApEN STEAMER
cAPslzEs At WHARF.
$500 PEOPLE WERE ABOARD
Employees Of Western Electric Com
psny Were on For Day Of Pieas
urs-Boat sinks In sight Of
Of Thousands

tnelr lives IN the tnicag0 river on
July "a by the capsixing OF the excur.
sion steamer Eastland while warping
from Its wharf with more than 2.40o
employees Of the Western Electric
Company and their relatives and
friends on board. bound for Q pleasure
trip across Lake Michigan
After working ceaselessly all day
and far into the night. the bodies OF
si2 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 Eve minutes after II be-
gan to list. pouring its gala passengers
into the river or imprisoninE them IA.
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
srs went to death while their children
were snatched to safety. Other chill
tren died in the arms OF their parents,
who finally were saved. Hundreds OF
girls. freed for a day from their tasks
Of making telephones and other cleo
tricai apparatus in the factory of the
Western Electric Company. dressed in
their smartest white frocks. drowned
miserabIy.
A pail Of sorrow hung over the en-
tire West Side Of Chicago. where the
majority Of the victims lived. Kolin
Avenue. a 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 juries were ordered. q
coroner's Jury was empaneiel and al
the officers and crew Of the Eastiant
| were arrested
w. C. Steele. secretary and treaz
urer OF the St. Joseph Chicago Steam
ship Company. Who owned the Eas
land. built on lake Erie IN 1oo3, a
, remodeied later. becauss top.1suvy.
!. Is said. was also arrested and locke
NJ at . police station The steam,
was leased by the Indiana Transport
tion Company. whose officers sai
they were not responsible for the
censing Of the ship and did not cor
troll the crew.
Under the glare OF searchlight
scores OF men worked In the hull o
the vessel TO remove the bodies. Th'
steamer lay on the bottom OF the river
one side protruding like q monument
to the hundreds 1t had drowned a. 4
turned over.
Marine architects asserted that the
Eastiand was faulty In design. thai
the top deck had been removed b
cause OF the tendency Of the ship tc
list, and also pointed to the possible
ity that the ship had been unevenly
or insufficiently ballasted- The East
land rsed water ballast. so that II
could pump out some on entering
shallow lake harbors; so many inves
| .igators are working on a theory that
he ballast tanks were not filled and
that the rushing Of passengers to one
side Of the decks caused II to roll
over.
Under misty skies 1000 men. won
en- and children went TO the Clari
Street dock early on the morning ol
July q to fiji five large lake steam
ers with holiday mirth in a trip t.
Michigan City. The steamer Eastlant
was the first to be loaded.
Rain began to fall as the wharf 50
perintendents lifted the gang plank
from the Eastland. declaring that tn,
government limit of $500 passenger
had been reached.
The passengers swarmed to the lef
side OF the ship as the other steamer
drew up the river toward the wharf
A tug was hitched U the Eastland