Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1915-07-28
OVER 500 LIVES ARE LOST
In Steamer Disaster at Docks i'm River
ut Chicago.

SnlcaSO river To-Day Dy the CapSlZlng
of the excursion steamer Eastland,
while warping from it's wharf with
more than 2,400 employees Of the
Western Electric Company and their
relatives and friends on board, bound
for pleasure trip across Lake Michi-
gan.
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
collected in temporary morgues and
taken to the Second Regiment ar
mory. When these bodies had been
tagged Coroner Hoffman, taking into
consideration estimates Of bodies
thought to be in the hold Of the
steamer, lying Oh it's side in the
river, and in the stream itself, said
he believed the total dead would not
exceed 200.
Steamer Declared Topheavy.
The Eastland, said by marine ar
chitects to have been top-heavy and
ballasted in an uncertain manner,
turned over inside OF five minutes af-
ter it began to list, pouring it's pass
engers into the river or imprisoning
them in its submerged hull.
Every effort was made by thou
sands Of persons on the river wharf
to rescue the drowning men, women
and children, but many went down
almost within grasp of the river
bank. Mothers went TO death while
their children were snatchcd TO safe
ty. Other children 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 electrical ap-
paratuses in the factory Of the West
ern Electric Company, dressed in
their smartest white frocks, drowned.
A pail Of sorrow hung tonight
over the entire West Side Of Chicago,
where the majority Of the victims
lived.
EVERY Home in Mourning,
kolin avenue, small street near
the factory Of the Western Electric
Company, was in universal mourn
ing. Every house lost from one to
all of its occupants in the disaster,
and many Of the residents Of this
street tonight lay in the morgue or
beneath the steel hull of the East
land, over whi-h -o7~chr~ht~ shot
choir hLuiuE -'aro, rhiio mrdrcGs
of men searched '"r more boG.na.
Efforts 10 discover the cause Y"
ihe a"aiAoo' "@l. naarl long before
the work Of rescue was over. Fede-
raj and county grand juries were Or
dered, a coroner's jury was impan-
elled and all Of the officers and crew
of the Eastland were arrested.
w. G. Steele, secretary and treasu-
rer of the st. Joseph-Chicago Steam
ship Company, who owned the East
land, built on Lake Erie in 1903, and
remodelled later because top-heavy,
it is said, was arrested tonight and
locked up at police station. The
steamer was leased by the Indiana
Transportation Company, whose Of
ficers said they were not responsible
for the licensing Of the ship and did
not control the crew.
Under misty skies 1000 men, wo-
men and children went to the Clark
street dock early to-day to fill five
large lake steamers with holiday
mirth in trip to Michigan City. The
steamer Eastland was the first to be
loaded.
Rain began to fall as the wharf
superintendent lifted the gangplanks
from the Eastland, declaring that the
government limit Of $500 passen-
gers had been reached.
The passengers swarmed to the left
side Of the ship as the other steam
ers drew up the river towards the
wharf. A tug was hitched to the
Eastland, ropes were ordered cast off
and the steamers engines began to
hum. The Eastland had not budged,
however.
Instead the heavily laden ship wa
vered sidewise, leaning first towards
the river bank. The lurch was so
startling that many passengers Joined
the large concourse already on the
river side Of the deck.
The ship never heeled back; it
turned slowly, but steadily, toward
it's left side. Children clutched the
skirts Of mothers and sisters to keep