The Chesterfield advertiser. [volume] (Chesterfield C.H., S.C.) 1884-1978, 1915-07-29

sons on the scene. Boats as soon as
fuH took reScued passengers to the
wharf or toNthe steamer Theodore
Roosevelt, which was tied up oppo-
site the Eastland.
In an hour the water was cleared
Of excursionists. Those who had not
been taken to land had sunk or were
swirling down the river toward the
drainage canal locks at Locport, ILL.,,
many miles away. The locks were
raised to stop the current and ar
rangements were made to take bodies
from the river along it's course
through the southwest part of Chi
cago.
Shortly after the water was clear
ed. city flremen and workmen were
on the exposed side of the Eastland's
hull, cutting through it's steel plates
with gas flames. Divers were hur-
ried into underwater suits. A tug
was moored as a bridge between the
pier and the capsized ship.
AS the divers gained entrance to
the hull, the scene of distress moved
for the time being from the river to
the extemporized morsues. Ware
houses Of Wholesale companies along
the river were thrown open and
bodies were placed in rows on the
floors.
Scores of persons rescued from the
water were injured and these were
taken to the Iroquois hospital, built
in memory Of the six hundred wo-
men and children and a few. men who
were burned and crushed to death in
the Iroquois theatre several years
ago.
Efforts to resuscitate those taken
from the river were generally unsuc-
cessful. Only two or three were thus
saved. 1t was also said that many of
the injured would die.
The whole city was in consterna-
tion over the catastrophe. Word of
the accident spread rapidly and to
the thousands already at or near the
wharf other thousands added them
selves. The Clark street bridge near
the wharf was crowded until II
threatened to collapse. Streets had
to be cleared by the police to allow
the passage Of ambulances.
Business men sent their automo-
| biles and motor trucks to help aid
the injured and carry away the dead.
One warehouse soon was filed with
bodies and other dead were taken to
the Second regiment armory, a mile
away.
While those on land were dispos-
ing Of the dead, injured and rescued,
the divers in the heart of the sunken
vessel sent up an almost constant
| stream Of corpses from the submerg-
| ed decks.
First 1t was a gaily dressed girl in
her teens who had been caught be-
tween pile of chairs and a cabin
wall. Next it was a slight boy, gath
cred from the lifeless arms of a fond
father, who had clung to his off
spring, even in dealt.
Then followed an old woman, who
had gone aboard the ship to watch
the youthful pleasure Of her grand
children, or little girl with bare
legs and bootees, with gay ribbons
sodden against lace OF her holiday
| gown.
A thrill passed through the crowd
as word came from the steamer that
a girl baby had been found alive
among the hundreds of dead in the
ship. She was found in a starboard
stateroom, where she had been held
from the water by chair that jam
med against the berth. The baby
only half awakened as 1t was carried
to the land. Its mother could not be
| found.
| Two women were found alive in
another stateroom in a protruding
side of the Eastland. There were
still three hundred persons in the
hold when these persons were taken
out alive and the explorers of the
hulk said that all were dead.
| Work Of tagging the bodies Of the
dead and placing them in accessible
places for Identification proceeded all
day and night. Reports from vari-
| Gus temporary morgues gave a total
of 770 bodies, but tabulation became
| so confusing that it was decided to
take all bodies to the Second regi-
ment armory, so that those who were
looking for lost friends and relatives
could view all the victims in one
place.
Identification was slow and scenes
| at the morgues were as affecting as
those at the river when the steamer
capsized. Mothers fell across the
| biers OF children whom they had sent
| away few hours before on what was
intended to be a dly of pleasure.
Men had to summon all the stoical
qualities they possessed to retain
their comBosure as they passed be-
tween rows Of corpses, looking for
| missing children or wives
Yet amidst all the horror and
heartache officers of various depart
ments attended to tn, disposition of
| the dead and injured, tracing of the
missing, inquiry into the cause OF the
disaster, and precautions against dis
ease from sunken bodies and the car
rying OF corpses by the river towards
the canal locks