| THE STATE-JOURNAL REGISTER, JULY 25, 1999 |
I'm Saved, Wires Ollie James
-THE ILLINOIS STATE REGISTER, JULY 25, 1915.
By DOUG POKORSKI Ollie James was one of the lucky ones. So was Erwin Withey. When Springfield residents learned on July 25, 1915, that the excursion steamer Eastland had capsized in the Chicago River, killing 844 of her 2,572 passengers, they immediately feared for any of their own friends and loved ones who might have been aboard. Among those who could have been on the ship was James, a local man who worked for the Western Electric Co. The passengers on the Eastland were Western Electric employees, their friends and families on their way to an annual company picnic in Michigan City, Ind. Withey had gone up to Chicago from Springfield the day before the disaster intending to make an excursion on the steamer the next day. There had also been rumors that a contingent of officials from Springfield's Sangamo Meter Co. had been seen on the Eastland. Families and friends of James, Withey and the Sangamo officials feared the worst until word began to trickle in that all were well. James' brother-in-law sent a telegram to his residence inquiring of his well-being. The stoic reply "I am saved" allayed any fear here on his account, though it also whetted local curiosity for details. Withey telegraphed his mother that he had changed his mind about taking the excursion and was fine. And it turned out the Sangamo officials had gone to Milwaukee the morning of the disaster and were equally healthy. While Springfield's residents were spared death or injury in the Eastland disaster, the accident touched the city deeply and was a leading news item for several days. Several city residents did witness the disaster, and reports of what they saw were quickly printed in local newspapers. Harry Thornton, manager of the Gaiety Theatre, had been sightseeing near the river, watching the Eastland prepare to sail, when the accident happened. "There were hundreds of bodies it seemed to me floating in the river," Thornton told the Illinois State Journal. "Many were calling for help from those on land. ... Soon after the accident the Clark street bridge became so crowded that it almost collapsed. Policemen then drove the crowd off the bridge." Fred Schoen, brother of the proprietor of Springfield's Illinois Cask Market, wrote to describe the accident. "In a few moments the river was a sea of floating heads giving expression to great agonies experienced, and all the paraphernalia with which to enjoy themselves in Michigan, were floating round them," he wrote. "Those in the cabins were trapped like rats, without the slightest chance of life. The men were fighting, swearing, cursing, tearing one another's clothes and limbs, and also those of the women, who were not far behind in adding to the pandemonium. They tore at everybody within reach, ripping open their own clothes in vain endeavor to escape." Schoen described rescue workers sickened at the thought of having to disentangle the mass of bodies crushed together in the boat, and of doctors having to break the arms of dead women to free their dead babies from their embrace. There were lawsuits over the Eastland disaster - the worst in Chicago's history - for more than 20 years, and the cause of the accident is still debated. The boat had always been considered top heavy - a condition that had been made worse by a series of modifications. The steamer capsized the first time it carried a full passenger load after the last modification was made - the addition of more lifeboats. Each day of 1999, "A Springfield Century" will examine a story that appeared in The State Journal-Register or its predecessors, the Illinois State Journal and the Illinois State Register, on the same date earlier in the 1900s. Doug Pokorski can be reached at (217) 788-1539 or pokorski@sj-r.com. © Copyright 1999, The State Journal-Register |
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