Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 178, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 July 1915 — SIX BLAMED FOR EASTLAND HORROR [ARTICLE]

SIX BLAMED FOR EASTLAND HORROR

Coroner’s Jury Recommends That High Officials Be Indicted On Charges of Manslaughter. Chicago, July 28. —A coroner’s jury tonight returned a verdict placing the blame for the loss of hundreds of lives by the capsizing of the steamer Eastland in the Chicago river Saturday on six men: William H. Hull, general manager of the Chicago-St. Joseph Steamship company, owner of the Eastland; Captain Harry Pedersen, of the Eastland; J. M. Ericson, engineer; Robert Reid, federal inspector of steaships, who gave the Eafttland license to carry 2,500 passengers, July 2; J. C. Eckliff, federal inspector of steamships; W. K. Greenbaum, general manager of the Indiana Transportation company, lessee of the Eastland. The jury recommended that these men be held to a grand jury indictment on charges of manslaughter. The jury found that the passengers were not in any way to blame for the capsizing of the ship. It recommends further investigation by the coroner and other officers to determine where the men named and others may be guilty of negligence or of contributing in any way to the cause of the disaster.