Jasper County Democrat, Volume 18, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 July 1915 — STILL GOING IT BLIND. [ARTICLE]

STILL GOING IT BLIND.

Railroad Meeting Decides for Another Flection to Vote Subsidy. A meeting was held at the court house Friday evening, presided over by Mayor Spitler, at which it was agreed to notify the promotors of the ied Lafayette & Northwestern Ralroad that if they would change the line of their road here to come down through the business part of Rensselaer—as we understand to come down College avenue to Washington street and thence go east to Cullen and north to Vine —the people here, or those at the meeting, rather, •veuld try to put over a'l% per cent subsidy tax at an election to be called for September; in the event that l the promoters were haughty and insisted upon the pound of flesh, then they would make it 2 iter cent. And this action was taken, understand, without making any investigation whatever as to what was behind the i mposition; who composed the company, and the fact that its officers had been cited for “contempt of court,” so to speak, before the public service commission, and without waiting to hear or know either anything about the result of this hearing.

Whether or not the facts disclosed at the hearing before the public service commission Saturday will have any effect on these enthusiastic “boosters” in refraining from circulating a petition calling for such an election, remains to be seen.

The proposition was voted down here two weeks ago fairly and squarely, so far as the people were concerned, and The Democrat thinks it is an imposition on the farmers of Ma-iOn tp., some of whom, will have to drive 12 or 13 miles for the round trip and bring all the voters they have in their family, losing their time on the farm when it may be extremely valuable to them, or else stay away and have no voice in the election.

It is more than likely that the proposition would he defeated by more than double the majority it was defeated by only recently had not this hearing been held, as many people would look upon it as an outrage to call another election so soon in the attempt to wear the people out who are opposed to the subsidy proposition in principle, to the route, the proposed road, or for any other reason.

The Democrat doesn't care a rap if a dozen railroads come here. The more the merrier, but it is opposed to the voting of subsidies on principle, as are many other voters, and it is also opposed to the giving of any money whatever to this or any other company proposing to build a road that would be of so little benefit to Rensselaer—not connecting our town with any other town in Jasper county —and it also believes that it is the duty of our people here to thoroughly investigate the standing of any company or body of men that asks our people for money, whether it be by a subsidy tax or donation, al-

though in the latter case it is really no one’s business, perhaps, but the parties making the donations. Whenever the would-be trustees of the welfare of the people of Marion tp., and Rensselaer attempt to spend tjie money belonging to these people as a whole, they should investigate carefully and not lend an indorsement either which might be used by dishonorable people to part others from their money by way of purchasing stocks, bonds, etc.

This company asked for the endorsement of the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, but that body wisely decided to investigate before giving any endorsement, and when the committee found that the company had not complied with the law in regard to the public service commission, the investigation stopped right there and the members decided that the company needed an endorsement from the public se 3 commission more than it did from the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce. It is hoped that in the future like investigations will be made here instead of grabbing at every baited hook that is thrown at our people.

Later—The Republican, the chief booster for all gold brick schemes attempted to be unloaded upon the people of Rensselaer or Jasper coum ty, “suggests that nothing further be done toward the proposed subsidy for the road, until investigation is finished and the report of the judges are made public.”

Chicago, J.uly 26.—“ Somebody made a big mistake!” Five words serve to epitomize' the official summing up of the worst marine disaster in modern history. The steamer Eastland, crowded with 2,600 employees o' tha Western Electric company bound on a picnic to Michigan City, Ind., suddenly turned over in the Chicago river at 7:40 Sab urday morning Just as she was swinging from her dock to make the start for the lake. Hundreds of men, women and children were trapped in the hull of the vessel and when rescuers drilled through the steel hull of the vessel by the use of acetylene gas many of the victims were still fighting for life.

Dead May Reach 1,500. Estimates of the total number of dead —based on the recovery of 817 bodies —are still uncertain. Of the passengers and crew, reported to be a few less than 2,500, 700 have reported as safe. This would mean that 600 bodies are still in the hull of the vessel or In the river, with a total of 1,500. However, the authorities do not believe that any such number are dead and not recovered. It is supposed that many of the passengers got off the 111-fated boat without reporting the fact.

An Unparalleled Tragedy. Literally in the heart of a great city, with elevated trains and street cars thundering past within a few hundred feet, on a mild summer morning, with a multitude toi look on In mute helplessness, with metropolitan skyscrapers casting their shadow over It all, something like 1,500 persons went to their death in a prosaic excursion boat as it capsized at its berth. Such was the unparalleled, pardoxical tragedy of the Eastland. The victims perished within reaching distance of shore, within speaking distance of streets crowded with office-bound loop workers.

No Warning; No Escape. The better part of them, with women and children outnumbering the men four to one, died without a chance for life. Packed mostly between decks aboard the cranky craft, they got no warning from officers and crew until the water was upon them. Then it was too late. The old Eastland, its livery work done, lies wearily on its port side less than fifty feet from where it started. More than half the boat was submerged. Oil the dry uppermost portion firemen, federal life savers, policemen, physicians and other rescue workers hovered about yawning holes which had been pierced through the steel shell by oxygen flames. Two Big Questions. According to the testimony now in hand, passengers were sliding down the sloping deck and the port rail was at the water’s edge before there was an official chorus of: “Get over on the other side, everybody!"

There are two big questions which the various investigating bodies will seek to have answered: l__Was it because of a its water ballast that the Eastland capsized?

.vvcro river'* passengers -board thun Us official carrying ca- • o!ty of 2,500? Already there have been several answers to both questions. Was She Overcrowded? R. H. McCreary, navigation inspector, says he turned away all prospective passengers after his automatic counter registered 2,500. Contradicting McCreary's assertion is the estimates of two officials in charge of the outing that 3,200 persons, of whom the women outnumbered the men four to one, had been crowded aboard the Eastland. „ The Eastland’s gauge tender came forward late in the afternoon with the St. Joseph-Chicago Steamship company’s version of the capsizing. A sudden rush of passengers to the port side of the excursion boat to view a passing launch carried the Eastland over, he said. But in their stories the survivors say there was no such rush —that the crowd, great though it was, seemed evenly distributed over the vessel.

While the Mandolin Plays. It was at 7:40 o’clock that the Eastland went over, Jußt as its stern line had been cast off from its berth west of the south end of the Clark street bridge. On the east side of the bridge the steamer Theodore Roosevelt, also chartered by the picnickers, was taking on a second load of passengers. On the upper deck es the Eastland a little mandolin and fiddle orchestra was playing ragtime. Some of those aboard the boat had noticed It was unsteady and swaying from side to side without apparent cause. At last, when it seemed the vessel could hold no more passengers, the gangway was drawn in while deckhands made fast a hawser from the tug Kenosha, which was to tow It out of the harbor. First Listing Ignored. At first the Eastland heeled slowly, almost Imperceptibly. Harry Pederson, the captain, stood on the bridge shouting routine orders. Neither he, his officers, nor his crew paid attention to the list, and those of the passengers who had felt slight alarm forgot their fear. The orchestra played oh. Farther over leaned the Eastland. Chairs began to slip from beneath their occupants. S;ttll the captain stuck to his bridge, his voice ringing reassuringly. Then, with a final lurch of the topheavy hull, tragedy took a hand In the picnic. The music stopped in the middle of a bar. Downhill against the port rail tumbled the musicians, scattered and mixed among the rolling, struggling passengers.

Women Slide Into Water. It was a hill there was no climbing, a hill that grew steeper and more impossible with each instant. There was silence for a second as the deck was swept clean. The water rose w the Port rail. It was the signal so f-a chorus of screams. The water Crowned them. Some of those on the open, upper deck, confident of their, ability to swim - hoys and men for the most partjumped overboard. The >**:. the women, were slid into the fiver.

Below, on the ‘t'wfan decks, it was different- •♦orse. At the last momen*. wit<* the Eastland leaning at an angle r,f 45 degrees, tb-re had been a rush for the qopmauiouways. A few reached the ui/i r deck and comparative safety. .c: • vR b hundreds of :men. women and children jammed in a death tangle, the “grand staircase” gave way. Thus the main escape from the entrapping decks was blocked. It lay like a toy boat of tin wrecked in a gutter, its starboard half rising clear of the water. Sea of Bobbing Heads. On to the starboard side climbed the handful—perhaps 200—who had been fortunate enough to be close to the upper rail and who had the presence of mind to cling to it. Scarcely had the Eastland capsized when on the surface of the river, a moment before showed only Hie scum of commerce, appeared a hundred bobbing beads, a crewless and

passengerless lifeboat that had floated free of its davits, and a couple of automatically released life rafts. Before boats lowered by the Roosevelt and the steamer Petoskey, lying near, could reach them many of rue heads disappeared. Employees of tliecommission houses which, back on the river threw crates and barrels overboard, and more, clinging to these, were taken from the water as the rescue forces assembled. But the biggest factor in the business of life saving was tlie Kenosha. Apparently its captain realized what was coming before the Eastland’s own officers.

Pontoon Bridge Built. There was a jangle of bells aboard’ the tug and it backed until its stern rested against the horizontal how of the excursion boat. Then the bow of the tug was swung in to the dock and a bridge to shore was formed for those who had gained the uppermost side of the Eastland. Over the “bridge” scores walked dry footed to safety. Within a few minutes lireboats with tugs and launches, raced up the river to the rescue. Those who had clung to the starboard rail and climbed over side were put ashore: Their places on the hull were taken by rescuers—Cap,tain Cariand and his crew _of life savers from the government station at the mouth of the river, firemen. policemen, a hastily organized medical staff. Police ambulances, hospital ambulances and undertakers’ ambulances, called from all parts of the city, flocked to the Clark street bridge. Trucks and wagons brought lung motors and other artificial respiratory apparatus.

Panic on Roosevelt. After an incipient panic aboard the Roosevelt had been checked by the vessel’s officers, who kept the passengers below decks until their excitement had abated, the second excursion boat was turned into a . temporary morgue. Bodies taken from the Eastland by divers and firemen were stretched along the Roosevelt’s decks until there was room for no mer- Then the Reid-

Murdoch warehouse was thrown open for the reception of the dead. Over the side of the Eastland, over the deck of the Kenosha, along the narrow dock, and up the stairs to the street level crawled a continuous double line of stretcher bearers, policemen for the most part. Once the work was systematized bodies were brought out of the hull at the rate often of two a minute

Physicians Aid Rescuers. Through the early hours —while there were any more chances left —not a chance was taken. Physicians injected strychnine into each body as it came forth. But that was not all. Up on the bridge and on the sidewalk to the south a staff of physicians and nurses waited with the lung machines. A score of the machines clanked at the same time, in a few cases men and women apparently dead were restored to life and carried to hospitals.

Most Victims Suffocated. Coroner’s Physician Joseph Springer examined most of the bodies as they were brought ashore. By pinching the throat of each victim with his lingers the physician determined how they had met . death —whether from drowning ' or suffocation. Doctor Springer said the majority had been suffocated.

Under the steel shell of the Eastland the rescuers could hear tappings and faint cries. After divers had failed to locate the imprisoned passengers a call was sent out for acetylene torches. It was planned to cut eight holes in the steamer’s side.

Try to Stop Rescuers. Captain Pedersen, Dell Fisher, his first mate, and a dozen of the crew were still lingering among the rescuers on the hull. As the torch operators set to work Pedersen rushed to halt them. "Here, stop that!” he cried. ‘‘My orders are to save lives, not be careful of the: boat,” retorted one of the operators. Later 15 of Pedersen’s crew were arrested for interfering With the work of the electricians and torch men.

To Place the Guilt. “Punish the guilty,” is the cry of the city, state and federal authorities who have started investigations of the wreck of the Eastland. The threefold inquisition has produced the following harvest: State’s Attorney Hoyne announced his inquiry might disclose “the same story of human avarice and graft now on exhibition in the police graft cases.” Inspectors Mansfield and Nicholas of the steamboat inspection service intimated “a big mistake” had been made by the officers of the boat.

! Captain and Crew Held. ! Chief of Police Charles C. Healey i ordered C|tpt. Henry Pedersen and his crew held in custody, pending examin- • ation by Coroner Peter Hoffman and other public officials. Twenty-nine arrests were made. Then Coroner Hoffman announced that he had ordered the arrest of every official of the Indiana Transportation company, which leased the Eastland. No individuals were mentioned in the coroner’s announcement.

Manslaughter to Be Charge. j Manslaughter is the charge that will be pradjmred against the persons who may be found responsible for the unprecedented accident to the Eastland. i The federal law has drastic provisions against corruption or criminal negligence on the part of boat-owners and officers and public officials, including steamboat, inspectors, that results in the loss of life.