Show I PRESIDENT WILSON ORDERS RIGID PROBE j OF EASTLAND CATASTROPHE INVESTIGATION TION TO BE MADE BY f CITY AND TAE STATE I I I States State's Attorney of Illinois Charges Responsibility for forit it Disaster Rests Rest With United i States Inspection Bureau tv 4 EVIDENCE OF CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE OBTAINED I I Part of Evidence Will Consist of Letter Lettel From Naval Architect Architect Archi- Archi teet in 1913 Condemning Eastland Because of No Keel DOCUMENTS ARE SEIZED 4 T U r. r WILSON ORDERS PROBE i j f COl nish Co Cornish N. N H. H July 25 1 I Wilson today ordered that a a r in investigation be lie e made by I the department of commerce into j t the lie sinking o the tho excursion steamer steam steam- steam steam-J er or Eastland in the Chicago r river er r. r I li i witha a cot consequent loss of or many I j hundred lives Acting Secretary I Sweet of th the department sent him him j I word that the causes of Lite the disaster I R I would be he looked into and the Presie t e dent directed cl that thai be left leftt l' l c I undone to fix the responsibility un I I it i t C CHICAGO TI H CAGO Jill July Threet investigations J were in full s swing ng here t n the object or of q each ch being to ask as- as k cert ill the canse of the I Eastland dis- dis j l' l aster anti and after that hat where to lity the j 3 i blame Di kerson X N. Hoover government inspector of or Washington ashington 1 and Fe Federal cral Supervisor Charles 1 arrived tolay and conferred with the local in inspectors in- in who be began Rn to gather g facts for the federal grand jury ordered impaneled im paneled by District Ju Judge ge Landis on Tuesday ay States State's Attorney Maclay had hada n a full force of or m men n finding witnesses 1 to go before the county grand jury which will be he impaneled tomorrow In Ii a statement issued tonight ht States State's Attorney Hoj no said regarding his In- In of or the cause of or the accident acci- acci nt dc dent IVd I We Wc c that a considerable por- por of f the blame blaino for the Eastland disaster dis aster ister re rests retti t on the United States in tIon bureau It if the Inspectors of the Ul IlU had hud lone done their dut duty the thc accident acci acci- dent could not havo o occurred We know that the thc ship hll was wan considered consid ered insa b by tho the Inspectors because th there re are arc letters on 11 file In Washington ton f which predicted yesterdays yesterday's occurrence J I 0 copies of pf these letters 3 and may muy f introduce them before the coroners coroner's Int inquest In- In t QU quest t. t 1 The entire police department wits That evidence of bf criminal neg- neg 1 ln In connection with the wreck bad iad been obtained by y them was hinted at at today odlY by Chief of Police Charles C C. Realey He saId valuable Information Was vas as round found In the Inspection papers yesterday in Capt Copt Harry Peder- Peder en cabin I Seized tl I different documents were r nd this the captain and twenty eight of of- I K- K Continued on Pa Page o 2 I WILSON WILSON viLSoN ORDERS ORDERS' EASTLAND PROBE EASTLAND PROBE I WRECK lV GIVES UP BODIES Divers Diver's Work Jork Relentlessly at atI 1 I Rescue Task Prayers Said in in Churches for tor Victims Continued From Pue 1 I. I employees or friends of oC employees O of or ortho tho tim Western Vestern Electric company compan bound for a 11 picnic across Lake Lalee Michigan Sonic Budden of terror terro had driven en smiles from gR gay faces n minutes before the waters swallowed that throng but generally the women and girls Irl In white summer attire and ancl the the men and boys bors dressed ed for a Jovial 1 J Iau and shouting outing were laughing farewells farawell When r realization of ot horror and death swept upon them The listing of ot tho the boat to port was noticed some somo en say fifteen minutes utts be before before he- he fore she turned over o C Captain ln Pedersen Peder- Peder sen sen said five minutes Some w women feeling sudden Rudden fear clutched their children tighter and the next moment decided that In view of tho the slope of tho the tho deck something must b be wrong T When the tho full realization came the tlc tow stow ow list had b become corne an nn overturn 4 Babies blu girls boys bos women and men gear gear and and furniture slid down Into tho the water In a conglomerate muss mass 4 hunts Hunt to the Quickly tugs police pollee boats fire tire boats bonts and private craft shot out from the banks or turned back from their courses along the river anti and began bee picking up the strugglers stragglers In the tho water vater v These strugglers smugglers vero only a minority mi ml ml- ml n rit of the gay I crowd that pressed Into the I ship hll a 1 few minutes before Tho The great part was pinned down clown un under under un- un der or or Inside th the Eastland In thirty minutes s the hun hundred red or two survivors who had climbed up to the tho steel stee side of ot the ship showing above wat waltr r and the others who vIrn had lad Jumped or float floated d dout out Into open water had hEld been picked up and were put safely ashore It was then that tho fishers for tho the dead started Jl on tho the work of taking out bodies bodies n a work that WAS ns to continue continue con con- in a long monotony monotony- throughout th tho th d day nn and night No 0 sooner was tho the Ea upturned side freed of the frantic survivors ors than th their lr places place hall had been tal taken en by corps of emergency physicians lun lung motor operators palice po police police po- po lice firemen life guards divers deputy dep dep- lt uty coroners and azul priests At At t tho the boat anti and at the hastily Improvised ed morgues scores of oC churchmen worked giving 1 absolution and and anointment to tho Jon long line lino of dead Chief Deputy Deppt of oC the police department directed the work of rescue res res- cue Half his task was th the keeping back of ot the thousands thousands' of persons who surged toward tho the river as soon as tho the first stories of tho catastrophe spread through the tle city cIU Double lines of ot po- po lIce aice formed around the docks und and at I Clark street at either cither en end of the bridge and with drawn batons held I back hack tho the crowds 1 Jen the anxious 1 relatives of the Eastland picnickers had Jad to be turned back They were directed to the morgues or to two tWoS information bureaus that were opened Oll Immediately by officials of tho the Western Electric company Most 1 of the rescue work was donon done don on the ships ship's sides Steel opened holca through the plating plaUn to ad admit admit admit ad- ad mit th the tho divers and firemen and guards Into the flooded recesses of ot the ship Down Do there amongst mon the floating furniture furniture furniture fur fur- and ad other debris could be seen t heads and white flashing arms Th sickened and turned y awa then n nerved el ed l' l to J ladders ders l Many bodies s 's werd recover merely 11 ere b. b b by grasping them b by th the I or clothing g. g Taken Out One brie O c u a lIou For the first hour or BO to the they were vero taken out at the average rate of one a minute The first ones were all worked over O with lung motors hot water massage and stimulants They were spread out on blank blankets ts on Oft n tho the ships ship's side for resuscitation work In order that no precious moments bo be lost A few lives cs am among these were saved sa But as the tho hours p passed only onh those bodies that showed faint taint coloring or pulse were turned over o to the clans The rest went wont Into that procession which winding down from the thc ships ship's side and up tho the docks to the trucks was kept up all of yesterday through lust last night and tOda today It was a procession of or dead deall such as probably probably- b Ie er before was witnessed I anywhere A A man mun who watched It several hours from the Clark street bridge went raving mad and was car car- Tied ned awn away fighting a a. haIr dozen police police- men mon While the pulleys pulle's kept creaking hoisting holdIng bodies from the Interior of f the ship harbor craft were Wele bus busy grappling In the thc current picking up bodies that had hd floated clear Nets were stretched across the river below the wreck and ninny many bodies picked from the meshes like fish from a Be Because the line of or stretchers wending their way across the thc docks could not carry the dead fast enough three or four light tur put to work carrying car car- bodies from the wreck across across to the north side attic of at the tho river to a n. Warehouse ware ware- hou house e the first two floors of which were v e turned Into a temporary morgue When the warehouse morgue list of ot bodies had reached toward the middle of the afternoon the Second regiment armory at nt Washington ton and Curtis street treet was turned into a morgue 7 the hodl bodies that had bad been stretched In row rows row ort on the tile floors of the wholesale grocery warehouse w were transferred I there here At t tho the armory the thc h vast floor space that hall had been US used cd h by soldiers In drilling gave ga ample room for tho the dead dead Placed head he to head In long T rows W with spacious aisles r between tho the bodies bodie were wele viewed 1 by y the tho many hun bun I of ot grieved ed relatives es and mil friends whose dear ones one had not been heen heard from since the they left leU homo to Join the thc fateful excursion J Identified E B Binning late yesterday afternoon thin t line of bereaved ed passed passed through t the the- armor armory The They came nil all through We the jo night and all day today I ld identifications a Were made nad with W K great reat at eo 80 o that the J unidentified bodIes to tonIght cht dwindled I to 1 than a hum Tension ll and re repression were the out out- I standing qualities shown b by those thoRr who walked in that Identification line Those who walked In it today tod had long bug since given up hope and with clenched hands steeled themselves for tor forthe forthe the sight flight of ot tho the dead face of a loved Jo on ono one As A fast as Identifications worn Were made the thc bodies were turned over to tu undertakers and curried carried to the thc long Ions line lino of ot JH drawn up along lon tho the Curtis street side of ot the thc armory This quiet t. half cloudy Sunday was wasa a da day of gloom for far all Chicago o Ministers Min Mm- biters sal said more Inore people attended church than for tor man many Sundays Sunday past Chicago turned to prayer and th thought u ht Tho The preachers chers n nearly all of oC them then referred to the thc En Eastland 1 disaster ter In their sermons sermons ser ser- mons and asked con congregations to Join In prayers crl for th the afflicted Shifts Shirts of po policemen tor and firemen that had b been cn on guard duty at tho the bridges or bus busy on the tho side of the tue sunken boat 1011 v In fn nil tho night t were relieved d about bl t 8 s- s an anby a. a in 1 b by other men Tho The poll police co lines were tightly drawn from lake to BlIP Buh street This kept the tho bridge at Clark str street et free tree of or curious crowds crow and allowed those whose duties duties' call dl them thero them unhampered freedom The result wa was that tho the forenoons forenoon's work moved rapidly and smoothly smooth Seven divers had brought ht up before 10 O'clock this morning forty two bodies booles The They were vere taken to the south side of ot the river at La Salle Salic street and thence conveyed to the Second regiment armory The bodies brou brought ht up this morning made a a total of or el eighty eight I taken t out since Jast last midnight Four police pollee patrol boats cruised around the vicinity of the thc Eastland t for hours using trawl lines with heavy henvy hooks tr trying nJ to bring out bodies bodle that possibly Mid had drifted awn away from the steamer Their search slI however er was fruitless Seven en e divers made mado repeated descents Into the Eastland's hull but several tle hours passed without nn any more bo bodies being discovered er Side Rests In Mud One Ono of or the he divers Louis Krueger s said ld that he thought several se score bodies hod- hod lea ies were still sUll pinned under the boat the loft side of which ho he said was resting In about four feet of ot mud These rhese bodies bodies' cannot be reckoned with I until after the coroners coroner's Inquest t. t when efforts will probably at once be made mado to right the vessel Manager W. W K Greenbaum of or the Indiana Transportation company compan which had ll Je st steamer for tor forthe the Western estern Electric company's excursion l n. n was early at his office From his Ills he be overlooked o with grave e face the tho scene I In the river below helow and said It wax was a n terrible calamity I can enn 1 add 1 1 nothing to wh what t I said Bald yesterday ay and nd can cnn only repeat m my deep regret at nt what happened As I said before the thc governments government's inspectors inspectors' 0 o. o k k on the passengers passenger taken aboard rd seemed as assurance as- as S. S that all was sas w well and tho the catastrophe catl came to us as S a terrible sho shock k nn and surprise Policeman John Root noal told today tollay of or an nn a aged ed woman who when hen he scrambled on the upturned side of the steamer was clinging to a t beam In Inthe Inthe Inthe the interior of or the th ship Ho could see her through a. a porthole and called to her to han hang on Ho Ha found a rope and nd dropped the end down 11 through theDo the tho Do port F t. t Her head sank beneath the tho water said Mid Root but buther huther hor hand grasped the line I dra dragged s her up but found to tom tomy tomy m my horror that the the- port was too small I to get et her through I encouraged her herto herto herto to hang on until I got ot help but when I returned with men and tools to en enlarge enlarge enlarge en- en large tho opening she was gone one Half Hal an n hour later when we e had cut through h the steel stool wall we found her herI I bod body I do not know who ho she Ih was as |