IT'S 25th ANNIVERSARY OF EASTLAND DISASTER
by George Stahnke

Cicero and Berwyn were plunged into deepest mourning 25 years ago today when one of the world's greatest steamship disasters, the capsizing of the excursion vessel Eastland in the Chicago River, took the lives of 166 west surburbanites. A total of 812 persons, set for a day picnic trip to Michigan City, died in the catastrophe.

More than 7,000 persons, employees of the Western Electric Company, Hawthorne plant and their families and friends, had gathered at a pier on the Chicago River to board four steamers which would take them on a holiday cruise. An estimated 2,400 had already packed the Eastland, and while gangplanks were being pulled up and ropes cast off, the crowds yet on the pier were terrified to see the ship list, right itself, then slowly tip and capsize.

What had been merry cheers a moment before became screams of horror as the vessel turned over on its side and the passengers were thrown from the decks into the water or were caught in the boat's superstructure and carried beneath the surface. Men, women and children clung to the upper side of the boat until they lost their hold and slipped into the river, many drowning before rescuers on the shore could reach them.

On the boat, sliding furniture injured, killed or pinned under water many of the picnickers. One account of the disaster relates how one man was crushed to death against a wall by a piano, how another drowned while attempting to free himself from a chair caught in one corner of the deck. Scores were trapped and drowned while inside the ship's salons.

Bodies were taken to armories in Chicago for identification, many later being brought to the undertaking establishment at 2947 49th Avenue, where Cicero and Berwyn residents, friends and relatives of persons who had been scheduled to go on the cruise, gathered to read bulletins posted on the disaster. Rejoicing was mixed with scenes of sorrow as new lists of survivors and dead were announced.

Hawthorne Hard Hit
Crepe hung on at least one home in almost every block in Hawthorne, the hardest hit area in the west suburbs, on the day after the catastrophe; July 28th, set by the Cicero town board as a funeral day, saw dozens of hearses followed by corteges of carriages file slowly through the town. Stores, offices, factories were closed in respect for the dead.

This reporter's mother and father had the experience of being shoved off the gangplank onto the dock by boat attendants just as the vessel began to sway at its moorings. Only missing a street car on their trip downtown caused them to be on the pier instead of on the boat at the minute of the disaster.

Other local residents who narrowly escaped death in the tragic accident include Frank Terdina, 3727 Wesley Avenue, now president of Berwyn Playground and Recreation commission, and Charles Borovansky, 1936 Grove Avenue, who were on the second deck of the vessel when it capsized.

Felt Boat Sway
Borovansky, recalling the experience, said "Frank and I felt the boat swaying a little and were even joking about cutting loose the life preservers with a knife Frank carried. Suddenly the deck started to tilt toward the river and I knew it was no joke. I saw several girls jump into the water from the lower deck and a few seconds later I was in the water with people swimming all around me."

"It all happened so fast I couldn't quite understand the tragedy that had happened at first. I tried to swim across the river but found I couldn't make it with all my clothes on. Then I turned around and saw a raft a few feet away that I climbed onto, and in a few seconds I helped a girl and a man on it also."

Thought of New Suit
Terdina, in his version of the water tragedy, declared "Everybody went over to the river side when the gangplank was pulled up. Suddenly the boat started to keel over. Borovansky yelled at me to jump, but I said 'Hell, no. I've got a new suit of clothes on - I won't jump.' But in a few seconds I was all alone on the deck and into the water I jumped."

"I got caught in the ropes on the mast, and how I got loose I don't know, but I finally came up."

"I was afraid the boilers would explode if I went near the boat, so I stayed back and a tugboat picked me up. I guess I helped about 16 people out of the water. Then I went home on the train - the conductor looked at my clothes and let me ride free - back to my wife and family, who luckily had not gone along."

Disaster Followed Depression
The disaster came shortly after business depression during which many employees of the Western Electric Company had been working only part time and had just recently been put back on full time. To aid in combating the financial distress caused by the deaths of many family wage earners, Western Electric firm set up a $100,000 relief fund, the Cicero town board voted $2,000 for relief and a $300,000 fund was raised by private subscriptions throughout the state.

Damage suits totaling $8,000,000 later placed against the steamship went uncollected because a federal master in admiralty ruled the vessel's owners were not liable beyond the value of the hull of the ship. Six indictments returned against Harry Pederson, captain of the Eastland, and other officials of the company got no farther than a hearing before a federal judge, who ruled that since the ship was tied up at a dock in the Chicago River, the case was out of the jurisdiction of the federal government.

The salvaged Eastland was later sold to the United States Naval Reserve for $42,000 and was rebuilt to become the Wilmette.