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One
of the most devastating, and haunting, tragedies to strike Chicago would be the
capsizing of the EASTLAND steamer on July 24, 1915, between the Clark and
LaSalle Street bridges. Although it had only just departed the dock when the
tragedy occurred, the steamer was bound for Michigan City, Indiana where a
picnic had been planned for the workers of “Western Electric” and their
families. There were four vessels chartered to take the estimated 7,000 people
on their journey across the lake. One of these vessels was the EASTLAND, a
rusting Lake Michigan steamer owned by the St. Joseph-Chicago Steamship Company.
It was supposed to hold a capacity crowd of 2,570 but it is believed that at
least 3,200 were on board. Besides being overcrowded, the vessel had a
reputation for being notoriously unstable.
The
EASTLAND was moored on the south side of the river and after the passengers were
loaded on board, the dock lines were loosed and the ship prepared to depart.
What followed was a nightmare....
The
overflow crowd, dressed in their best summer attire, even on this drizzly
morning, jammed onto the decks, waving handkerchiefs and calling out to those
still on shore. The ship eased away from the dock and immediately began to list
to the post. As more passengers pushed toward that side of the deck, the boat
tilted dangerously. What the passengers were unaware of was that the crew of the
steamer had emptied the ballast compartments (designed to provide
“stability” for the craft) so that more passengers could be loaded aboard.
This would be the undoing of the EASTLAND... as moments later, the ship simply
toppled over!
The
passengers above deck were thrown into the water and the river became a moving
sea of bodies. Crews on the other boats threw life preservers into the river,
while onlookers began throwing lines, boxes and anything else that would float
to the floundering passengers. To make matters more difficult, the river was now
surging, thanks to the wake caused by the overturned ship. Many of the luckless
passengers were pulled beneath the water by the current, or swamped by the
crashing waves.
Worst
of all was the fate of those passengers who had remained inside of the ship when
it had departed. These unlucky victims were first thrown to one side of the ship
as it turned over and then they were covered with water as the river rushed
inside. A few of them managed to escape to the upturned end of the ship, but
most didn’t, becoming trapped in a tangled heap at the lowest point of the EASTLAND.
Firefighters
and rescue workers arrived within minutes and began cutting holes in the
wood
above the water line and in the steel hull below it. In the first fateful
minutes, a number of passengers managed to escape, but soon, it was simply too
late. The rescue workers had to resign themselves to fishing corpses out of the
water, which they wrapped in sheets and transferred to the ROOSEVELT, another
vessel that had been rented for the excursion. The big downtown stores sent
wagons and trucks to ferry the injured and dead to nearby hospitals and
makeshift morgues. Large grappling hooks were also used to pull bodies from the
water.
By
late that afternoon, nearly 200 bodies had been taken to the 2nd Regiment Armory
on West Washington Blvd. According to newspaper accounts, a police diver who had
been hauling bodies up from the bottom of the river since mid-morning suddenly
broke down and became crazed. He had to be subdued by several of his friends and
fellow officers. City workers began dragging the river far south of where the
ship had capsized, using large nets to stop the bodies from washing out into the
lake. By the time that it was all over, 835 of the ships passengers perished,
including 22 entire families.
The
mystery of the EASTLAND was never solved. There was never a clear cause that
could be reached that accounted for the capsizing of the vessel. Several hundred
lawsuits were eventually filed but almost all of them were thrown out by the
Circuit Court of Appeals, who held the owners of the steamship blameless in the
disaster. The EASTLAND was later sold at public auction in December 1915. The
title was later transferred to the government and it was pressed into duty as
the gunboat USS WILMETTE. In 1946, it was sold for scrap metal.
But
the story of the EASTLAND does not end there.....
In
recent years, the armory building, where most of the dead were taken during the
disaster, has been incorporated into Harpo Studios, the production company owned
by Oprah Winfrey. As one of Chicago’s greatest success stories, Oprah came to
Chicago in 1984 to host the WLS-TV talk show “AM Chicago”. Within a few
years, she had recreated the program and it was re-named the “Oprah Winfrey
Show”. She has since gone on to become the host of the most popular talk show
in television history, a film star, producer and well-known personality.
But
all of the success and attention that the show has brought to the former armory
building has done nothing to put to rest the spirits of the EASTLAND. Many who
work here claim that the ghosts of the perished passengers are still restless in
the new studios. According to Dale Kaczmarek’s book, WINDY CITY GHOSTS, many
employees have had strange encounters that cannot be explained, including the
sighting of an apparition that has been dubbed the “Gray Lady”. In addition,
staff members hear whispering voices, the laughter of children, sobbing sounds,
old-time music, the clinking of phantom glasses and marching of invisible
footsteps. The footsteps (which sound as though they belong to a large group)
are frequently heard on the lobby staircase and nearby doors often slam shut
without assistance. A large number of the staff members believe this to be a
very haunted place!
The
site of the disaster is not without its chilling stories either. Today, the site
is marked by a historical plaque, commemorating the memories of those whose
lives were lost. Some say it is marked by other things as well..... namely cries
of terror from the victims of the tragedy. For many years, passersby on the
Clark Street Bridge claimed to hear cries and moans coming from the river, along
with the bloodcurdling sound of terrified screams. Perhaps the horror of the
event impressed itself on this place, where it continues to replay itself over
and over again....
The
EASTLAND disaster continues to be remembered, in more ways than one!
For the story on the haunted Harpo Studios click here.
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