I spent over a dozen years looking into this story, and i had worked at the wall street journal for over 20 years and i had never encountered a story of this magnitude or drama. As i began looking into it what i found was that this has to be one of the most deadly, least known shipwrecks in america. And i uncovered a tale that was so horrible and so surprising i could not let it go. In a a lot of ways the story would not let me go, either. So were in july 1915, almost exactly 100 years ago. A large steamship. Think of the flatiron building on its side. That is virtually the exact size that eastland was. A flatiron building turned on its side quickly capsizes. Although it is tied to its dock. Yet, it capsize. 844 people die. Within minutes. 844 people. That is more passengers than died on the titanic, much more famous accident. 22 entire families died on the eastland. Mothers, aunts, 22 whole family units gone, wiped out in the Chicago River. Now, i do not know how many of your for real
When they got to cabin partitions, they got to steel and scratched their fingers bloody trying to escape. This little girl, eleanor, was the only survivor of her entire family. Her entire family was killed. There were many orphans on the eastland. Many children were orphaned. For me, one of the as i say the photo of the little girl was one that drove me. I am touched by the number of children, orphans, and eastland children who are here. This is one. 2001 when i was initially starting the research, i was fortunate to meet someone who had been on the eastland. I had always wanted to and there was a woman named libby. She was nearly 100 in 2001. She was going to recollect being on the eastland. She was 10 at the time the ship went down and survived. I went to the talk, like this gathering, and i had hoped to interview her. I was deep in the research and wow what a great source to have. When i went to the talk, she was not talking and was not lucid enough to speak. She stood by the podium
In the courtroom, darrow and erickson are fighting to save their careers and lives. The last image i want to bring to your attention is i was lucky that there was a book fair in chicago about 10 years ago and those are wonderful things to go to. For historical research, you can get some great finds. There was, wrapped up in plastic, a from page copy of the eastland sinking in the Chicago Record herald. There is a wonderful cartoon that, to me, after all the Research Really brings it in a chilling fashion to light. The cartoonist is blaming greed for the shipwrecked and shows a hand pulling the ship over. This is the spilling of people from the ship. The ship actually tipped the other way. His point was well made. That brings to a close the image portion of my presentations. I would be happy to take some questions, if you have them. Im sure you do. A little bit after that, we have some books, if youd like to purchase, and i would be happy to sign, as well. Questions . They will bring a
Other american artifacts programs at any time by visiting our website cspan. Org history. Up next on American History tv author Michael Mccarthy discusses the july 1915 capsizing of the ss eastland in the Chicago River. Over 800 factory workers died in the tragedy including 22 entire families. Mccarthy examines the faulty ballast system that caused the ship to capsize any talks about the forgotten legacy of the ss eastland. Posted by the new york public library, this program is about 90 minutes. Michael thank you very much. I really appreciate this turnout. I know it is beautiful outside and the tulips are fantastic. Thank you for taking the time to come to this presentation. It is correct. I spent over a dozen years looking into this story, and i had worked at the wall street journal for over 20 years and i had never encountered a story of this magnitude or drama. As i began looking into it what i found was that this has to be one of the most deadly, least known shipwrecks in america.
The museum has undergone a number of changes. This museum was the next phase of being built in appomattox, chosen to be here because of the people that come to this particular area. Appomattox is one of the top draws for civil war historians or people interested in civil war history. We wanted to give them another experience where we could bring more of our collection out and bring the collection that specifically relates to appomattox. I have been with the museum for 15 years. Four years as director. Love the job totally. It has been fantastic. An excited about the future with the museum as it continues to grow and expand and improve our collection. We hope you will stop by and see us. Please do. You can watch this or other programs at any time by visiting our website. The new congressional directory is a handy guide to the 114th congress with color photos of every senator and house number plus Contact Information and twitter handles. Also district maps, a foldout map of capitol hill,