OVERLOADING OF EASTLAND CAUSED WRECK
Experts Testify at Coroner's Inquest That Vessel Was Under-ballasted and Not Fit to Carry So Many People

HARBORMASTER SAYS STEAMER CRANKY

Describes Listing of the Steamer and Says It Was Badly Crowded -- Death List Grows, But Few Bodies Are Found

[Associated Press Dispatch] CHICAGO, July 27 -- Overloading, underballasting and grounding on the river bottom were cited in the testimony at the coroner's inquest by two experts as reasons why the steamer Eastland toppled over on Saturday at its wharf, and drowned hundreds of excursionists. Adam Weckler, harbormaster and Joseph Lynn, his assistant, both of whom were present when the steamer capsized with 2,500 aboard, in ascribing the accident to these causes told the coroner's jury which began the inquiry that the boat was 'cranky' and should never have been permitted by the government inspectors to carry more than half of the 2,500 persons it was entitled to transport under license.

While the jury was hearing testimony in an attempt to fix the blame, Secreatry of Commerce Redfield looked over the upset boat and watched the divers combing the wreck and the surrounding water to recover three more bodies.

He made a statement to the effect that government supervision had not been lax, the the Eastland had safely carried more passengers than when she rolled over, but that federal officers would do everything possible to fix the blame, if any, let the blow fall where it might. No progess was made in learning the number of the dead.

While the list of the missing grew only three more bodies were recovered, and divers said probably not more than a score of victims remained in the ship. The divers walked along the river bed hand in hand but found no corpses. It was said the number missing might be greatly reduced by weeding out duplications and tardy reports from those saved. While State's Attorney Hoyne said he had evidence that there were some 2,700 on the ship, ticket checkers said they were positive no more than 2,500 went aboard, including children.

The contract to raise the steamer has been set, and work will be begun as soon as possible. Many funerals will be held tomorrow, and the day has been officially proclaimed as one of mourning, public buildings having already been draped.

According to official lists, 824 bodies are now recovered and identified. At the inquest, Harbormaster Weckler testified he arrived at the Eastland's wharf twenty minutes before the steamer was due to start, and saw the boat listing to port. He called to Captain Pederson of the Eastland to trim the vessel, shouting to the captain that he would not open the Clark street bridge until the boat righted, he said. Weckler said the captain tried to right the ship but seemed unable to take water into the ballast tanks fast enough. He said he had no doubt the tanks had been pumped dry, but the captain should have been able to fill them in from three to six minutes if nothing was wrong with the ballast tank valves.

"I never saw the Eastland loaded so heavily as it was Saturday morning," said Weckler. "I had seen her depart many times. The boat first listed about seven degrees then came back slightly and again started over and kept on going. A boat that is difficult to handle under all circumstances is known as a cranky boat and I noticed the Eastland to be cranky constantly."

"I don't think the Eastland should have been allowed to carry more than 1,200 passengers because it did not have enough draft and stability to carry a larger load. Just last Tuesday I told Captain Pederson his boat needed trimming as it was constantly traveling on its ears. He said the twin screws of the ship kept the Eastland on an even keel while underway."

"After his arrest, I heard Pederson say he tried for seventeen minutes to trim the steamer but could not get water into the ballast tanks fast enough. I don't believe Pederson realized the danger until the final plunge came."

Joseph Lynn, assistant harbormaster, testified that he arrived just as the Eastland was due to start. He saw the dangerous list of the steamship, and called the police and fire departments, returning to the wharf to see the passengers leaping from the decks to the river.

"I believe," said Lynn, "that the ship was on the bottom aft of midship. If she lay on the bank sloping towards the middle of the river, and being jammed down against this bank, she would naturally tip towards the river center. If the captain tried for 17 minutes to right the boat without attempting to get off this aboard, there was negligence." Lynn said he saw many members of the crew leap off the Eastland on the wharf side while the ship was careening.

Captain John O'Meara of the tug Kenosha which hitched to the Eastland to tow the ship out of the river testified that he did not take hold of the Eastland until 7:25, several minutes after the ship had begun to list, according to the other witnesses, even when he waited for the word to go ahead, the captain of the Eastland was not working out the stern as was necessary to protect the screws. Captain O'Meara said he finally got the word to go ahead but before the tow line was taut, the Eastland listed dangerously, he stopped, but the ship never righted. He had towed the Eastland four times and she always listed, he said.

Federal officers then submitted government inspection certificated including the latest one issued by Robert Reid, July 2, at the request of Captain Pederson, that the carrying capacity be increased. This certificate allowed the Eastland to take on 2,570 passengers, an increase of five hundred over previous permits.

A SORDID CRIME

[EDITORIAL] That crime at Chicago last Saturday morning, the more it is investigated is found to have many sordid features. The disclosures incline us to think less of the human race in general. Here were the government inspectors primarily to blame for letting the Eastland carry passengers at all, a vessel of an exceedingly bad record. We learn that the inspector that passed her had a son-in-law who later secured the job of chief engineer on her. We do not know that there was any relation between the job and the favorable inspection, but suspicion obtains. It is not to be presumed that the inspector believed that the vessel was absolutely unsafe unless he had one more son-in-law than he wanted. He probably thought the chances against disaster were the more numerous, and that his son-in-law was reasonably safe. What few chances there were were worth taking.

It is intimated that there are many other floating coffins on the Great Lakes, where disasters for many years have been frightfully numerous, entirely out of proportion as to the numbers, to the natural perils of navigation in those waters. These inspectorships are easy political jobs. the incumbents are not necessarily fit or conscientious. The main thing is to have a pull with a politician who has a pull with a federal department.

It has been brought out also that there was an understanding between the company leasing the Eastland, that rebates on a sliding scale were to be paid to somebody on the fares; that it was contemplated that instead of 2,500 passengers, there might be 4,000, the greater number adding largely to the peril. But that was nothing, so that the company received the fares and somebody else the rebates.

A pitiful disclosure is that there were many picnickers on the ill-fated boat who did not want to be there; perhaps they had a premonition that they were being herded to death as thousands of cattle at that moment were being driven along the chutes in another part of Chicago. But these sad picnickers could not afford to displease a foreman, to whose interest it was that there should be a full attendance at the picnic. Death might be more lenient than the foreman, and spare them .