From the April 15th Chicago Tribune Chicago Flashback by Stephan Benzkofer.
"Who was on board and who survived? That's what was being asked...."
The late, extra edition of the Tribune for April 15, 1912, was primarily devoted to the prominent people aboard. I have already mentioned quite a few, but others included Rock Island, Illinois, native Francis Millet, an artist who was the decorations directions for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Also aboard was English journalist William T. Stead who was also a reformer and wrote "If Jesus Came to Chicago."
The Tribune's first full day of coverage was about rescue and the Carpathia on its way to New York City with just 866 passengers, mostly women and children and a partial list of survivors. Most of April 17th's front page was of a list of First and Second-Class survivors. Only three of the Titanic's passengers were Chicagoans: Ida Hippach and her 15-year-old daughter, Jean, and Ervin Levy, a jeweler. The Hippaches survived, but not Levy.
The Hippaches were lucky this time, but not always. Two young sons, Robert and Archie, died in the horrible Iroquois Theater fire in 1903. Two years after Titanic, a third son died in an automobile accident. And, in 1915, Jean was the passenger in a car crash that killed an 8-year-old boy.
Not knowing the fate of loved ones was the problem of Oscar Johnson of suburban St. Charles. On April 17th, the paper reported that his wife, two children and his two sisters were not among those saved. But, on the 18th, the 32-year-old businessman fainted for 30 minutes when he heard they had survived.
Good News for Mr. Johnson. --Cooter
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