Saturday, January 10, 2015

Last Known Survivor of Eastland Disaster Dies-- Part 2

Thousands of Western Electric Co., the manufacturing arm of Bell Telephone Co, gathered in downtown Chicago, anxiously awaiting departure for a much anticipated day of good times family picnic day to Michigan City, Indiana.

A Lake Michigan excursion ship, the SS Eastland, and others had been chartered to take the families from downtown along Lake Michigan's southern shore to the Indiana shore.

There were about 7,000 employees and their families expecting to sail on five ships and the Eastland was supposed to depart first.

According to Ted Wachholz, "Tghis was the showcase event (of) the year for all these people.  In a heartbeat it went from being the most anticipated day to the worst of all possible scenarios."

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