… his mother identified his body …
Joseph Betlach was one of six children living at home with their widowed mother; Their father had passed away nearly eleven years earlier. The Red Cross records for family #45 reveal the Betlach household as it was at the time of the tragedy.
Joseph earned $9 per week as a shipping clerk at Western Electric. Never married, he died at 18 years of age. He is buried at Bohemian National Cemetery in Chicago, and his name appears on the front of the gravemarker together with the names of his mother and father. Cook County Coroner records show that his mother identified his body.
