...her sister had just had an appendectomy and was weak...
Clara and Emma Reisner boarded the Eastland and found chairs at the back of the boat near the railing. When the ship tipped so easily and smoothly, Clara did not get excited or panic. "I didn't think it was so serious," she said. "I didn't think we or anyone else would drown. I was going to grab for my purse, but Emma said, 'Forget the purse. Can't you see the boat is going down?'"
The two sisters were not on the side of the boat that went into the water, and when the boat started to tip, Emma told Clara to grab onto the railing. The chairs that they had been sitting on rolled away and slid off the boat. They held onto the railing, and the water was up to their knees.
Clara said she could see and hear people in the water, bobbing and screaming. Workmen began throwing boxes and pieces of wood into the water to help the people float, but the objects hit several people on the head.
Fire boats were there within minutes, and the two sisters were two of the first to be rescued. Clara told the rescuers to grab Emma first because she had just had an appendectomy three weeks before, and was, understandably, getting weak.
Once safely ashore, they began looking for a phone to call home and tell everyone they were safe, but they couldn't get to one because of the crowd, so they boarded a streetcar and were home by noon.
To most of us, the capsizing of the S. S. Eastland is a fascinating story of a disaster from Chicago's past, but to Clara (Reisner) Woeltje of Naperville it is a vivid memory.
Clara Reisner worked in the fuse department of Western Electric, and she was to attend the picnic. It was raining that morning, but the 19-year-old decided to go anyway. The excursion cost $.75.
Clara and her sister, Emma, who also worked at Western Electric, left their Chicago home at 5:45 a.m. They wanted to be sure to be on the first ship that had been chartered for the trip.
The two sisters boarded the Eastland and found chairs at the back of the boat, near the railing. Other passengers tried to board, but they were too late and had to go on one of the other ships.
Without warning, the Eastland leaned away from the dock and capsized. The ship tipped so easily and smoothly that Clara did not get excited or panic.
"I didn't think it was so serious. I didn't think we or anyone else would drown. I was going to grab for my purse, but Emma said, 'Forget the purse. Can't you see the boat is going down?'"
The two sisters were not on the side of the boat that went into the water, and when the boat started to tip, Emma told Clara to grab on to the railing. The chairs that they had been sitting on rolled away and slid off the boat.
They held on to the railing, and the water was up to their knees.
As was the fashion, Clara was wearing a long dress and white, high-top shoes, all of which became very heavy in the water.
"Emma and I were hanging onto the rail, and the other passengers were pulling us down. Later on, when I took my stockings off, they were down in the heels of my shoes because of how the people were pulling."
Clara said she could see and hear people in the water, bobbing and screaming. Workmen began throwing boxes and pieces of wood into the water to help the people float, but the objects hit several people on the head.
Fire boats were there within minutes, and the two sisters were two of the first to be rescued. Clara told the rescuers to grab Emma first because she had just had an appendectomy three weeks before, and was, understandably, getting weak.
"Once we were safely ashore, there were a lot of men around, and we flirted with them. They all told us we were lucky girls."
They began looking for a phone to call home and tell everyone they were safe, but they couldn't get to one because of the crowd, so they boarded a streetcar and were home by noon.
"I told the conductor, 'We have no money. We were on that boat.' He said, 'Go right on in.' He even gave us a transfer."
In the meantime, Clara's father, her brother, and her fianc€, had all gone to the dock to look for the two. The girls beat the searchers home, and she was afraid her father would collapse when he saw that she was safe.
"That day our names were listed in the Tribune as missing. Our father reported us missing because he couldn't find us."
That morning, before the excursion, Clara called the friend she walked to work with each morning. Her friend had overslept, so the sisters picked her up on their way to the picnic. The friend was sitting with the two sisters when the ship capsized. The girl went down once, but was rescued and taken to the first aid station.
Although the girl was fine, the girl's mother blamed Clara for calling her that morning and taking the girl on the trip.
However, not all endings were happy. Clara was scheduled to be married in two months and her bridesmaid was also on the Eastland.
"I looked up and saw her and her boyfriend, standing just in the cabin about to come out when all this happened. They didn't stand a chance because they were in a cabin." They were trapped in the boat and drowned.
Many departments at Western Electric were affected by the accident, Clara said.
"The whole week after was nothing but funerals. The department I worked in was almost completely wiped out."
"I had already given my notice that I was leave because I was getting married, but the superintendent asked if I would stay and work." She couldn't, she explained, because married women didn't work then.
The neighborhood she lived in and the city of Cicero were the hardest hit by deaths from the accident, she said.
Clara comments that she was lucky. "We were just at the right place at the right time," she said about her location on the boat before the accident. "If I had been on the front, I wouldn't have had a chance. Nor would I if I had been on the other side."
"One of my bosses drowned and he was a good swimmer," Clara said.
Clara's granddaughter, Gail Haas, was born on July 24, the anniversary of the accident. Clara said she jokes with her granddaughter that if things had been different on that day in 1915, neither of them would be here.
Copyright © Naperville Sun
reprinted from the Naperville Sun