Chicago, Illinois -- F. W. Willard and Howard Wynn were two individuals who became heroes on July 24, 1915, when they saved numerous people from an early death. F. W. Willard worked as a technical superintendent at Western Electric Company’s Cable Works Department. He was one of the company’s officials when the Eastland turned over […]
Chicago, Illinois -- Frank Blaha was an 18-year-old Western Union employee when he embarked on the cranky Eastland on July 24, 1915, with his friend, Joe Crawl. Frank, who had several friends at Western Electric Company, asked his boss for the day off to attend the Hawthorne Club 5th Annual Picnic. After Frank and Joe boarded the ship, […]
Chicago, Illinois -- Bert Cross was a Western Electric Company employee who knew of the Eastland’s reputation as a cranky ship before he boarded the vessel. He wrote his mother on July 26, 1915, informing her of his survival. Bert and five coworkers from his department were on the promenade deck, near of the center of […]
Chicago, Illinois -- Morris Dempsey, Harry Kleinfelder, and Harry’s younger brother Ed were all good friends who planned to spend July 24, 1915, playing games, laughing, and enjoying the day off from work. Before they reached the wharf, Morris, whom Harry described as a “happy-go-lucky-Irishman,” stopped at a liquor store to buy a bottle of […]
Chicago, Illinois -- Theresa Ragnhild Lindseth and Willard Brown were two Western Electric Company employees who were lucky to survive the Eastland Disaster. Theresa Ragnhild Lindseth (pictured above), a secretary/clerk at Western Electric Company, later expressed to her family how lucky she was to survive the tragedy. She never married, but she lived with and […]
