Before the summer of 1915, tens-of-thousands enjoyed outings on Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Erie, aboard the S. S. Eastland, a passenger steamer built by the Jenks Ship Building Company in Port Huron, Michigan, and launched on May 6, 1903.
It was early on Sunday morning, July 25, 1915, when disaster made its way to the docks in Chicago. The S. S. Eastland sank in just twenty feet of water.
The front page of the Chicago Tribune on July 26, 1915, seemed more interested in placing blame and making excuses than the welfare of the survivors and the disposition of the victims. The banner headline read; BLAME U. S. OFFICIALS…