Sleep well, dear son and brother.
Josef was a victim in the capsizing of the SS Eastland at the Clark Street bridge in Chicago.The ship had been getting ready to depart for a daylong excursion across Lake Michigan.
Most of the victims, including Josef, were employees of the Western Electric Company and were aboard for a company picnic. Josef's three sisters, Anna, Maria and Rose were also Western Electric employees, and they also drowned that day.
844 people died in all, including 22 entire families. It all happened in full view of morning pedestrians on their way to work. Passersby rushed to help, but at a time when few people could swim, little could be done to save lives.
7 priests from nearby parishes rushed to the scene. The first to arrive gave conditional absolution to everyone aboard the ship, and one clung to the side of the hull to hear the confessions of those trapped. Dozens upon dozens of people made their last confessions this way.
Those who were dying received viaticum.
The Eastland remains the worst maritime disaster in Great Lakes history.
Many, many victims are buried at the beautiful Bohemian National Cemetery.
Walking amongst the graves, you cannot help but be nearly moved to tears at the thought of so many parents losing every one of their children on the same day, and of mothers whose babies slipped through their grasp and sank. Bohemian is beautiful, peaceful, and interesting, like most cemeteries. Unlike most cemeteries, grief is heavy in the air at Bohemian, and I think this can only be attributed to the hundreds upon hundreds of people who rest there after dying so suddenly and tragically.
We photographed many Eastland victims' graves to upload to Find A Grave.
Of course, nothing can lighten the spirits (ahem) like an adorable little tot running among the tombstones. I estimate that maybe 40% of the stones at Bohemian have a photograph on them, and Mary had a great time kissing all the photos. I know!
At one point, she picked up a huge tree branch and carried it for the rest of our time there, like she was in a parade.
A boy and his dog:
5 comments:
Oh man! Finally... someone who will appreciate my love for old old cemeteries and headstones! Ha! We had to do a graveyard project in high school and I was hooked! They tell such stories! My grandparents headstone is so beautiful and so simple. It has a little etched grain of wheat - representing the fact that they were farmers. There are 4 grains of wheat ... with one slightly bent. We always thought that was symbolic of my mom and her two sisters... and the fourth grain of wheat representing their older sister who died at birth. See... what a story!!!
I love stories like this, dramatic but spiritual heroics. I wonder if the graves of the children from the OLA fire are near you? http://www.olafire.com/
Jenny,
If we ever move to Indy, you can totally be my graveyard buddy!
Woo!
:)
Thorn,
Most of those kids are buried at Queen of Heaven in Hillside, about 10 miles south of where I live.
I would like to get to that cemetery eventually.
One of my coworkers, a now-retired CPD cop, was a student at OLA. He was in 3rd grade when the fire happened.
He told me that he remembers the nuns leading the class outside and he was thinking how great that was because they were going to get to go home early. (It was a brutally cold day, by the way.)
He was only 8, and was oblivious to what was happening for the longest time. He was walking outside and rounded the corner and saw children jumping from the top floor windows to the pavement below.
He said that's what stayed in his memory.
:(
Should read "one of my EX coworkers."
:)
Oh, thank you for sharing that. Sad story.
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