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Hidden stories have a way of finding the light. In this fascinating deep dive, we uncover two previously unknown documents that reshape our understanding of the 1915 Eastland disaster that claimed over 800 lives in the Chicago River.

The first discovery reveals how the tragedy transformed American journalism. Through a December 1915 Associated Press Service Bulletin, we glimpse the behind-the-scenes response of the nation's leading news agency and hear the voices of newspaper editors across the Midwest praising the AP's "remarkable" coverage for its "promptness and accuracy." These testimonials from Kentucky to South Dakota demonstrate how thoroughly this Chicago disaster reverberated nationwide.

Even more compelling is the eyewitness account of the Burns brothers - Luke, an attorney visiting Chicago on his honeymoon, and his physician brother Peter who responded to the disaster scene. Their harrowing story, published in a small Minnesota newspaper but never incorporated into mainstream Eastland narratives, provides chilling details: a woman swimmer killed by a barrel thrown from the overturned ship, a Polish survivor who saved 25 people through a porthole, and grieving mothers who lost multiple children. Luke Burns minced no words, calling it "criminal negligence" and describing the Eastland as "not seaworthy" and "top-heavy."

This pattern of finding crucial historical evidence in overlooked sources raises profound questions about historical preservation. As with many neglected chapters of history, it's often independent researchers, genealogists, podcasters, and dedicated volunteers who step up to document stories that might otherwise vanish forever. The truth, as they say, has a way of surfacing - even if it takes a century and everyday citizens to bring it to light.

Want to help preserve these important stories? Subscribe to the podcast, visit flowerintheriver.com, and consider picking up the book that started this journey of historical recovery.

Resources:

• Boyer, Dwight. True Tales of the Great Lakes. Cleveland: The World Publishing Company, 1971.
• Associated Press Service Bulletin, December 17, 1915
• The Virginia Enterprise, Virginia, Minnesota, July 30, 1915

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• The opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opus
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Three young engineers fresh out of Cornell University were running late to the Western Electric company picnic on July 24, 1915. One had overslept, making the trio miss their train and arrive at the Chicago River docks just as their coworkers were boarding the SS Eastland. Redirected to a secondary boat due to overcrowding, they stood on a bridge and watched in horror as the Eastland slowly tilted, then capsized in the shallow water, trapping hundreds inside. Their tardiness had saved their lives.

This remarkable eyewitness account of the Eastland disaster might have been lost forever if not for Jake Fry, who decades later told the story to his friend's son. The friend, Ira Cole, had never spoken of that day to his own family—a silence that mirrored many survivors' responses to trauma. What makes this account particularly valuable is how it captures not just the immediate catastrophe but its aftermath: the desperate rescue attempts continuing into the night, the train ride home with grief-stricken survivors, and the sleepless night that followed.

Both Ira Cole and Jake Fry went on to have distinguished careers in engineering—Cole becoming a pioneering electrical engineer with Lockhead Electronics and Fry developing the relay system for long-distance direct dialing at Bell Telephone Laboratories. Their contributions to technology and their communities illustrate the profound ripple effects of survival. Had they boarded the Eastland that day, not only would they have likely perished along with over 800 others, but their innovations and family legacies would never have existed.

This story, published in Thousand Islands Life magazine in 2011 yet overlooked by many Eastland researchers until now, reminds us how easily historical memory can fade without deliberate preservation.

Too often, disasters like the Eastland are sensationalized, packaged, and sold. But in that process, the real people disappear. Each disaster holds countless individual stories—voices silenced, memories carried forward quietly. Recovering those narratives isn’t just history; it’s resistance against forgetting. What parts of your family’s story are still unspoken, waiting for someone to ask the right questions?

Resources:

• Cole, Rachel. “The Eastland Disaster.” Thousand Islands Life Magazine, 13 Nov. 2011, Note: The comments on the original 2011 article add an interesting layer to this story. They’re worth a look if you’d like to see how the narrative was being shaped at the time.
• Boyer, Dwight. True Tales of the Great Lakes. Chapter 2, “Who Speaks for the Little Feller?”

• Book website: https://www.flowerintheriver.com/
• LinkTree: @zettnatalie | Linktree
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-z-87092b15/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zettnatalie/
• YouTube: Flower in the River - A Family Tale Finally Told - YouTube
• Medium: Natalie Zett – Medium
• The opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opus
• Other music. Artlist

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One shout could have saved lives.
On the morning of the Eastland Disaster, a lone street peddler saw the danger before anyone else. His warning was met with laughter and scorn, and while his experience was recounted in the papers, it was under the wrong name.

In this episode, we return to Dwight Boyer’s True Tales of the Great Lakes and follow one story back in time—stepping onto Chicago’s Clark Street Bridge on July 24, 1915, and tracing the trail from century-old newspapers—first to the real name, and then to his origins in Sicily and finally to the heart of Little Sicily (Chicago), along with the life he built before and after that pivotal morning.

This is the story of how a simple error—repeated for more than a century instead of being researched—can bury a legacy… and how setting it right can bring a hero back into the light.

Resources Referenced

• Boyer, Dwight. True Tales of the Great Lakes. Chapter 2, “Who Speaks for the Little Feller?”
• Chicago Tribune, July 25, 1915.
• Daily Pantagraph (Bloomington, IL), July 26, 1915.
• Lombardo, Calogero. “A Brief History of Chicago’s Little Sicily Neighborhood and the Saint Philip Benizi Parish.” 2013.
• Additional Music: Multiple tracks sourced from Pixabay. Licensed for free use under the Pixabay Content License.

• Book website: https://www.flowerintheriver.com/
• LinkTree: @zettnatalie | Linktree
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-z-87092b15/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zettnatalie/
• YouTube: Flower in the River - A Family Tale Finally Told - YouTube
• Medium: Natalie Zett – Medium
• The opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opus
• Other music. Artlist