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In this episode, we revisit the Bell Telephone News from August 1915 and the stories of extraordinary individuals who responded to the Eastland disaster with courage and quick thinking:

• Fred J. Lippert - The telephone company engineer who happened to be wearing his bathing suit that morning (planning to swim after work) and dove repeatedly into the Chicago River to rescue victims. But his heroism didn't stop there - his entire life was defined by service and sacrifice.
• George Spiegelhauer - The methodical rescuer who knew how to operate the cutting-edge "pulmotor" resuscitation devices when others couldn't. His story has a beautiful twist involving beekeeping that perfectly captures his caring nature.
• H. Haberstroh - The vacationing boatman whose pleasure craft was pressed into rescue service by police.
• James Carney - The unsung hero who literally had to swim 100 feet in semi-darkness to install emergency telephone lines at the life-saving station, ensuring communication could flow during the crisis.

The Fire That Almost Was

I'll also share the spine-chilling story of an unnamed plant department worker who prevented what could have been a catastrophic fire at the Second Regiment Armory - where hundreds of people were gathered to identify their loved ones. Imagine the panic that could have ensued.

The Bigger Picture

Though freely available in digital archives, these firsthand accounts have remained largely overlooked for more than a century. They reveal not just moments of individual heroism, but the critical, behind-the-scenes work that connected rescuers, hospitals, morgues, and desperate families—long before the digital age. In just a few hours, the telephone company installed nearly 40 emergency lines, creating a vital communication network during one of Chicago’s darkest days.

These stories raise important questions about historical memory: Who gets remembered, and why? By reclaiming their stories, we not only honor their courage, but also gain a fuller understanding of how communities respond in moments of crisis.

Resources

• Selfless Saviors: Two Extraordinary Rescuers in the Eastland Disaster
• Bell Telephone News, 1915
• American Ancestors

• Book website: https://www.flowerintheriver.com/
• LinkTree: @zettnatalie | Linktree
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• 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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In this week’s episode of Flower in the River, we unearth a powerful 1952 article written by author Olive Carruthers—an overlooked piece of Eastland Disaster history that should be widely known but has remained hidden for over 70 years. Through Carruthers’ evocative writing, we meet three remarkable figures:

• Catherine O’Reilly, the telephone operator who took the call about the Eastland disaster—and whose own brother, Patrick, was among the victims.
• Enoch Moberg, a deep-sea diver from Evanston who pulled more than 60 bodies from the wreckage and yet remains mostly unrecognized today.
• Olive Carruthers herself, a poet and author whose beautiful, human-centered storytelling reminds us why these names matter.

We also unpack why these stories were forgotten—and how rediscovering them reframes what we know about that tragic day in 1915.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

📞 The call Catherine O’Reilly made—and the call she dreaded to receive.

🤿 The incredible heroism of Enoch Moberg, a city diver who worked nonstop in pitch-black waters to retrieve the lost.

✍️ The literary legacy of Olive Carruthers, who wrote with clarity, compassion, and historical insight.

🕵️‍♀️ Why so many Eastland stories remain sidelined —and what it takes to bring them back.

Resources:

• Carruthers, Olive. “How Evanstonians Assisted in the Eastland Disaster.” The Evanston Review, October 23, 1952. In Evanston’s First 100 Years.
• The Piper City Journal, December 20, 1917. “Diver Works in Bitter Cold.” A piece that references Enoch Moberg’s service as a diver for Evanston, including his role in the Eastland Disaster.
• “From Ashes to Action” (about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (1911) and the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition. Fill to Capacity Podcast (host, Pat Benincasa)
• Threads of Tragedy: The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and the Eastland Disaster. (Flower in the River Podcast)
• Additional music in this episode sourced from Pixabay Music.

• 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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In this episode, I’m circling back to three stories I’ve covered before—but they’re too important to leave behind.

First up: Floyd C. Smith, a hardworking Chicago salesman who was near the dock when the Eastland capsized. He assisted and was later recognized by Coroner Peter Hoffman as a citizen hero. I found Floyd through his granddaughter, Ann, who shared his story in The Chicago Genealogist (Vol. 48, No. 3, Spring 2016).

Next: Gertrude Berndt, who survived the Eastland—and twelve years later, survived The Favorite, another boat that capsized and claimed four members of her family. She had warned them about the boat. No one listened. Among those who helped with the rescue that day? A young lifeguard named Johnny Weissmuller, who would later swing to fame as Tarzan of the silver screen.

And finally: Bob Satterfield, a political cartoonist who was on the Clark Street Bridge when the Eastland went over. He didn’t just witness it—he captured it in a searing cartoon and a raw, first-person account.

Like so many Eastland stories, these didn’t make it into the version of history that gets repeated the most. But they’re part of the record—and they’re not going away.

As we approach the 110th anniversary of the Eastland Disaster, remembrance isn't something we perform once a year—it's the work of uncovering each story, name by name.

Watch the Promo for this Episode here: Promo for “One Saved Lives. One Survived Twice. One Drew the Truth.

• 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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In this special retrospective, I’m circling back to some of the most powerful stories I’ve uncovered in my Eastland research—stories that have been entirely absent from the popular historical accounts of the disaster.

Meet James Gardner, a survivor who not only escaped the capsized vessel but went on to rescue nine women and two men from the Chicago River. His vivid first-person account, published just days after the disaster, offers rare and crucial insight—from the moment the Eastland began to list, to the horrifying sounds of panic as passengers realized what was happening. Despite being easily accessible in digital archives, Gardner’s name is missing from nearly every modern retelling of the tragedy.

Even more haunting is the story of Hancock John Harmon, celebrated in his 1917 obituary as a “hero of the Eastland disaster.” Harmon spent an entire day in the contaminated Chicago River recovering bodies—an act of selflessness that would ultimately cost him his health, and eventually, his life. As one Eastland family member would later say about similar cases:

“He didn’t die on the Eastland. Instead, he died of the Eastland.”

We also revisit the literary response to the tragedy through Agnes Lee’s poem “Eastland Waters,” published in 1916. The daughter of Rand McNally co-founder William H. Rand, Lee was a respected poet whose work appeared alongside the likes of Robert Frost. And yet, her haunting tribute to the disaster has been largely forgotten—even in her own city.

These rediscovered voices raise urgent questions:

Who decides what gets remembered? What stories are left out—and why? And as we approach the 110th anniversary in 2025, what other voices still wait in the shadows, asking to be heard?

Subscribe to be part of the ongoing work to bring these lost narratives back into the light—and to help reclaim a more honest, complete, and human record of the Eastland Disaster.

Resources

• Agnes Lee, “Eastland Waters,” Poetry: A Magazine of Verse, Feb 1916.
• Galena Daily Gazette, 27 July 1915 (James Gardner)
• “Hero of Eastland Tragedy Dies, Result of Shock.” The Grand Rapids Press, October 3, 1917.

• 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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This is a special bonus episode in honor of Father’s Day 2025.

On an ordinary evening in 1960s Cleveland, an unexpected knock at the door changed the way I saw my father forever.

This short, true story is a tribute to Robert Joseph Zett (aka, Dad), a working-class man who never thought of himself as brave—but showed me what quiet courage really looks like.

Video Link:

The Night Nobody Came Knocking – A Father’s Day Story

• 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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In this episode, I explore an aspect of the Eastland Disaster that’s rarely investigated: the insurance industry’s response. It’s not as dry as it sounds!

We take a deep look at The Insurance Post, an independent trade journal published out of the Royal Insurance Building in Chicago in 1915. This was likely never meant for public eyes—and it offers a stark, often unsettling glimpse into how the insurance industry processed the Eastland tragedy.

📌 In this episode:

• The surprising hub Chicago was for the early 20th-century insurance industry
• What the 1915 Insurance Post really said about the Eastland—down to numbers, payouts, and public image
• A glimpse into how working-class families tried to protect themselves with fraternal insurance
• The chilling way insurance agents used the disaster to boost sales
• A breakdown of “pass-the-hat” insurance and its not-so-charitable implications
• We tend to trust numbers, but in a disaster like the Eastland, the math--whether insurance payouts or casualty numbers--deserves a second look.

📚 Bonus: Learn what a “baby elevator” was. (No, it’s not a metaphor. Yes, it’s as weird as it sounds.)

Resources:

• Insurance Post of Chicago
• Chicagology - Royal Insurance Building
• History of US Insurance

• 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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In this episode, I share the compelling story of the Wagaman brothers from Pennsylvania, not far from Gettysburg. In 1915, both were aboard the Eastland when it capsized in the Chicago River—one as the ship’s chief cook, the other as a last-minute passenger who couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong that morning. And he was right.

What followed was a dramatic survival story involving floating wreckage, a heroic rescue, and a loss that still haunts. But their story didn’t end there: Bernard went on to become the very first mayor of Bradenton Beach, Florida. Louis stayed closer to home, deeply involved in his Pennsylvania community.

And yet, despite their extraordinary survival—and civic contributions—these brothers’ names don’t appear in Eastland history books…until now.

We also touch on:

• An Eastland Disaster family reaching out with powerful stories (and a pronunciation correction!)
• Why “findability” matters in family history
• A forgotten Eastland hero who deserves to be remembered

Resources:

• From Factory Floor to Fighting Ring: Another Eastland Story
• Bonded in Tragedy: The Role of Fraternal Orders in the Eastland Disaster

Newspaper Sources for This Episode

• Gettysburg Times, July 28, 1915
• The Gazette (York, PA), August 28, 1915
• The Bradenton Herald, February 29, 1952
• New Oxford Item (New Oxford, PA), September 2, 1915

• 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

Send us a text

It’s May 31st—an important date if, like me, you have roots in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. On this day in 1889, the South Fork Dam gave way, and a wall of water wiped out most of the city. Over 2,000 lives were lost. It was a manmade disaster—tragic, preventable, and all too familiar.

In this episode, I begin with the story of Maggie Irwin, a chambermaid who died in the Johnstown Flood at age 18. Her mother saved the letters Maggie sent home during her brief time working in a hotel—and because of those letters, we remember her today. She’s buried among the unnamed in Grandview Cemetery, but her words still speak.

From there, we fast-forward 26 years to another disaster—one that changed my own family’s trajectory: the Eastland. And this is where things get personal again.

You’ll hear about the Schultz and Kempa families—John, Veronica, and their baby Edward, all lost in the Eastland Disaster. What surfaced recently were fraternal insurance records—documents full of detail, legal battles, and emotional fallout that most histories skip over. These aren’t just forms; they’re grief, held in carbon copy.

This family—John, Veronica, and Edward Schultz—were the relatives of the late Rosemary Pietrzak. Rosemary was one of the very first people I connected with when I started this journey. She was kind, wise, and generous with her family history. She helped me understand not just the facts but the long shadow the Eastland cast over so many lives.

When I came across the Schultz family’s insurance file this year, I felt a responsibility—not just as a researcher, but as someone Rosemary trusted. I wanted to tell this story with care, because she deserved that. Her family deserved that.

She once said to me, “They may not have died on the Eastland, but they surely died of it.” That line stayed with me—and I repeat it often.

This episode is about what happens after disaster. The paperwork. The disputes. The forgotten stories. It’s about how we carry loss, and how even the most overlooked documents can bring dignity back to people who were nearly erased.

💛 For Maggie. For Rosemary. For all of them.

Resources

• Mike Brady (Oceanliner Designs), The HORRENDOUS Disaster of SS Eastland
• Natalie Zett (Flower in the River), Through the Flood, Her Words Remain: The Story of Maggie Irwin
• The Eastland Disaster Documentary - Chicago Stories
• Familysearch.org/Labs
• Final Claim: I

• 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