Emma Grossman
While the Eastland Disaster claimed over 800 lives, many victims’ stories remain unknown.
To honor them, I dug into archival sources like the July 26, 1915 edition of The Day Book (published in Chicago). From those faded pages emerged poignant tales of many individuals lost that day.
Over the next few posts, I will spotlight those untold stories and lives cut short. My goal is to memorialize overlooked victims and humanize this tragedy. If anyone can contribute more details on these individuals, I welcome you to reach out.
First is Emma Grossman, just 20 years old and engaged when she boarded the ill-fated ship. Though her time was brief, Emma's story deserves remembering.
Tribute to Emma Grossman
I learned of Emma’s and other stories in The Day Book, Vol. 4, No. 254, Chicago, Monday, July 26, 1915. To view this and other issues of The Day Book, see the Illinois Newspapers Collection site:
Here is the excerpt. Also, I am leaving the spelling and punctuation as it is in the original article.
“But listen to the story Miss Emma Grossman, 2408, W. 12th St. told (by) Chas. W. Bedford, 2221 S. Springfield Ave. whom she was soon to wed.
Miss Grossman perished.
"Three weeks ago, last Thursday," said Bedford. "The foreman in Miss Grossman's department called all the girls together. ‘You will have to buy tickets for the excursion,' he told them *We want every girl there.” He told them If they did not go, they would be discharged.
"Miss Grossman's sister, Mrs. Gus Schuler, was to be taken to the hospital the next Sunday for an operation from which the surgeon said there was not one chance in a hundred of recovery. She is still in the hospital.
Miss Grossman told the foreman she did not want to be on a pleasure trip with her sister at the point of death. 'We've heard that story before,’ he replied.
"Last week he rounded up his girls again: He again reminded them that it was necessary for them to buy tickets if they wanted to hold their jobs.
*I'll buy a ticket, but I do not care to go with my sister so Ill,' said Miss Grossman.
*You'll buy a ticket, and you'll go on the excursion, or you soon won't be working here.’ That's what Miss Grossman said the foreman replied.
"Miss Grossman bought the ticket. She also had to buy a paper hat, cane and paper bell. They charged her 35 cents for them--the company did. They were not worth three pennies.
The bell which was to have been carried by Miss Grossman in the parade bore the name of the Bell Telephone Co. Arrangements had been made for movie films of the parade, which would have been shown all over the country advertising the Bell telephone and Western Electric.”
None of the big bosses of the Western Electric perished On the Eastland. They were going to Michigan City by train.”
— from The Day Book, Vol. 4, No. 254, Chicago, Monday, July 26, 1915.
Check out the YouTube Video with narration
From the Chicago Tribune, 31 Jul 1915, Sat · Page 14
Emma Grossman and her father, William Grossman, rest in Forest Home Cemetery, Forest Park, Cook County, Illinois. The cemetery was previously known as Waldheim.
The Day Book, front page, Monday, July 26, 1915 (Chicago)
History of the Day Book (from Wikipedia)
The Day Book was an experimental, advertising-free daily newspaper published in Chicago from 1911 to 1917. It was owned by E. W. Scripps as part of the Scripps-McRae League of Newspapers (later Scripps-Howard Newspapers). It was printed in tabloid size to save costs.
With the Day Book, Scripps sought to eliminate the often-adversarial relationship between his editorial staffs and the advertisers that sustained them.
The Day Book began publishing on September 28, 1911. Like his other penny presses, the Day Book championed labor rights while delivering a mix of politics and lowbrow, sensational content.
Circulation peaked at 22,839 in October 1916, during the 1912 strike of Chicago printers and delivery boys that crippled the city's major newspapers.
The Day Book published its last edition on July 6, 1917.
