Flower in the River: A Family Tale Finally Told

Three Stories. One Disaster. A Century of Silence

• Natalie Zett

Share episode

Send us a text

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

Natalie Zett:

Hello, I'm Natalie Zett and welcome to Flower in the River. This podcast, inspired by my book of the same name, explores the 1915 Eastland disaster in Chicago and its enduring impact, particularly on my family's history. We'll explore the intertwining narratives of others impacted by this tragedy as well, and we'll dive into writing and genealogy and uncover the surprising supernatural elements that surface in family history research. Come along with me on this journey of discovery. Hey, this is Natalie, and welcome to episode 119 of Flower in the River. I hope you're doing well.

Natalie Zett:

I had originally planned to continue discussing a couple of the key figures that I mentioned last week who were featured in the insurance post issues, but I ended up finding so much documentation about one of them this week that I need more time to go through it all. One document alone had over 2,000 scan pages and noists whose stories are completely missing from publications and websites about the Eastland disaster. In fact, it feels strange to say this, but the only place their stories have been told is right here on this podcast, and even I have a hard time believing that some days, because their stories are out there. Their stories are easily accessible online, but, for whatever reason, they've not been included in any of the popular narratives over the past few years, at least as far as I can tell. And let's be clear, the popular narrative isn't the official narrative, it's just the one that got repeated over and over again. I want to revisit these stories for a number of reasons First of all, to show you what an independent researcher can accomplish and uncover when they start digging. And second, and personally, as a family member of an Eastland victim, the idea that any one of these people could be forgotten is chilling to me and not acceptable.

Natalie Zett:

So let's begin with the person who started it all for me, a man called James Gardner. You've probably never heard of him because he's not featured anywhere. You probably never heard of him because he's not featured anywhere, at least until I covered his story in one of my earlier podcasts. How did I find him Easily? His first-person account appeared in the July 27, 1915 issue of the Galena Gazette. That's Galena Illinois, by the way, and it's archived at the Illinois Digital Newspaper Archives, the University of Illinois, urbana-champaign, and it's free. I'll say it again it's free. However, when I first found his story and thought it was so intriguing, I thought, well, surely it has to have been also covered elsewhere. But when I searched for James Gardner in books and in websites about the Eastland, both past and present, I may have missed something, but I was unable to find his name and story anyplace else, and this struck me as weird and at first I thought well, maybe it was a one-off type of thing, but it wasn't. This was just the beginning.

Natalie Zett:

So over the next few weeks leading up to July 24th, 2025, which is the 110th anniversary of the Eastland disaster, I'll be introducing, as well as revisiting, stories of people whose names and voices don't seem to have appeared anyplace else until this podcast. Even though I shared many of these stories in previous podcasts, it's been a while and I want to share them again because they're too important to get lost. And, second, since the start of 2025, this podcast has gained a whole lot of new listeners from all over the world and I want to make sure to revisit these stories because, again, this podcast at the moment is the only place their stories have been heard since they were first published, most of them more than a century ago, and, as a genealogist, I've been deeply committed to making sure that each one of these folks has an accessible record of their life and, honestly, instead of burying it in a journal and uploading it someplace, a podcast has turned out to be the perfect vehicle for this type of history. And the other thing thinking about the upcoming anniversary remembrance is ongoing. It's not about a once-a-year event or a publicity campaign. It's about them. It's about something deeper, it's about something ongoing.

Natalie Zett:

And what fuels this work for me is the shock that I felt when I first realized how little had been done, not just for my own family, but for so many others Entire lives, entire families missing or barely acknowledged. And once I saw that, I can't unsee it. I can't forget that and I have to do something about it. And it's actually a joy, it's a privilege and that's what keeps me going. And if you're here and you're listening, thank you, because every time we remember these stories together, we're helping making sure that they're not forgotten.

Natalie Zett:

All of our stories are important your stories, your family stories and mine and my extended family here, the people of the Eastland disaster. I also hope that my work encourages you to do your work and take a closer look at your own family history. To do your work and take a closer look at your own family history, you and I, we have a lot more power than we're often led to believe when it comes for caring for the past and passing it forward. I've certainly seen this with other genealogists and with historians. It's oftentimes an individual who takes on a project and they are the one that ends up reclaiming the history. I've seen it happen over and over again, so that's the encouraging part of this story.

Natalie Zett:

So let's talk about James Gardner. I originally shared the story of James Gardner's first-person account in episode 37 of Flower in the River way back on November 18, 2023. And this is from the Galena Daily Gazette July 27th, so that is three days after the Eastland disaster in 1915. Former Galenian tells of escape from death. James Gardner was among those on board steamer Eastland when disaster occurs, also helped to save lives of other persons. Was on top deck of steamer when he noticed the ship listing badly to one side when he noticed the ship listing badly to one side. James Gardner, formerly Galena, who is now employed at the Western Electric Company plant in Chicago, gives the following interesting account of his experiences on the ill-fated steamer Eastland in Chicago River in which so many lives were sacrificed. Chicago, illinois, july 26, 1915. To the Galena Gazette. No doubt you have had stories in the Gazette of the recent terrible disaster of the steamship Eastland, which sunk in the Chicago River Saturday July 24th, but I doubt if anyone has given you a story from real experience and as I was a passenger on the boat when it sank and Galena being my hometown, I felt as though it is my duty to give you an outline of the actual happenings.

Natalie Zett:

The Western Electric Company holds a picnic in Michigan City, indiana, every year, and the employees had been planning on this picnic as one of their greatest successes, as it was going to be the most beautiful picnic ever held in Michigan City. The parade alone consisted of 3,100 people, all employees of the Western Electric Company. They spent months in the making of floats and different designs for the parade. The people of Michigan City also took a great interest in the picnic by decorating the town in glorious colors. Owing to the large number of people employed by the Western Electric Company, it requires several boats to convey the crowd across the lake. They had the Eastland, the Roosevelt and a few more chartered for the purpose. The Eastland was scheduled to leave at 7.30 am, so, being the first boat to leave, everybody was anxious to get that boat if possible, especially those taking part in the parade. For that reason the boat carried mostly girls, women and children.

Natalie Zett:

I left home about six o'clock so as to get there in plenty of time. When I got to the car line I had to let three or four cars go by because there were so many people on them I could not get on. So I went a different way, which took a little longer to get there. I met a friend on the car, but he did not get on because he was supposed to meet someone before he got on the boat, and probably that saved his life. I went directly to the boat and when I first caught sight of it and saw the way it was crowded, something seemed to tell me it was not right. But I paid no attention to it.

Natalie Zett:

The boat consists of five decks, three open and two down in the hull. Well, I got on it at the bottom and started for the top deck, but I had quite a time to get through the crowd. Then is when I realized that the boat was overloaded. It was also hard walking because the boat was in a slanting position, but no one else paid any attention to it. So I did the same. Any attention to it, so I did the same.

Natalie Zett:

I managed to get to the top at last, and then I noticed how bad it was leaning, and I noticed that it kept getting worse all the time. But the thought ran to my mind that a large boat like that could not tip over. But anyway, I decided to get off the top deck and get down inside. But the steps leading to the top deck are very narrow, not room enough for two people to pass each other. Just as I was going to go down, some people started to come up, so I thought I would wait until they got up and then I would go down. But before they got up, the boat started to tip and when it got tipped so much that the people could not stand on the floors, they had to all slide to one side and it made a regular human ballast.

Natalie Zett:

By that time the captain came out alongside of me and gave the warning that the boat was going to upset. The whistles all started to blow and the people went insane. All over the boat I have heard many screams, screeches and groans of different kinds, but I never heard anything to compare with that. You could hear the wailing of the women and girls and the crying of the children, the shouts of the men. It was something awful. They fought and tore each other to pieces Any way to get out. Tore each other to pieces Any way to get out.

Natalie Zett:

Well, I climbed over the railing of the top deck. Below me, on the two open decks, people were climbing out over the sides as thick as bees. So I must have walked on people's heads from the top deck to the third deck. When I got to the hull, I let go. The side of the boat was wet and very slippery and I went down so fast that I could not catch my breath.

Natalie Zett:

At the waterline there is a piece of wood about the size of a 2x4. It is called a protector. It runs the length of the boat and sticks out two or three inches to keep the side of the boat from getting damaged. Well, my feet hit this protector and I felt as though my legs had been driven up through my body, which no doubt they would have been had I landed on any solid material. I was thrown forward and my head struck the brick building at the edge of the dock, but I had a hard straw hat on which saved my head from being split open. Another fellow came down like I did. He had a cap on and his head was split from the front to the back. It just resembled a cracked watermelon. If I had not hit this protector, I probably would have been among the missing, because, had I gone straight into the river, I was going at such a rate of speed that I would have gone down to the bottom and stuck in the mud. I saw one fellow dive headfirst from the same place I was and he never came to the top again. I suppose he stuck in the mud.

Natalie Zett:

When I came to myself I started to rescue. I saw all the heads and arms sticking out. The river was just full of them. So I began to save what I could. I helped nine women and girls and two men to safety and by that time the police and firemen had arrived and started the rescue work.

Natalie Zett:

The bodies were taken out in all shapes. They were cut and bruised something awful. It certainly is a sad day. In Chicago. Everybody seems sad, and especially when I went to work this morning, faces that I used to see every morning were missing. They were drowned. It seemed as if everyone at work was crying, and when I think of those things now, I think of how lucky I was to escape, and certainly feel sorry that there were not many more as lucky as I was, as lucky as I was. So, in conclusion, I wish to say that I hope there will be no more such accidents as that, and also that this letter will be interesting to those who read it.

Natalie Zett:

Yours, respectfully, james L Gardner, 24pping firsthand account of surviving the Eastland disaster and also rescuing others. It was extraordinary. It was compelling. Rescuing others it was extraordinary, it was compelling. And when I first came across his story in 2023, it was so easy to access. Literally all I had to do was put Eastland disaster into Google and then the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections hopped up as part of my search results and that's where I found James' story and so many other stories, by the way. It was easy, it didn't take any money and it was just waiting there to be discovered. But here's what floored me James Gardner's name doesn't appear on any of the so-called official lists of people involved in the Eastland disaster Not one. So his name and this incredible story isn't even part of those various lists and websites and books. So this discovery raised a huge red flag.

Natalie Zett:

If someone like James Gardner, who not only survived but helped save lives, is missing from the records. What else is missing? Who else is missing? Those two questions soon became the foundation of this podcast. Week after week, I've been chasing down forgotten stories, overlooked names, and I found quite a few, but there are a lot more of them. I could divide the people that I found into two columns. This is very high level people that I found into two columns. This is very high level. Column one would be people whose names do appear on popular Eastland disaster lists, but these people have no biography, nothing beyond the name, and yet many of their stories are so easy to find. Column two people like James Gardner, entirely absent from the popular narratives. It's as if they never existed.

Natalie Zett:

For some, the Eastland disaster seems to be a closed case, but it's not Not even close. That's what I found and that's why I've been doing this week after week. It's fascinating and I know that much of this has been unexplored. But let's get to you. What can you do Well with this or any other piece of history? Begin with awareness and, in the most polite way, question everything. Ask about numbers. If people are bandying about numbers, ask where they got their information from. It's a very simple question. I've done this a few times and the reactions I get tell me everything. If I have any regrets at all, it's that I didn't do this early enough in this process of exploring my family's connection to the Eastland disaster and the Eastland disaster itself. But I've learned a few things along the way, so let's continue Now.

Natalie Zett:

James Gardner himself is a bit of a mystery. He was living with his father in Galena and he seems to disappear from records. I did do a search on him, created a family tree for him, but there's not much to be found about him. I don't know what happened to him, but I did find his draft registration card. His full name was James Lawrence Gardner and he was born on January 23rd 1890. 23rd 1890. He was born in Galena, illinois, and in 1917, he was a supervisor at Western Electric Company Hawthorne Works in Cicero. He was single and he was claiming an exemption for public service and military necessity. I'm not sure what that means. He describes himself as medium, meaning medium height, slender build, dark brown eyes and chestnut hair, and he was not bald, according to him, but no other identifying marks. And if we go back a little farther to 1900, james was living in Galena with his father. William Looks like William or Wilbert. His father was widowed and his father was from Pennsylvania and James' father was a carpenter, and that's really all we know about him.

Natalie Zett:

Of course, I'd heard of other survivors' testimonies. Oftentimes it's the same ones. However, this was the first one that I located on my own and had never obviously heard of before, and was not the last, where the history was recorded but not shared after it happened, was recorded but not shared after it happened. With something like the Eastland disaster, it is critical and so important to get all accounts of it, not just one or two, and not just to keep repeating the one or two and acting as if that was the only point of view or the only experience. Everybody who survived the Eastland disaster or who witnessed the Eastland disaster and who wrote about it or was interviewed about it. There's some similarities in the stories, but there's some dramatic differences as well, depending on where they were and what they faced.

Natalie Zett:

The next person I want to introduce you to is someone Well, I've known about him for a while. I found him early on in my research and I was waiting for that proverbial opportune moment to introduce him to you. So here we are. He's another person who's not even listed in any accounts of the Eastland disaster. His name is Hancock. That's his first name. John is his middle name and I think he went by John during his life. Harmon was his surname, so Hancock J Harmon is how he was officially known and he was a hero of the Eastland disaster. That's how the Grand Rapids Press, grand Rapids, michigan, described him in 1917.

Natalie Zett:

This is two years after the Eastland disaster and according to this particular article, he spent the entire day in the Chicago River recovering bodies after the ship capsized. No, he's not listed anywhere in any Eastland account. I say that again. This is probably the first time his story has been shared in over a hundred years Now. Hancock survived that day, but he never recovered from being in the water. His health declined and he died October 1917.

Natalie Zett:

Hancock is the second person I found who died well after July 24, 1915, and both people had been in that water for a significant amount of time. And yet he doesn't appear on any Eastland victim or survivor list. So the rhetorical question is Is he counted among the Eastland dead? If he is, then that information is well hidden. To quote the late great Rosemary Petersack, another Eastland family member. He didn't die on the Eastland. Instead, he died of the Eastland. And that raises a much bigger question what is the criteria for being considered an Eastland victim? Who decided that, and what qualifies them to draw those lines? Those are questions that have to be asked and now, with the upcoming 110th anniversary of the Eastland disaster, these questions should be answered by now. And when I look at Hancock Harmon, somebody who apparently gave his strength, his health and ultimately his life to help others that day, I wonder why has his story been left out? Why has his story not been researched? Let me introduce you to Hancock Harmon. This is from the Grand Rapids Press, october 3rd 1917.

Natalie Zett:

Hero of Eastland tragedy dies Result of shock. Hancock J Harmon, a hero of the Eastland disaster, died Tuesday at Asheville, north Carolina. His death ended a long illness which began after he had remained all day in the Chicago River recovering bodies from the ill-fated excursion boat. Harmon never recovered from the shock of the experience. His body will be buried in Jacksonville, illinois.

Natalie Zett:

Fortunately, when I researched again, I was able to locate Hancock Harmon's death certificate. This is from the North Carolina State Board of Health Certificate of Death and in here he's identified as John Joseph Harmon, but it's the same person. He was born on March 21st 1878, and he died October 1st 1917. He was 39 years old and his occupation was listed as an accountant. He was born in Jacksonville, illinois. Of course that's where he was buried. It gives us the name of his father, arthur Harmon, who was born in Ireland, and his mother, catherine McCarthy, also born in Ireland, and the informant is his sister, grace M Harmon, and her address is Jacksonville, illinois, and his cause of death is pulmonary tuberculosis. Now, was that a contributing factor? Was that exacerbated by his time in the Chicago River? This needs further investigation. When I did his family tree, hancock had a number of siblings, many of whom lived to adulthood, had families as well. So there may be more information available, but I wanted to make sure to get this information recorded and out in the universe for Hancock Harmon's relatives, for Hancock Harmon's relatives, in case any of them are interested in genealogy and go hunting. I want them to at least be able to find this obituary and know that their relative was a hero and he paid for his bravery with his life. His death certificate also had this valuable piece of information. He was at this hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, for one year and seven months and, as it turns out, there were several hospitals in Asheville for tuberculosis patients tuberculosis recovery. So this piece of information is really useful for researchers or genealogists who want to go further into its history.

Natalie Zett:

And our final person is a poet. Her name is Agnes Lee and I shared her story originally in an episode called Eastland Waters, melody Verse and Lithuanian Legacy in Chicago on December 16th 2023. And it's quite a unique story and definitely worth sharing again, because I found out even more information about Agnes than I had when I originally dropped this podcast. And after this introduction I will read her poem Eastland Waters. Agnes Lee also has not been mentioned on any websites or in any books or in any accounts of the Eastland disaster that I could locate.

Natalie Zett:

Agnes Lee was born Martha Agnes Rand, in Chicago in 1862, and she was an American poet and translator known for her accessible, formally structured verse and her explorations of the natural world. And her explorations of the natural world. She was the second daughter of William H Rand, co-founder of the map publishing company Rand McNally Company. Have you heard of them? Lee received her education in Vevey, switzerland, which influenced her cosmopolitan outlook. I think she married twice, first of all to Francis Watts Lee, a photographer, in 1900, with whom she settled in Boston and had a daughter named Harriet, nicknamed Peggy. After their separation she married Otto Freer, a Chicago surgeon, in 1911, which is probably why she was there when the Eastland disaster occurred. Lee spent her later years in Chicago where she died of pneumonia in 1939, and she is buried at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago.

Natalie Zett:

So Agnes Lee was a frequent contributor to Poetry Magazine and that's where I found her Eastland Waters poem. And in 1926, she won the magazine's Garrenter's Prize, which had previously been awarded to renowned poets such as Robert Frost and Edna St Vincent Millay. Her poetry was described as pleasing, unpretentious verses by contemporary reviewers, notably in the Atlantic. Unfortunately she's not widely known today, but her poetry was well regarded in her time. Her correspondence with Edgar Lee Masters is preserved at the Newberry Library in Chicago, attesting to her influence and connections within the literary community. Agnes Lee's poem Eastland Waters appeared in 1916 in Poetry Magazine. It's structured as a discussion between three people Niels, n-i-e-l-s, mary and Anna. Eastland Waters by Agnes Lee.

Natalie Zett:

The End All be saved, niels, be sure of it. They can't be drowned, anna, for everything's in sight, mary, and we could almost touch the houses there. See how the steamer sank upon her side like a huge beast. Anna, listen. A baby cried. Niels, don't turn, don't listen. A baby cried Niels, don't turn, don't listen, don't look anywhere, mary, the human fish. See how they haul them in, the slimy fish. Oh, this is awful, niels, anna, they're everywhere. How cold the water feels, niels, keep up your nerve. Be the brave girls. You've been, mary, soon we'll be safe. Nothing can harm us here, with all these little windows.

Natalie Zett:

Looking on, I feel your courage, niels. My fear has gone. Niels, steady there, steady. Now the dock is near, anna. Oh, niels, I wish I had your arms around me.

Natalie Zett:

It came, it came. I didn't mean to tell Mary, you never dreamed. We kept it. Well, niels thought we mustn't speak it out. He bound me. He bound me, niels, hush, hush, Anna. He bound me not to say a word, not to let others guess it in my face. But who could keep a secret in this place? And, mary, I am glad at last you heard and Mary, you shall fasten up my veil and hold my book for me why everything seems wonderful, even here. I want to sing. We'll have a little flat in Carbondale, niels, anna, don't chatter on like this. I say, mary, I meant to make it clear to you. Mary Anna, oh look, oh look, her lips are blue. Niels, mary Mary Anna, oh look, oh look. Her lips are blue. Kneels, mary Anna oh look, oh look, her hands have slipped away. I'll leave it at that. Let that stay with you.

Natalie Zett:

Next week, we will continue with more untold stories or stories that have maybe only been told once the first time that they were printed or shared with people, and the second time in this podcast. In the meantime, please take care of yourself and take care of each other. I'll talk to you next week. Hey, that's it for this episode and thanks for coming along for the ride. Please subscribe or follow so you can keep up with all the episodes, and for more information, please go to my website, that's wwwflowerintherivercom. Wwwflowerintherivercom. I hope you'll consider buying my book available as audiobook, ebook, paperback and hardcover, because I still owe people money and that's my running joke. But the one thing I'm serious about is that this podcast and my book are dedicated to the memory of all who experienced the Eastland disaster of 1915. Goodbye for now.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Natalie Zett

Host