"Flower in the River" 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.
This week, I explored the July 26, 1915 edition of the Waukegan Daily Sun, a newspaper packed with Eastland stories that have sat there for more than a century. As is often the case, the people in those articles are mostly absent from today’s Eastland history accounts. Then, one story turned into a newspaper version of Where’s Waldo? (Where’s Wally?), its trail veering off into the lives of a completely different family.
Next, we slip behind the curtain of a 1915 newsroom. Reporters dash to the Chicago River, jotting frantic notes, searching for telephones, and dictating stories as the Eastland disaster unravels in real time. Meanwhile, back at the office, editors, linotype operators, stereotypers, pressmen, and a bustling crew must somehow transform all that turmoil into a finished newspaper.
A special mention goes to the linotype machine, which was part typewriter, part vending machine, and part backhoe. It was one of the inventions that changed publishing. Given the speed and pressure these newspaper workers faced during the Eastland Disaster, it’s amazing how much they got right. It also helps explain how things sometimes went spectacularly sideways.
This brings us to Harry John Tiemann and Alice Lucille Garland Tiemann, two Eastland survivors whose story bursts with drama before splintering apart. Alice faints as the ship overturns, a stranger pulls her through the water, Harry fights to reach her, and then the article abruptly veers into another person’s story. So, I picked up the thread, following it through their marriage records, census rolls, Western Electric files, a 1948 death notice, and even Alice’s later adventures on the community theater stage.
Their story, like many others, had been sitting in that newspaper since 1915. This week, we invite you to meet them.
Resources:
Waukegan Daily Sun (Waukegan, Illinois), July 26, 1915, pp. 1, 4–5, 8.
The WGN: A Handbook of Newspaper Administration, Editorial, Advertising, Production, Circulation, Minutiae. Chicago: Chicago Tribune Company, 1922.
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 184 of Flower in the River. And I hope you are doing well. First, I want to welcome all of the new listeners. Where are you coming from? I have no idea, but I'm really glad you're here. For those who are new and there are so many of you, I originally started this podcast to answer questions about my book, Flower in the River, and the death of my 19-year-old great aunt in the Eastland disaster, and what that death did to our family. I thought that was what the podcast was going to be about. Then something happened. I felt compelled to start researching other people connected to the Eastland disaster. And that's where I got the shock of my life. I had assumed that after more than a century this history would have been very well documented. What I found out, it wasn't very well documented. I found victims, survivors, witnesses, rescuers, family members, people whose lives intersected with the Eastland in all kinds of ways, who had little or no biography at all. And when biographies did exist, too often there were no source citations. You couldn't tell where the information came from, which meant you couldn't verify it, follow the research, or build on it. And these people deserve better. And also, I kept finding people who were part of the Eastland disaster, but who were omitted totally. And when I saw the condition of the documentation, I had a choice. I could get annoyed about it, and sometimes I am, but I also thought, I already have a microphone. I know how to research, I know how to document what I find, and goodness knows I couldn't make it any worse. So I decided to do something about it. I started telling their stories. I consider them a part of my extended family because by virtue of sharing the Eastland disaster, we are all connected. And I want to treat them with the same respect that I gave to my own family. Each one of them deserves to have their story told as completely and accurately as possible. So that's a very shortened form of why I do what I do. But if you have more questions, please reach out. And if you are an Eastland disaster family member, let me know that as well. If I can help you with your research, I'll do the best I can. No guarantees, but so far we've done okay with the research. Onward.
This week we are going to explore an old newspaper. What do you mean that doesn't sound exciting? It's really exciting because there are so many stories contained in this old newspaper, and the challenge is trying to figure out how to connect the dots. And you'll see what I'm talking about. We've got a lot to cover, and we won't be able to do that in one episode. But I do believe that this is the first time these stories have been heard since they were published in 1915. So I think we are a bit overdue.
Before we get into this story, I want to take you behind the scenes for a moment and look at what it actually took to put a newspaper together in the early 20th century. Back then, producing a newspaper was a very physical process involving a lot of people, a lot of machinery, and a remarkable amount of coordination. So let's just say, for example, a mass casualty event happens, like the Eastland disaster. How did these newspapers respond? At that time there would be reporters if they weren't already on the scene covering the event because it was a big Western electric picnic, people would be rushing down to the Chicago River, and they would be handwriting their notes down, interviewing people and taking down quotes, taking down information, taking down names. Remember that many of these people who were being interviewed, English was not their first language. They were Czech, they were Hungarian, they were Italian, they were German, and so on. Language differences could create another barrier to getting the information right. And these reporters were working really fast. Newspapers were intensely competitive, and everybody wanted to be the first one out with the story. Reporters would gather what they could, rush back to the newspaper office, and often type up their accounts as quickly as possible. Some reporters went looking for telephones, and that wasn't easy in 1915. Telephones were becoming more common, but they certainly weren't everywhere. Rather than lose time getting back to the newspaper office, some reporters called in and dictated what they had witnessed during the Eastland disaster directly over the phone. After that came what I'm calling the news intake stage. Back at the newspaper office, all of this information started pouring in. Telegraph editors, copy readers, and wire service staff were sorting through reports coming from different directions, often at the same time. And wire services were already a major part of the news business by 1915. They were one of the reasons a story happening on the Chicago River could move far beyond Chicago and very quickly around the world. And then we get to the editing stage. Back in the newsroom, the city desk, copy desk, and managing editor are trying to make sense of all of this incoming copy. But meanwhile, down at the river, the story is still changing by the second. The ship is capsized. Rescuers are drilling into the hull. Fights are breaking out. The bridge is packed with so many people that there are fears that it could give way. So while the editors are trying to assemble a coherent newspaper, the disaster itself is still unfolding in real time. It is absolute chaos. Next came the page planning stage. This is where the makeup editor, art desk, and advertising department began figuring out how everything would actually fit on the page. They worked from what was called a dummy, a rough layout showing where the stories, headlines, photographs, illustrations, and advertisements would go. In other words, all that reporting and editing now had to be turned into something that could physically become a newspaper. Next came the typesetting stage, involving linotype operators and hand compositors. And I have to stop here for a minute or two because linotype is fascinating. So before linotype, type had to be set by hand, one letter at a time. Then, beginning in the late 19th century, this enormous machine came along that could cast an entire line of type at once. That's where the name comes from, line O type. And when I say enormous, I mean really big. One of my cousins worked at a newspaper in Johnstown, Pennsylvania that still had one of those, and if memory serves, it seemed to take up half the room. It was a monster, but a fascinating monster. The operator worked with small brass molds for the letters, and the machine used molten metal to cast an entire line of printable type. The easiest way I can describe a linotype is this. Imagine a cross between an old fashioned typewriter, a pop machine, and a backhoe. It was quite the contraption. So picture this the Eastland disaster still unfolding. Reports are coming into the newsroom, editors are rewriting and rearranging copy, and now those words would have to become actual metal type before they can ever appear on a newspaper page. This is a daunting process. And considering the speed at which these newspapers were being produced, it is a miracle how much they got right. After typesetting came the production of photographs and other images. Some of the photographs I've seen in the digitized newspapers still reproduce surprisingly well, even after one hundred and eleven years. After Linotypers, we had stereotypers. Yes, you heard that right. And that was part of the printing process. A stereotype, sometimes called stereo plate, is a solid metal printing plate cast from a paper mache or plaster mold taken from a composed page of movable type. So this was invented in the 18th century and it allowed printers to preserve an entire page layout as a single durable metal sheet. So this freed up the original lead letters to be reused elsewhere. And because a stereotype plate allowed the exact same text or image to be reproduced identically over and over without change, the term evolved in the 19th and 20th centuries into a metaphor for rigid, unvarying or repeated ideas. So when you hear the word stereotype, that's where it came from. And then once the stereotypers had done their thing and created their curved metal stereotype plates, the printing could take place, and that would involve pressmen, machinists, and electricians. The machines that they used would be continuous webs of newsprint. And then the finishing involved folder operators, conveyors, and mailing room staff. So we had to cut, fold, and count the newspapers and bundles. And the delivery and sale involved truck drivers, railroad handlers, carriers, dealers, and newsboys, and so the copies would be delivered. Extra, extra redoing at it. Remember, that would be their normal day when nothing was going on. Add the Eastland disaster to each one of these steps. No one was prepared for this, and yet they rose to the occasion. I've researched the Eastland disaster, specifically the people of the Eastland disaster, very intensely for over three years now, and most of my sources are newspaper articles, as well as trade journals written by the various newspaper organizations of the time. We're going to see some errors that did happen, this is true, but by and large, they did an exemplary extraordinary job.
I have a newspaper from Waukegan, Illinois, which is about 38 miles north of Chicago. Waukegan was also an industrial city, but a much smaller one. And a number of people from Waukegan had moved to Chicago to work at Western Electric. The July 26, 1915 edition of the Joaquegan Daily Sun is a treasure trove of stories about how the Eastland disaster affected people in that community. But first, I have to tell you about something I ran into while reading this paper. Some stories that began on the front page didn't necessarily continue where the newspaper said they would. I had to play a little game of where's Waldo to figure out where certain stories went. And that brings me to something important about this kind of research. You can't simply accept everything at face value. Yes, this newspaper was a source. Yes, I'm going to cite it, but a source citation is just the beginning of the work, not the end of it. Just because something appears in the Joaquin Daily Sun, does that mean the newspaper got it right? No. You still have to corroborate what you're reading. Part of this type of analysis is comparing sources, looking for contradictions, and believe it or not, trying to disprove what you already think you know. If the evidence holds up after that, then you have something much stronger. So without further ado, let's take a look at the July 26, 1915 edition of the Waukegan Daily Sun, two days after the Eastland disaster. Now, if you hear me hesitate as I read this article, there's a good reason. When I got to the point where the article was supposed to continue, something didn't line up. I found the continuation page, but instead of picking up the same story, it appears that the newspaper merged it with an article about an entirely different family. And I'll bring that up again during the point where it happens just because this one can be pretty confusing. But now that you understand how the newspaper publication process worked in the early 20th century, you probably won't be surprised that something like this happened. Remember, these people were working quickly and under tremendous pressure, especially in the days immediately after the Eastland disaster. And before I go further, I will say that the people who are mentioned in this article are not mentioned any place else. In other words, the names do not appear on any modern Eastland disaster platforms.
Reading from the Waukegan Daily Sun Monday, july twenty sixth, nineteen fifteen. Subhead misses Alice Tyman or Timan, I think it's Tyman T I E M A N daughter of misses F Garland of here, that means Waukegan, and husband are saved. Subhead, they had a close escape. Another subhead misses Tyman faints but is saved. Tyman taken out through a porthole. Mrs. Tyman, whose name was Alice Garland, before her marriage to Mr. Tyman, is a daughter of Mrs. F. Garland of 312 Madison Street, Walkegan. Mrs. Tyman lived in Walkegan many years, attended the local schools, and has hundreds of friends and acquaintances who have been worrying about her safety and that of her husband. Mr. Tyman is a foreman of one of the departments of Western Electric Company at Hawthorne, the big corporation which was conducting the excursion trip to Michigan City. It chanced that he and his wife took passage on the Eastland. Mr. Tymon left his wife on one of the lower decks while he went to look for a couple of chairs in the main cabin. It was shortly after Tymon left his wife that the boat began to list. It was with difficulty that Mrs. Tymon was able to hold her balance. A few moments later, the boat keeled completely over on its side, and the water began to rush in. At the sight of this, Mrs. Tymon fainted. She remembered nothing until she felt herself being borne through the water and being lifted up onto a tug that was standing close by. She learned later that a stranger had grabbed her as the water filled the boat and at the risk of his own life swam with her to one of the side openings in the boat. There he jumped into the river. The current of the river must have carried them clear of the ship, else theirs would have been the fate that befell no less than five hundred other excursionists. When the husband and wife came to the surface, they were many feet apart. The husband struck out to assist his wife, but she sank under the murky waters before he reached her. This article in the Waukegan Daily Sun stops abruptly, and then what happens is the next sentence is about an entirely different family, and we will cover them in the next few episodes.
However, I did additional searching and I was able to find another newspaper called the Lake County Independent Friday, July 30th, 1915. They had what appears to be the continuation of this story. However, the same error was repeated in this paper. I'm hoping maybe one of the relatives shared this story, or maybe it's reported elsewhere in a later paper. This is just the beginning of my research on this family. Some people Left a lot of records behind. Others, well, you have to go hunting for them. And that's the case with these two people. But I was able to find a few records for them, and I will share those. First, we'll talk about Harry Tyman. Harry John Tyman was born on November 3rd, 1882, in Richmond, Indiana. He served in the military between 1917 and 1918. And he married Alice Lucille Garland on July 31, 1907, in Walkegan. In terms of his residence, this is the information from the various census records. In 1900, he was living in Walkegan. I'm guessing that's where he met Alice. In 1910, he was living in Chicago. 1930, he was living in Cicero, a suburb of Chicago. And his death is reported on December 13th, 1948. This record has him passing away in Berwyn, which is also a suburb of Chicago. And he was buried on December 15th, 1948 in Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillsdale, Cook County, Illinois. He was indeed a Western Electric worker for many years. In the 1910 census, he was a bench worker. 1920, he had moved up to inspector, and 1930, he was a complaint operator. It's not clear in the census if he was still working for Western Electric, but regardless, he worked for Western Electric before, during, and after the Eastland disaster. I don't have a lot of information about Alice, but I'll share what I have found. Alice Lucille Garland was born in 1889, perhaps in Walkegan. The records aren't real clear. She married Harry in 1907, and they don't appear to have ever had children, by the way. In the 1910 census, she was working as a typist for a mail order company. I think that's what it says. And fortunately, I found an article that featured Alice. She did some local community theater work. In the Chicago Sunday Tribune, March 19, 1933, big photograph, big headline, a housewife selects a cook. This is a community theater production, by the way. Under the direction of Mrs. B. F. Makuta, members of the Millard Avenue Women's Club, presented, quote, wanted a cook, end quote. A play Friday afternoon in Shed Park Community House, twenty third Street and Lawndale Avenue. And there's a photo of the various actors, all women. They don't have their first names, though. We have names like Mrs. Forrest Roundtree, Mrs. Harry Tebbitz, and Mrs. Harry Tyman. That would be our Alice Garland Tyman Although I like to have my stories complete, it doesn't always happen that way, and I want you to see what I see in real time and understand why citing a source is just the beginning of the journey. It's not the end. And finally, Harry's death notice was printed in the Palladium Item and Sun Telegram in Richmond, Indiana on Sunday, December 19th, 1948. Word has been received by relatives here of the death of Harry J. Tyman of Chicago, a former resident of Richmond. He had been employed as a supervisor at the Western Electric Company in Chicago for the past thirty-five years. He was sixty-six years old. Survivors include the widow, Alice of Chicago, a sister, Mrs. Catherine Sweeney of Richmond, and also a niece, Mrs. Joseph Pilterman, also of Richmond. Funeral services for Mr. Tyman were held in Chicago Wednesday at the Queen of Heaven Church, and burial was made in the Queen of Heaven Cemetery. So you just heard the story of two survivors of the Eastland disaster, Harry John Tyman and Alice Garland Tyman.
Their names and their stories stayed marooned in 1915 until now. And there are so many other stories in this issue of the Waukegan Daily Sun. Some of them have more information than what I was able to find on this couple, but they're all important because all of them were there. So next week, more stories coming your way. But in the meantime, I hope you take care of yourselves. Please do that. Take care of each other. Stay safe. 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 www.flowerinthhever.com. 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 nineteen fifteen. Goodbye for now.
