It was the summer that broke America's heart.
In 1915, Chicago commuters were horrified to see the SS Eastland,
a massive Lake Michigan steamship, flip over while tied to its dock.
More than eight hundred poor factory workers and their children drowned.
Twenty-two whole families perished. The nation cried out for justice.
Drawing on previously unpublished evidence from the National Archives, Ashes Under Water is the untold story of a mysterious industrial atrocity and how the prosperous, guilty Eastland
owners tried to shift the blame to the whistleblower and one true hero
on the ship, Engineer Joseph Erickson, a working class immigrant.
Against all odds, an attorney down on his luck at the time then stepped
in to save him: Clarence Darrow, the future legal star. A national
tragedy, Chicago politics, corrupt businessmen, a courtroom drama--all
woven into one spellbinding narrative. Author Michael McCarthy takes
us back one hundred years to the gritty streets of Chicago and the
throaty blast of steamship whistles, unveiling the full story of the
tragedy--and its incredible aftermath--for the first time.
In 1915, Chicago commuters were horrified to see the SS Eastland,
a massive Lake Michigan steamship, flip over while tied to its dock.
More than eight hundred poor factory workers and their children drowned.
Twenty-two whole families perished. The nation cried out for justice.
Drawing on previously unpublished evidence from the National Archives, Ashes Under Water is the untold story of a mysterious industrial atrocity and how the prosperous, guilty Eastland
owners tried to shift the blame to the whistleblower and one true hero
on the ship, Engineer Joseph Erickson, a working class immigrant.
Against all odds, an attorney down on his luck at the time then stepped
in to save him: Clarence Darrow, the future legal star. A national
tragedy, Chicago politics, corrupt businessmen, a courtroom drama--all
woven into one spellbinding narrative. Author Michael McCarthy takes
us back one hundred years to the gritty streets of Chicago and the
throaty blast of steamship whistles, unveiling the full story of the
tragedy--and its incredible aftermath--for the first time.
