Flower in the River: A Family Tale Finally Told

Disaster Dodger – One Woman’s Escape Artistry

• Natalie Zett • Season 3 • Episode 103

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Death came knocking three times—but Bertha Behrend Healy wasn't home.

In this episode, I uncover the jaw-dropping story of a woman who narrowly escaped not one, not two, but THREE of America's deadliest disasters:

  • The Johnstown Flood (1889) - A catastrophic dam collapse that killed 2,200+ people while Bertha's family fled to higher ground just in time
  • The Iroquois Theatre Fire (1903) - 602 victims perished when Chicago's "fireproof" theatre became a deathtrap, but 11-year-old Bertha's mother kept her home that frigid night
  • The Eastland Disaster (1915) - Moments from boarding, Bertha and her husband watched in horror as the steamship capsized in the Chicago River, drowning over 800 people—including six members of the family next door

FAMILY HISTORIES INTERTWINED

In this personal episode, I share the remarkable parallels between my own family history and Bertha's:

  • Both our families survived the devastating Johnstown Flood of 1889
  • Both fled Pennsylvania for Chicago seeking safety from disaster
  • Both families were touched by the Eastland tragedy (my great-aunt perished while Bertha narrowly escaped)
  • The shared grief that travels through generations—disaster memories that become part of our family identities

WHAT YOU'LL DISCOVER

  • Bertha's haunting firsthand account: "Bert! Bert! Please help me!" -- The desperate cries that followed her for decades
  • How a traffic delay saved Bertha and her husband from being on the doomed Eastland
  • Parallel journeys: How my family and Bertha's family both survived the Johnstown Flood, relocated to Chicago seeking safety, only for both families to be touched by the Eastland disaster
  • Why Bertha developed a lifelong fear of water so powerful she once abandoned a trip rather than board a ship
  • The remarkable resilience of a woman who maintained her sense of humor despite witnessing so much tragedy

SHARED TRAUMA ACROSS GENERATIONS

The episode explores how disasters create ripples through time, becoming part of our identity even generations later—a shared emotional inheritance that connects my story with Bertha's in ways neither of us could have imagined.

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

"When that sense of humor is gone, everything's gone." - Bertha Behrend H

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. Why? Hello, this is Natalie, and welcome to Flower in the River. We are on episode 103. Last week, I shared an incredible discovery Insurance records from the Polish Roman Catholic Union of America. If you haven't listened to that episode, I recommend listening only because it was such an unusual find and, as far as I know, none of these records have been shared until now, adding yet another unexplored layer to the Eastland disaster. There are so many. This week, I was diving really deep into these records when I realized how expansive all of this information is. What I was doing is I thought maybe I could just give you an update on these, but honestly, there's so much here that I know I needed more extensive research, so I've enlisted some extra help, including a translator a Polish translator to uncover every possible detail. I'm always afraid that I'll miss something, particularly if it's an area that I don't know very well, and this qualifies as an area that I don't know very well insurance claims, mostly in Polish, from 1915. This will take a bit of time, but it's worth it, and I'll be bringing those discoveries to you in the next few weeks. But we're not at a loss, because I found yet another long-lost story of the Eastland disaster. Actually, I found a couple of them, but the one I'm going to share with you is so striking because, even though it's a short story, there's a lot to it, a lot of background information, and I think you will find it as fascinating as I did. So let's get going.

Natalie Zett:

Okay, this newspaper article is from the Frankfurt Mokena not sure how to pronounce that star Sunday July 26, 1979. So, folks, that's 46 years ago that this story has been sitting in an archive someplace and finally was digitized and came online. So a little bit about this newspaper. The Frankfurt Mokina Star was a regional newspaper serving the southern suburbs of Chicago, including Frankfurt, mokina and New Lenox, and later it became part of the Star newspapers. And then, on November 18, 2007, the Star merged into the Daily Southtown, forming the Southtown Star. So even the newspaper has a birth, life and death record. So Frankfurt, illinois, is approximately 36 miles, that's 58 kilometers south of Chicago.

Natalie Zett:

And here's the article Witness recalls Chicago River disaster. The author is Margaret Brady. River Disaster. The author is Margaret Brady. They say that cats have nine lives, but it's highly unlikely that any cat ever narrowly missed being involved in two major American disasters. Like 87-year-old Bertha Berend Healy, now living at Four Seasons Nursing Center in Hazel Crest, she lives to tell about her narrow escapes from the well-known mass disasters, the most recent of which took place 64 years ago.

Natalie Zett:

July 24, 1915 dawned as one of those typical sultry summer days in Chicago. The air hung sullenly from a foreboding sky not the best weather for the fifth annual lake excursion and picnic for employees of the Western Electric Company. Blue-eyed and barely five feet tall, bertha Healy was 23 years old in 1915. Since 1911, she had been employed as a clerk for Western Electric's Hawthorne Works in Cicero and had been married to her boss, fred Healy, for just one year. The couple eagerly anticipated the company outing and, after drawing the shades against the day's ever-increasing heat, left their apartment for Chicago's Riverfront. White hat atop her head, carrying a white cane and a lunch pail.

Natalie Zett:

Bertha had set out in the early morning, fred at her side, for what she expected to be a fun-filled day. Five excursion steamers had been chartered by the company to transport Bertha and Fred's fellow employees and friends across Lake Michigan to Michigan City, indiana, for the picnic. After paying their nickel fare for the streetcar ride that would take them to the dock, fred and Bertha were chagrined to find, after going only a short distance, that their streetcar was stalled in traffic. We're going to have a delay. The conductor informed the early morning travelers. A wagon was stalled on the tracks. With that the pair began to walk the rest of the way. The Eastland steamer Bertha had heard was one of the fastest and most popular ships on the Great Lakes. It was also to be the first to leave that morning and Bertha was determined not to miss it. Let's take a cab, bertha said to her husband. Instead, the couple walked two more blocks then were whisked up by the streetcar which had freed itself of the traffic tie-up.

Natalie Zett:

Arriving at the dock and walking up the gangplank, bertha could see the magnificent vessel had already been filled with fellow employees approximately 2,500, all in a gala mood. Is the first boat filled yet? Bertha anxiously asked an officer standing by. Just then, the Eastland, still moored at the pier, began to tip over completely to one side. Began to tip over completely to one side in full view of the four other excursion steamers filling with passengers, as well as many more well-wishers who lined the pier.

Natalie Zett:

Bertha and Fred watched in horror as friends and families were thrown like plastic toys into the murky waters of the Chicago River. Behind Bertha, a bystander cried oh my God, throw a blanket over her head, don't let her see this. But Bertha managed to peek out from under her shield only to see her friends struggling to save their own lives. Oh Bert, bert, please help me, is the cry that still rings in the ears of Bertha Healy today. It was terrible. I'll never forget that, she said, her eyes staring out into the grassy expanse of lawn outside the nursing center windows, a lawn that is probably peopled at times, with the outstretched arms and the contorted faces of many of Bertha's lost friends.

Natalie Zett:

A total of 812 persons perished in what is now known as the worst disaster in Chicago's history in terms of loss of life and one of the nation's worst ship disasters. Though both Bertha and Fred Healy were only witnesses to the tragedy. They both had been listed as victims. Later that day Bertha found her parents' home filled with grieving friends and relatives. Until she stepped through the door, here she is. We thought you were dead. They cried. Bertha soon found herself in tears too. She nearly had been dead. Six members of the family living next door to Bertha drowned in the disaster. Warehouses located on the riverfront became makeshift morgues for bodies waiting to be claimed. Bertha recalls watching city trucks loaded down with 10 or 12 caskets per truck carrying bodies from the tragic scene through a slow and solemn funeral procession. It was sad and if you ever saw those fire trucks it was pitiful, she says.

Natalie Zett:

And today Bertha Healy talks of a life spent in fear of water, in fear of even pictures of water. Once, while she was waiting to board a ship in New York, she turned to the first person she saw and asked Mr, do you think we'll come back? I can't say. The man replied that was enough for Bertha. She returned home. Quote I wouldn't want you to see it. The Eastland disaster it's too sad to see. It would take all the good out of you, bertha said. It bothers me now to think of it, but the memories remain, newspaper clippings neatly tucked away in an empty white Fanny Farmer candy box.

Natalie Zett:

The specific cause of the disaster is unknown. The specific cause of the disaster is unknown. Some reports contend the sinking of the ship was the result of a partially empty ballast tank in the ship's hold, combined with the weight of the passengers as they suddenly rushed to one side of the boat to bid farewell to friends. Though it was her closest brush with death, the Eastland Excursion steamer disaster was not the only occasion on which fate intervened to save Bertha. He tickets for a performance of Mr Bluebeard to be presented in Chicago's Iroquois Theater on December 30, 1903. Luckily, bertha's German-born mother considered the night to be far too cold for the girls to venture out. A fire destroyed the Iroquois Theater that night. Amidst the raging flames and panic, at least 600 people lost their lives. How I ever got out of all that stuff, I'll never know. Bertha sighed.

Natalie Zett:

Bertha's affinity for escape from mass disasters seems to have been predestined by her heritage. Two years before she was born, bertha's family was living in Johnstown, pennsylvania, a coal mining town dug deep into the Allegheny Mountains of southwest Pennsylvania. It was on May 31, 1889, that Bertha's father heard a crashing sound while he picked for coal. Not knowing the cause, but sensing danger, he immediately gathered his wife and children and took them up to the safety of their home built on a hill. A dam had collapsed. More than 2,000 people drowned in Johnstown that day in one of the worst recorded floods in history, but Bertha's family had been spared.

Natalie Zett:

Bertha Healy doesn't act like a person who has brushed shoulders with death several times in her life. She describes herself as full of fun, jolly, and that's an accurate description. Bertha's wit is as dry and sharp as a desert wind, and she delights in it. A resident of Four Seasons since last March, bertha's only complaint is her lack of independence. Since her husband's death in 1967, she had been sharing an apartment in Forest Park with a friend, had been sharing an apartment in Forest Park with a friend. A bad fall now has confined her to a wheelchair, or buggy, as she jokingly refers to it, though she would much rather be up and around conducting her own affairs once again, preferably in Chicago, where she has lived most of her life, though she is childless. Bertha's niece and nephew, annette Clay and James McHale, both reside in Homewood.

Natalie Zett:

So what is Bertha Healy's secret to survival in a disaster-ridden world? Maybe her sense of humor, bert, someone told me you may be 87 years old, but don't ever lose that sense of humor, and I never will. I have more fun with that. And when that's gone, everything's gone. She said Everything except, of course, the memory of what she has so narrowly missed in her life, has so narrowly missed in her life. That's the end of this article and there is a photo. It's kind of grainy but it's a newspaper photo. It's an image of Bertha having her fortune read at the Hazelcrest Nursing Home, which was probably part of a carnival or some other entertainment for the residents. At 87 years old, bertha Healy is still having her fortune read. To me that's a lot of optimism. I'll continue talking about this amazing woman and her family.

Natalie Zett:

Bertha was also a member of and lectured at the Historical Society of Forest Park, illinois, so she told her story many times. There was also another article. This is from the World probably the Chicago World, sunday, may 5th 1974. And the headline for this is Survivor of Disaster Talks to History Group. Her parents barely survived the Johnstown flood when 2,000 people were drowned in 1889. She was invited but did not go to the Iroquois Theater in Chicago on July 30, 1903, when 596 died in the disastrous fire. She and her husband were on their way up the gangplank when the Eastland excursion boat tipped over in the Chicago River at Clark Street July 24, 1915. July 24th 1915, with the loss of 812 lives. Their carriage had stuck in the Clark Street car tracks. The delay saved their lives.

Natalie Zett:

Today this narrow escape artist is alive and well and happy and living in Forest Park at 607 Hanna. She is Mrs Bertha Healy, 83, and Wednesday, may 15th, she will be the special guest at the annual meeting of the Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest. She will tell about her narrow escapes with slides and a taped interview. The interview, part of a continuing dialogue between society members and old-timers, was conducted by Bessie Boynton, 165 North Kenilworth Oak Park. Production of sound and pictures is by Harold White, 165 North Kenilworth Oak Park. Hello, is this recording and are those slides and presentation documents available someplace? This was really sophisticated for 1974. That's quite a while ago and obviously they cared about history, they wanted to preserve their history. So I have a feeling that this documentation about Bertha's presentation may very well exist someplace. This will take some more detective work, but I'm up for the challenge and I will keep you posted. So Bertha was out there, she's talking about this thing and we know there's probably evidence elsewhere, there's probably evidence elsewhere. So now you've met Bertha, you know a little bit about her. You know that she was out there talking about the Eastland disaster as well as these near misses that she's experienced in her life and, as you can hear in that first article, it haunted her. It probably followed her to the last days of her moments on earth.

Natalie Zett:

Bertha Berend Healy was born on November 30, 1891, in Johnstown, cambria County, pennsylvania, to Max Berend and Maria Adam Berend. Her dad, max, was born about 1857 in Prussia. Her dad Max, was born about 1857 in Prussia, while her mother, maria, was born in 1855, also in Prussia. I'm not sure which village these folks came from, but it's highly likely that Bertha's family came from the same area as my mother's mother's family, who also immigrated from Prussia to Johnstown. Bertha had at least four siblings. By the way, the family survived the Johnstown flood of 1889, but at some point after that relocated to Chicago. On July 21, 1914, in Waukegan, illinois, bertha married Fred John Healy, who was born on August 13, 1884, in Wisconsin, and in the years following their marriage they lived in various locations within Cook County, illinois, and Bertha passed away in 1988 at the age of 96 in Forest Park, illinois.

Natalie Zett:

The first thing that just blew me away was that this is the first time I've read about a family that followed nearly the same path as my family, and her family was in the big Johnstown flood of 1889. And a lot of people do know about the Johnstown flood, but I will share the highlights of it, because you're going to hear a lot of similarities. On May 31st 1889, after days of relentless rain, the South Fork Dam, a poorly maintained structure 14 miles upstream from Johnstown, pennsylvania, collapsed. It unleashed a 40-foot high wall of water that traveled 40 miles an hour, obliterating everything in its path. And here's some extra good news the Johnstown Flood documentary that was released in 1989 and directed by Charles Guggenheim and narrated by David McCullough, is available for free for you to watch on the Internet Archive. That would be archiveorg, and I will of course, put a link in the show notes, but I recommend watching that If you want to get a good grounding in what happened. This is probably the best documentary to start with flood disaster in the United States. At that point, Entire neighborhoods were swept away and bodies were found as far as Cincinnati, and fire erupted on top of the floodwaters. Burning trapped survivors alive. The event left Johnstown unrecognizable.

Natalie Zett:

This, like the Eastland disaster, like the Iroquois Theater fire, wasn't a natural disaster. The South Fork Dam, which was about 14 miles from the city of Johnstown, was owned by an elite group of wealthy industrialists, including Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick, and these folks had modified this dam for their private resort without reinforcing it properly. Yes, they were warned, by the way, and after the flood, no one was held accountable. The courts ruled it a natural disaster and the wealthy club members walked away unscathed, while the working class families of Johnstown were left to pick up the pieces. To state the obvious, history does unfortunately seem to repeat itself way too much. And again, much like the Eastland disaster, the Johnstown flood was preventable. It was human negligence, a mix of greed, poor planning and a lot of ignored warnings. Yes, people were warned that this could happen and they chose to ignore it. Yes, people were warned that this could happen and they chose to ignore it.

Natalie Zett:

It's interesting that Bertha's family, like my own, moved from Johnstown to Chicago. Here's a story my great-great-aunt and uncle and their children were in the Johnstown flood of 1889. They ran a rooming house for immigrants and that whole street and everything was wiped out, but somehow they survived. My great-great-aunt had her newborn baby in her apron and she was rescued by a farmer and they waded the flood out on top of a roof I think it was the farmer's barn and eventually these folks relocated to Chicago, thinking, oh, we got to get out of this place. And eventually my great-grandfather and he is the brother of my great-great-aunt and his family followed them from Johnstown to Chicago and it was their daughter, my great-aunt, who met her end on the Eastland. But wait, there's more.

Natalie Zett:

Johnstown had another flood in 1936, but not as devastating as the 1889 one. However, for at least 25 people who died, it was devastating for them and their families. My mother was five years old and my mother and her dad got in his coal truck and they drove to the highest point that they could find and she remembers taking all of her baby dolls. She had all these dolls and she and her dad were in the truck and they just waited out the flood and she had very few memories of it. She didn't mind talking about it, but I don't think at that age that she could quite take in everything that was happening around her, but she did say it was really awful in terms of the destruction of homes and things like that. There was yet another flood. This one was in 1977, and about 84 people died.

Natalie Zett:

One of my relatives was living there and I will share an excerpt from a letter from 1977. © transcript Emily Beynon. There is a pall of sadness everywhere and even though I didn't have any flooding, just being here is terrifying enough. All that destruction and ugliness is indescribable. I don't think Johnstown will ever again be back as a town. That's the end of that excerpt, and this relative has been dead for a number of years, but she was always a good letter writer and I'm so grateful to have all this documentation from her. And what it tells me too, is that whether you live through something or you experience it through your relative's memories, it carries forward into the future. And for me, I never lived through that flood or any of those floods, but that's inside of me. That is the part of Johnstown that I always take with me, such as Bertha took with her. And of course Bertha had the Johnstown flood. She had the near miss at the Iroquois Theater and the other near miss of the Eastland disaster. So by sharing all that, I wanted to emphasize the connection that my family has with Bertha's family, but to also give you, if you're not familiar with all of this, a larger understanding of the various Johnstown floods plural. And I want to return to Bertha's story and give some background about the Iroquois Theater Fire of December 30th 1903. The history of the Iroquois Theater Fire has been well documented in places like the Library of Congress, the Chicago Public Library and the Smithsonian Magazine, as well as an excellent dedicated website about the tragedy. And yes, I'll share that with you as well. And there are likely even more resources out there for those who want to dig deeper.

Natalie Zett:

The Iroquois Theater, located in downtown Chicago, was advertised as wait for it fireproof. Much like the Titanic, was called unsinkable, and the Iroquois Theater was promoted as a marvel of modern architecture. It had only been open for a month when tragedy struck. With a lavish interior, a massive stage and seating for over 1,000 people, it was designed to impress. But beneath the grandeur, the building was a death trap waiting to be triggered. On December 30, 1903, during a matinee performance of Mr Bluebeard, a spark from a stage light ignited a curtain. Within minutes, flames spread rapidly, climbing into the rigging and sending burning debris raining down onto the audience. The fire curtain meant to contain the flames failed completely. Exits were blocked, some were locked to prevent people from sneaking in without tickets. Others were hidden behind curtains, making it impossible for panicked theater goers to find them. The result At least 602 people died, most of them women and children who had come to enjoy a holiday performance. Many were crushed in stampedes, while others suffocated in the smoke. It remains the deadliest theater fire in US history and one of the worst disasters in Chicago's past. The only silver lining is that the tragedy forced major reforms in fire safety laws, including emergency exit requirements, flame-resistant scenery and doors that opened outward in public buildings, changes that have undoubtedly saved countless lives.

Natalie Zett:

Since Finding Bertha Barron, healy's story has been an incredible discovery. Uncovering new history that deepens our understanding of the Eastland disaster is always like striking gold in genealogy or history, something Lisa Louise Cook might call a genealogy gem, and I'm so grateful to have found it. Even more meaningful is the unexpected connection between our families, both shaped by the Johnstown flood and later touched by the Eastland tragedy. It's remarkable to see these threads weave together across time. I'd love to find Bertha's relatives and piece together even more of her story, and if I do that, you bet I'll keep you posted. One last bit of research I'm still digging into is locating the house where Bertha and her husband lived. It's proving to be more of a challenge than I expected, but I want to identify the neighbors, the ones who lost their lives in the Eastland disaster. Their stories matter and this search will continue. There are more stories coming next week, but for now, I'll leave you with something a little different, a song, yes, a song.

Natalie Zett:

With the help of Suno, an AI music tool, I've created a piece about the Johnstown flood, so I'm sharing a short clip with you. Thanks for listening and I'll talk to you next week. It never departs. Johnstown's waters flow through our hearts. Hey, that's it for this episode and thanks for coming along for the ride 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. I hope you'll consider buying my book available as audiobook ebook 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.

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