WORCESTER, Mass. – Edward T. O’Donnell, professor of history at the College of the Holy Cross, is available to comment on the recent death of Adella Wotherspoon, the last living survivor of the General Slocum fire of 1904, New York’s deadliest disaster prior to Sept. 11. Wotherspoon was 100 years old at the time of her death.
O’Donnell is the author of Ship Ablaze: The Tragedy of the Steamboat General Slocum (Broadway Books, 2003), a book detailing the General Slocum disaster in which 1,000 lives were lost. Active in the field of public history, O’Donnell has appeared in several historical documentaries, and has provided historical insight and commentary for PBS, the Discovery Channel, ABC World News Now, NPR, the BBC, Bloomberg Radio, WOR Radio, FOX, and VH1.
Wotherspoon was six months old at the time of the fire. Her two older sisters died, but her parents survived. She was most recently living in New Jersey.
O’Donnell may be contacted by phone at 508-793-3730 (day), 508-826-1572 (evening), or by e-mail at eodonnel@holycross.edu.
Holy Cross Professor Can Comment on Death of Last Survivor of General Slocum Fire
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