Col. Nelson Morris, a wealthy executive and scion of Armour and Co. meat packers in Chicago, convinced his friend Burtis Dolan to fly with him across the Atlantic Ocean instead of embarking on his planned steamship journey home in May 1937. The friends were standing together in the passenger cabin of the Hindenburg airship as it landed at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Dolan was among the 36 people who died in the crash, along with two other Chicago area residents. The crash and its history are detailed in the book "Zeppelin Hindenburg: An Illustrated History of LZ-129". Patrick Russell, a former Chicagoan who now lives in La Porte, Indiana, also compiled the stories of the 97 passengers and crew aboard the airship on his blog.