Category: History - American

"Lest We Forget": Chicago's Awful Theater Horror

GREAT PILES OF CHARRED BODIES FOUND EVERYWHERE IN THE THEATER--MOAN INSPIRES WORKERS IN MAD EFFORT TO SAVE--NONE LEFT ALIVE IN GALLERY--DEAD AND DYING CARRIED INTO NEARBY RESTAURANT BY SCORES--TERRIBLE REALITY COMES TO AWESTRICKEN CROWD--ONE LIFE BROUGHT BACK FROM DEATH--ONE H...

Chapters

49. CHAPTER XXV.

BARNHEISEL, CHARLES H., 3622 Michigan avenue; unknown to family that he had attended theater, and published list of dead containing name conveyed the first information to family...

37. CHAPTER XIV.

From two women who sat within a few feet of the stage when the fire broke out in the theater, and who remained calm enough to observe the actual beginning of the holocaust, ther...

24. CHAPTER I.

No disaster, by flood, volcano, wreck or convulsion of nature has in recent times aroused such horror as swept over the civilized world when on December 30, 1903, a death-dealin...

42. CHAPTER XIX.

Scores and scores of witnesses assembled in the little committee rooms and antechambers of the council hall in the great Chicago administrative building, each with his story to...

25. CHAPTER II.

On the heels of the firemen came the police, intent on the work of rescue. Chief O'Neill and Assistant Chief Schuettler ordered captains from a dozen stations to bring their men...

44. CHAPTER XX.

Examination of Robert E. Murray, engineer of the theater, and through that fact, the man in charge of its machinery and mechanical equipment, revealed in a startling way the abs...

32. CHAPTER IX.

Those in greatest danger through proximity to the stage did not throw their weight against the mass ahead. Not many died on the first floor, proof of the contention that some re...

50. CHAPTER XXVI.

All the world was startled on Sunday, February 7, 1904, just 39 days after the Iroquois theater horror, by another sickening visitation of the fire fiend. This time the devourin...

35. CHAPTER XII.

Never before in the history of amusements has so excellent an opportunity been afforded to look behind the scenes of the mimic world and study the real life of the actor. To one...

36. CHAPTER XIII.

Since the time that civilized man first met with fellow man to enjoy the work of the primitive playwright, humanity has paid a toll of human life for its amusements. Oftener tha...

40. CHAPTER XVII.

Many of the members of the "Mr. Bluebeard, Jr.," company were arrested and retained as witnesses in the trial, on a charge of manslaughter, of Messrs. Davis and Powers, Building...

30. CHAPTER VII.

The real story of the origin of the fire was told by William McMullen, assistant electrician. He said: "The spot light was completely extinguished at the time of the fire. I am...

29. CHAPTER VI.

One of the heroes of the Iroquois theater fire was Peter Quinn, chief special agent of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad system, who assisted in saving the lives of 100 o...

27. CHAPTER IV.

All but one of the 348 members of the "Bluebeard" company escaped, although many had close calls for their lives. Some of the chorus girls displayed great coolness in the face o...

26. CHAPTER III.

In drays and delivery wagons they carried the dead away from the Iroquois theater ruins. The sidewalk in front of the playhouse and Thompson's restaurant was completely filled w...

39. CHAPTER XVI.

Eddie Foy, whose real name is Edwin Fitzgerald, has faced many audiences under all conditions and circumstances during his stage career of a quarter of a century, during which h...

48. CHAPTER XXIV.

More than a quarter of a century ago the prophecy was made by the _Chicago Times_ that a terrible calamity was in store for the public on account of the lax provision made for e...

41. CHAPTER XVIII.

"Location--All theaters to be in buildings by themselves, like the Illinois and Iroquois. No stores or offices to be located in them. Buildings should be isolated, with wide pri...

34. CHAPTER XI.

A majority of the victims of the fire were laid to rest, however, during the Sabbath succeeding the awful calamity. The main thoroughfares of the benumbed city leading north and...

28. CHAPTER V.

"If you ever saw a field of timothy grass blown flat by the wind and rain of a summer storm, that was the position of the dead at the exits of the second balcony," said Chief of...

31. CHAPTER VIII.

Robert S. Lindstrom, a well known Chicago architect, makes the following suggestions: "It is earnestly requested that the following suggestions be published for the benefit and...

46. CHAPTER XXII.

Heroes and heroines--every one of them--the members of the octette told the coroner how they sang and danced to reassure the vast audience of women and children while death lowe...

45. CHAPTER XXI.

That two iron gates, securely padlocked, across stairways in the Randolph street entrance, held scores of women and children as prisoners of death at the Iroquois theater fire h...

38. CHAPTER XV.

Miss Charlotte Plamondon, daughter of the vice-president of the Chicago board of education, who waited until the fire had caught in the curtains over the front box, in which she...

23. CHAPTER XXVI.

Bishop Muldoon selected as the one familiar hymn most deeply expressive of the city's mourning, "Lead, Kindly Light," which he declared should be the united song of all Chicagoa...

43. did. At that time in the extreme left-hand corner back of us we could see

"We couldn't see any opening, but we could see the light from the opening, and then we went over the seats. I didn't look back after I started. My wife and sister-in-law followe...

33. CHAPTER X.

Jan. 1--day of funerals--was received in silence. Streets were almost deserted, even downtown. Men hurried silently along the sidewalks. There were not half a dozen tin horns in...

47. CHAPTER XXIII.

Ten days after the fire horror, while blood curdling disclosures were coming to light revealing the fate of the penned-in fire victims in a new and more ghastly aspect, and whil...

13. CHAPTER XIV.

MRS. SCHWEITZLER'S STORY OF THE BURNING OF THE CURTAIN--ESCAPE OF MOTHER AND TWO SMALL CHILDREN-- EXPRESSION OF THE DEAD--ONLY SURVIVOR OF LARGE THEATER PARTY--ALL HIS FAMILY GO...

11. CHAPTER XI.

SEVEN TURNER VICTIMS--SAD SCENES AT WOLFF HOME-- PATHETIC SCENE AT CHURCH--BURY CHILDREN AND GRAND-CHILDREN--FIVE DEAD IN ONE HOUSE--ENTIRE FAMILY IS BURIED--MRS. FOX AND THREE...

16. CHAPTER XVII.

NEW YORK THEATERS AND SCHOOLS--CRUSADE IN PITTSBURG-- WASHINGTON THEATER OWNERS ARRESTED--MASSACHUSETTS THEATERS INVESTIGATED--ACTION IN MILWAUKEE-- PRECAUTIONS AT ST. LOUIS--OR...

2. CHAPTER II.

GREAT PILES OF CHARRED BODIES FOUND EVERYWHERE IN THE THEATER--MOAN INSPIRES WORKERS IN MAD EFFORT TO SAVE--NONE LEFT ALIVE IN GALLERY--DEAD AND DYING CARRIED INTO NEARBY RESTAU...

7. CHAPTER VII.

ACCOUNT OF THE FIRE'S ORIGIN--WERE ELECTRIC LIGHTS TURNED OUT?--STATEMENT OF MESSRS. DAVIS AND POWERS, MANAGERS OF THE THEATER--FIRST RELIABLE STATEMENT AS TO WHY THE CURTAIN DI...

9. CHAPTER IX.

HORRIBLE SIGHT MET THE FIREMEN UPON ENTERING AUDITORIUM--THE GALLERY HORROR--GIRL'S MIRACULOUS ESCAPE--AN ACCOUNT FROM THE BOXES--INSPECTION AFTER THE FIRE--A YOUNG HEROINE--A N...

22. CHAPTER XXIV.

MOURNING AND INDIGNATION--NOTHING ELSE SO HORRIBLE--UNFORTUNATE VICTIMS--FIRE! FIRE!--BEFORE THE DISASTER--THE HOLOCAUST--THE STAMPEDE BEGINS-- ONE OF STUPENDOUS HORRORS--CURSED...

5. CHAPTER V.

EXPERIENCE OF CHICAGO UNIVERSITY MEN--BISHOP BRAVES DANGER IN HEROIC WORK OF RESCUE--WOMEN AND FOUR CHILDREN SUFFER--LEARNS CHILDREN HAVE ESCAPED--FINDS HIS DAUGHTER--MR. FIELD'...

18. CHAPTER XIX.

THE FIRST WITNESS--MARLOWE'S EXPERIENCE--MUSICAL DIRECTOR'S SWORN STATEMENT--MRS. PETRY'S ESCAPE--UP AGAINST LOCKED DOORS--BLOWN INTO THE ALLEY--JUST OUT IN TIME--SPORTING MEN T...

14. CHAPTER XV.

MISS CHARLOTTE PLAMONDON'S ACCOUNT OF THE FIRE-- SCREAMS OF TERROR HEARD--CHORUS GIRLS ESCAPE, PARTLY CLAD--FOY TRIES TO PREVENT PANIC--ESCAPE OF ANOTHER SOCIETY WOMAN--MINNEAPO...

19. CHAPTER XX.

A UNIVERSITY STUDENT'S STORY--A CLERGYMAN'S STORY-- THE FLY MAN'S STORY--SCHOOL TEACHER'S THRILLING EXPERIENCE--GLEN VIEW MAN'S EXPERIENCE--THE LIGHT OPERATOR--THE JAMMED THEATE...

1. CHAPTER I.

4. CHAPTER IV.

12. CHAPTER XII.

20. CHAPTER XXI.

17. CHAPTER XVIII.

8. CHAPTER VIII.

10. CHAPTER X.

3. CHAPTER III.

6. CHAPTER VI.

15. CHAPTER XVI. 220

21. CHAPTER XXIII.