Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) [Illustration: IN FRONT OF THE THEATER AT THE TIME OF THE FIRE, December 30th, 1903, 4 P.M.] "LEST WE FORGET" Chicago's Awful Theater Horror By THE SURVIVORS AND RESCUERS WITH INTRODUCTION BY BISHOP FALLOWS Presenting a Vivid Picture, both by Pen and Camera, of One of the Greatest Fire Horrors of Modern Times. Embracing a Flash-Light Sketch of the Holocaust, Detailed Narratives by Participants in the Horror, Heroic Work of Rescuers, Reports of the Building Experts as to the Responsibility for the Wholesale Slaughter of Women and Children, Memorable Fires of the Past, etc., etc. PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED WITH VIEWS OF THE SCENE OF DEATH BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER THE FIRE MEMORIAL PUBLISHING CO. Copyright, 1904, by D. B. McCURDY [Illustration: HON. CARTER H. HARRISON, Mayor of Chicago.] [Illustration: LEADING ACTRESS IN THE "BLUEBEARD, JR.," COMPANY. MISS BONNIE MAGINN.] [Illustration: DOOR TO THE FIRE ESCAPE THAT COULD NOT BE OPENED; MANY DIED HERE.] [Illustration: FRONT VIEW OF THE IROQUOIS THEATER.] [Illustration: MEASURING THE EXIT WHERE HUNDREDS WERE KILLED AND BURNED.] [Illustration: FIREMEN RESCUING THE LIVING.] [Illustration: JEWELRY AND CLOTHING OF THE VICTIMS OF THE FIRE.] [Illustration: IN FRONT OF THE THEATER; LAYING DEAD ON THE SIDEWALK.] [Illustration: FRONT ROWS OF SEATS AND FRONT OF STAGE.] [Illustration: RUINS ON THE STAGE.] [Illustration: SKYLIGHT ON ROOF OF THEATER, WHICH WAS NAILED DOWN DURING THE FIRE.] [Illustration: BACK PART OF THE THEATER WHILE THE FIRE RAGED.] INTRODUCTION. By the RT. REV. SAMUEL FALLOWS, D.D., LL.D. When Chicago was burning, a little girl in a christian home in a neighboring city stamped her foot indignantly on the floor and said: "Why doesn't God put out the fire?" The cry of many an agonized heart, beating in children of a larger growth, has been: "Why doesn't a God of wisdom and love prevent such an awful occurrence as the Iroquois fire?" "I have lost all faith in God," said a dear friend of mine, as its full meaning began to break upon him. When we were carrying out the dying and the dead from that horrible darkness and choking smoke to the outer air, those of us who were wont to pray could only say, "O God have mercy! O God have mercy!"