"Lest We Forget": Chicago's Awful Theater HorrorEverett, Marshall
History
"Lest We Forget": Chicago's Awful Theater Horror
Everett, Marshall
Iroquois Theater, Chicago -- Fire, 1903; Theaters -- Fires and fire prevention
"I could not open the first exit door I reached. I then went to the
second exit and after some trouble I got it open by lifting up a brass
lever. Then the inside doors opened, which were wood and glass. I had the
iron doors to open next. I opened them by lifting a long bar. I went out
on the fire escape with my friends, who were with me with the exception of
my son, who had gone ahead, following the crowd. When I saw he was not
with us I went back and ran almost to the top of the stairs. I brought him
back. We went down the fire escape and out the alley to Dearborn street.
"The fire exits were all covered by heavy draperies that might readily be
mistaken for simple decorations and were not marked or labeled in any way.
Neither was there any one on hand to direct the crowd how to get out. The
only light was the illumination afforded by the fire."
THE THEATER ENGINEER.
Robert E. Murray, 676 Jackson boulevard, Chicago, engineer at the Iroquois
theater:
"I was down stairs underneath the stage when I heard some confusion about
3:30 o'clock. I rushed upstairs onto the stage and the first person I saw
was the house fireman. He had some kilfyre and was trying to sprinkle it
on the fire. I saw the curtain down about ten feet from the stage and I
tried to jump up and grab it to pull it down, but it was out of my reach.
By that time there was fire coming down so I had to get away from there. I
went to the elevator and saw that the boy was making trips and bringing
people down as fast as he could. When I saw he was doing his duty I went
downstairs and told my fireman to shut off steam in the house and pull the
fires, so as to prevent the possibility of an explosion.
RUSH OF CHORUS GIRLS.
"Then some of the musicians and chorus girls came rushing through and they
wanted to know which way out. There was a door in the smoking room in the
basement and I opened it for them. Some went out that way. The smoke was
so thick that some of them ran back. I took them to the coal hole and
shoved them out of the coal hole. The smoke was getting so thick in there
we could hardly stand it, so I told the fireman to take our clothes and go
to the coal hole and get out. I stayed there and shut the steam off in the
boilers, and was trying to get the fire out to save any boiler explosion
if the fire should get too hot.
"After I thought everybody was out of there I made a trip around the
dressing rooms in the basement and hallooed, 'Everybody out down here.'
Then I met a girl by the name of Nellie Reed. She was up against the wall
scratching it and screaming. I grabbed her and went out with her to the
street. I went back to the boiler. My toolbox was there, and I grabbed the
toolbox and jerked it back on the coal pile and then I crawled out of the
coal hole myself into the fresh air."
A SCHOOL GIRL'S ACCOUNT.
Ruth Michel, school girl, 698 North Robey street, Chicago:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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