The following committee, the majority residents of Chicago, was named to act, pending further action: J. L. McKenna, 758 South Kedzie avenue; Henry M. Shabad, 4041 Indiana avenue; J. J. Reynolds, 421 East Forty-fifth street; E. S. Frazier, Aurora, Ill.; Morris Schaffner, 578 East Forty-fifth street. All of these men lost members of their families in the fire, Mr. McKenna losing his whole family. CHAPTER XXIV. AWFUL PROPHECY FULFILLED. 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 escape from burning theaters. The prophecy was put forth in the guise of a pretended report of such a horror in the issue of that publication for February 13, 1875, and was as follows: "Scores of houses are saddened this beautiful winter morning by the fate which overtook so many unsuspecting people in Chicago last night. The hearts of thousands will be stirred to their depths with sympathy for the unfortunates. It was a catastrophe awful in its results, yet grand in its horror. Nothing has equaled it for years; it is to be hoped that its counterpart will never be known. "There are smoking ruins down in the heart of the city--ruins of one of the finest theaters in Chicago, which fell a prey to the devouring element last night. There are mourning households and rows of dead bodies at the morgue. There will be anxious inquiries on the lips of many persons with whom one will meet manifesting an eagerness to know whether friends were swallowed up in the flames or made good their escape. "While it cannot be said that the catastrophe was entirely unexpected, yet it came so suddenly and so little had been done to obviate it, that its results are fearful to contemplate. For months the frequenters of the various places of amusement in Chicago had often questioned themselves whether there would not come the day when in some of these buildings grisly death would stalk forth, like a thief in the night, and lay his cold hands upon the unsuspecting throng; at last the terrible moment and the horrible reality dawned. "With all her experience in conflagrations and attendant horrors, Chicago has nothing to compare with this catastrophe. Even the fire of 1871, which swept over a vast extent of country and reduced proud and formidable looking buildings and scattered their strength to the winds, lacked the comparative loss of life which this one disaster has entailed. Property may be dissipated, but it can be recovered once more. "Death robs us forever of our dear ones, and leaves a void which time can never fully fill. MOURNING AND INDIGNATION.