"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
from friends; young men, who, while they had no friends to lose in the
building, yet felt themselves bereft by reason of the common sympathy of
the human heart; all these had, during the time preceding the recovery of
the bodies, filled the streets and poured out their inconsolable grief in
loudest tones. The _Times_ reporter to whose lot fell the recording of the
scenes depicted under this head hopes that it may never again be his to
witness a repetition of the scene. The anguish, the frenzy, the loud
wailings, the heart-broken demonstrations were, indeed, overpowering and
calculated to make an impression upon even the most stony heart that will
last as long as reason holds its sway.
THE FRENZY OF FRIENDS.
"The silent bearers of these bodies, as they came and went, could not but
be moved to tears at the reception which their burdens met. Here a
charming girl, cut off in the flower of her youth and at the height of her
pleasure; there a promising lad, full of hope but an hour before. Again,
the silvered head of a loved mother, and soon the sturdy frame of one who
had passed the heydey of youth and was beginning to enjoy the fruits of
his youthful labors. There were people well known, whose sudden taking
away will shock many a friend this morning; and there were others, too,
male and female, who, lacking friends in life, found no mourners save the
full heart of a sympathetic public to regret their departure.
TOO HORRIBLE TO DWELL UPON.
"But these scenes are too painful to be dwelt upon. One by one the dead
were removed, some to near hotels, to await the coming dawn, when they
might be taken to their late homes, and others being sent to the morgue by
the police. At 2 o'clock officers were still searching, and the populace
who had been drawn together by the awful catastrophe had dispersed in the
main, although a few still lingered about the ruins, anxious to offer
assistance where it might most be needed, while two streams of water
continued to be poured into the building that every spark might be
extinguished.
HOW THEATERS SHOULD BE BUILT.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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