"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
At the residence of Ludwig Wolff, 1329 Washington boulevard, the bodies of
his daughter, Mrs. William M. Garn and her three children, Willie, 11,
John, 7, and Harriet, 10 years old, lay. All day long until the time for
the funeral services a stream of sympathizing friends poured in. A crowd
of more than a thousand surrounded the house and the policemen stationed
there were compelled to force a way for the caskets when they were borne
to the hearses. The service was read by the Rev. William C. Dewitt of St.
Andrew's church. Twelve boys acted as pallbearers for their former
playfellows and followed the little white hearses to Graceland. The
funeral was one of the largest ever seen on the west side of the city,
more than one hundred carriages being in the funeral train.
PATHETIC SCENE AT CHURCH.
Far different in all except the grief was the funeral from the little
frame church at Congress street and Forty-second avenue. Inside lay the
bodies of Mrs. Mary W. Holst and her three children, Allan, 13, Gertrude,
10, and Amy, 8 years. They were in the ill fated second balcony of the
theater and met death trying to reach the fire escape. Of the family only
the father and a 6 months old son survive. Mrs. Holst was the sister of
former Chief of Police Badenoch. Interment was at Forest Home.
The building was still gay with its Christmas decorations and a large
motto, "Peace on earth, good will to men," which the Holst children had
assisted in making.
BURY CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN.
Another quadruple funeral was that of the daughters and the grandchildren
of Jacob and Elizabeth Beder of 697 Ogden avenue. The two women, Mrs.
Edyth Vallely, 835 Sawyer avenue, and Mrs. Amy Josephine McKenna of 758
South Kedzie avenue, went to the theater accompanied by their two
children, Bernice Vallely, aged 11, and Bernard McKenna, aged 3. The
bodies were found after the fire by the husbands of the dead women at the
morgues. The services were in charge of Rev. D. F. Fox of the California
Avenue Congregational church. Interment was at Forest Home.
FIVE DEAD IN ONE HOUSE.
Memorial services were held in the afternoon for Mrs. Eva Pond, wife of
Fred S. Pond, their children, Raymond, 14, Helen, 7, and Miss Grace
Tuttle, sister of Mrs. Pond, at the family residence, 1272 Lyman avenue.
The services were conducted by the Rev. Mr. Bowles of All Saints'
Episcopal church.
Miss Tuttle had been for eighteen years a teacher in the Chicago public
schools. She attended the performance at the Iroquois with her sister and
her sister's children, and none of them emerged alive. Mrs. Pond was the
wife of Fred S. Pond, for thirty years cashier of the Deering Harvester
Company, who is the only survivor of a once happy family circle. The four
bodies were taken to Beloit, Wis., for burial.
ENTIRE FAMILY IS BURIED.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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