"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
THE STORY OF THE BURNING OF BALTIMORE 357
MEMORIAL PRAYER.
The Rt. Rev. Samuel Fallows wrote this prayer for Chicago on its appointed
day of mourning. It is a prayer for all mourners of all creeds:
"O God, our Heavenly Father, we pray for an unshaken faith in Thy
goodness as our hearts are bowed in anguish before Thee.
Come with Thy touch of healing to those who are suffering fiery pain.
Open wide the gates of Paradise to the dying.
Comfort with the infinite riches of Thy grace the bereaved and
mourning ones.
Forgive and counteract all our sins of omission and commission.
All this we ask for Thy dear name and mercy's sake. Amen."
MEMORIAL HYMN.
Bishop Muldoon selected as the one familiar hymn most deeply expressive of
the city's mourning, "Lead, Kindly Light," which he declared should be the
united song of all Chicagoans on Memorial Day.
"Lead, kindly Light, amid th' encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on;
The night is dark, and I am far from home,
Lead Thou me on.
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene; one step enough for me.
I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou
Shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path; but now
Lead Thou me on.
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will: remember not past years.
So long Thy power hath blessed me, sure it still
Will lead me on
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone,
And with the morn those angel faces smile,
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile."
POEM BY A CHILD VICTIM.
The following poem, written by Walter Bissinger, a boy victim of the
Iroquois Theater fire, fifteen years old, was composed two years ago, in
honor of the tenth anniversary of the youthful poet's uncle and aunt, Mr.
and Mrs. Max Pottlitzer, of Lafayette, Ind., whose son Jack, aged ten,
perished with his cousin in the terrible disaster:
HAVE A THOUGHT.
I.
Have a thought for the days that are long gone by
To the country of What-has-been,
And a thought for the ones that unseen lie
'Neath the mystic veil
Of the future pale,
As the years roll out and in.
II.
Have a thought for the host and hostess here,
Aunt Emily and Uncle Max,
And a thought for our friends to our hearts so dear
That around us tonight
In the joyous light
Of pleasure their souls relax
III.
Have a thought for the happy two tonight
Who have passed their tenth wedded year,
And the best of wishes, kind and bright,
Which we impart
With a loving heart
That is faithful and sincere.
VERDICT OF CORONER'S JURY.
From the testimony presented to us we, the jury, find the following were
the causes of said fire:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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