Lest We Forget: Chicago's Awful Theater Horror

"When I came out there the girls started to run forward, and I went in again, because I was in my shirt sleeves and I wanted to take my coat and save what goods I had. As soon as I entered the stage again I heard a lot of noise and crying and calling and I went forward to that point and succeeded in pulling some more of the young ladies out. Then when I got on the little bridge leading from the stage to Dearborn street, I noticed that the whole scenery was in a blaze, that it was falling down and I tried to get in again, but through the enormous heat, and I believe that the city fire people just had arrived there with the hose and pulled me back so I couldn't get in there any more.

"I know there was an asbestos curtain in the theater and that it was used. During the time I have been connected with different theaters through the country I have always looked up to the curtains, and often put my hands on them. What was called by employees in the house the asbestos curtain, and also in several theaters in Chicago, has written on it, 'asbestos curtain.' When I entered this house on several occasions before the show I saw this particular curtain hanging there, a dirty white color, and on one or two occasions, in passing by, I pushed my hand against it and it felt to me exactly like other curtains hanging in Chicago, and on which 'asbestos' is written. One, for instance, in the Grand opera house, has written on it 'asbestos,' and is the same color in the back and has the same feeling when you put your hands on it as this one in the Iroquois theater.

"It was that curtain Sallers, the house fireman, was shouting for when I heard him. The fireman said, 'Down with that curtain,' and the other voice, which I thought was Mr. Carleton's, the stage manager, said, 'For God's sake lower that curtain.' Several other voices hallooed out, 'What is the matter with the curtain? Down with the curtain.' But it didn't fall and the holocaust followed."

THE JAMMED THEATER

The unlawful and deadly crowded condition of the theater at the time of the fire was emphasized by the testimony of Rupert D. Laughlin, 1505 Wrightwood avenue, who, although he reached the theater before the curtain went up, found the spaces behind the seats crowded and people sitting on the steps in the aisles. Laughlin and Miss Lucy Lucas, his niece, had seats in the second balcony, or gallery.

"We went into the theater about ten minutes before the orchestra come out and had some difficulty in getting into our seats," he said, "on account of the people standing in the aisles and at the back. The people were sitting on the steps.

"The steps were very steep and people occupied them quite a way down. They had to rise and stand aside to let us make our way to our seats. There was a man and a woman sitting on the step right beside our seats. At the end of the first act I went out to the foyer. I had considerable difficulty getting out. There was a great deal larger crowd in the aisles and sitting on the steps than there was when we came down first. They were strung along the aisle and there were a great many women on the steps. I went out and walked around for a while and then came back and took my seat. I had to make the women get up as I was coming down the aisle again.

"When the fire started I went right to the first exit and out on the fire escape platform. When I got to the door there were flames and a great deal of smoke coming out from a window that was near there, and we couldn't go out at that time, so we waited for a few seconds, and the fire died down. Then we went down the fire escape to the alley.

"Many other people escaped by the same means before us – at least I should judge there was, because we saw a number of hats and furs and things of that sort on the steps. There wasn't anybody coming down in back or in front of us while we were going down."

GAS EXPLOSION HOURS BEFORE THE FIRE

That the explosion of a gas tank came near destroying the Iroquois theater a few hours previous to the performance on the opening night, about a month before, was testified to by John Bickles, 6711 Rhodes avenue. According to Bickles, a gas tank under the stage exploded with such force that flames shot over an eight-foot partition. It was only after a hard fight on the part of employes of the theater and the fact that there was little inflammable material near the fire that the flames were subdued. Bickles stated that he did not know what sort of a gas tank exploded, as he did not inquire of the other employees. At the time he was standing in a room opposite the one in which the gas tank exploded.

"The flames leaped over an eight-foot partition, but did not burn me," said Bickles. "I went on to the stage soon after the explosion and the next day was discharged by the George A. Fuller company, builders of the theater, by whom I was employed as a carpenter. There was no work was the reason. There were a number of actresses and sewing women in the theater at the time of the explosion. The first performance was to be given that evening and everybody was making ready. I was the person who fixed the wall plates for the skylights, but I never saw them after they were finished."

From Bickles' testimony it seemed the George A. Fuller company had kept a number of its men in the theater after it was occupied by the Iroquois Theater company. They were completing unfinished details. The fact of the fire, he said, was hushed up.

PANIC AMONG THEATER EMPLOYEES

Gilbert McLean, a scene shifter, at work on the stage when the fire started, told of the failure of the fire extinguisher to put out the blaze, and declared that the failure of the fire curtain to drop was due to a misunderstanding among the men in the flies who were supposed to operate it. Then men appeared not to know what was wanted and lost priceless time hesitating. McLean's story would indicate that the stage employees ran away long before the audience knew that there was danger. Speaking of the efforts of the stage fireman to put out the blaze soon after it started in the grand drapery, McLean said:

"If the extinguisher had been effective he could not have reached the fire at that time, though the part he did reach did not seem to be affected at all. Then there was a commotion, everybody was running back and forth, and I yelled as loud as I could to send the curtain. I saw the men did not understand the signal; they were signaling from the first entrance then by a bell. I could hear the bell ringing and I could see the fly men, as they called them, and saw they didn't understand. I yelled as loud as I could and they did not seem to understand me or to know why the curtain should be sent at that time, as it was not the regular time for the curtain.

"Well, the fire kept making headway towards the back of the stage. It spread rapidly right straight back. There seemed to have been a draft from the front of the theater. The show people started to go out fast, coming from the basement and from the stage and leaving the stage by the regular stage entrance. Somebody hallooed, 'She is gone. Everybody run for your lives.' I went towards the rear door then and made my way out as best I could.

"There had never been any fire drill on the stage so far as I know and I never heard any fire instructions. Many were out before I left and I guess all the stage people got out some way or another. It was every man for himself then."

AN EX-USHER'S WORDS

Willard Sayles, 382 North avenue, Chicago: "I was formerly an usher at the Iroquois theater. During my period of employment the fire escape exits at the alley side of the house were always kept locked. There was one exception. The opening night Mr. Dusenberry, the head usher, had me open the inner set, the wooden doors that concealed the big outside iron ones. The people on the aisle were complaining that it was too warm. He gave orders to the director and myself to open the wooden inner doors to the auditorium. Later on Mr. Davis came up and told me to close them and not to open them unless I got instructions from him. That was the only time I got instructions from either one of them. We had not got instructions as to what doors we were to attend to in case of fire. The only time we got instructions was the Sunday before the house opened; Mr. Dusenberry called us all down there and told us to get familiar with the house. There was no fire drill or anything of that kind."

CHAPTER XXI.
IRON GATES, DEATH'S ALLY

That two iron gates, securely padlocked, across stairways in the Randolph street entrance, held scores of women and children as prisoners of death at the Iroquois theater fire horror, was the startling evidence secured on Saturday, Jan. 9, ten days after the holocaust by Fire Department Attorney Monroe Fulkerson.

In a statement under oath George M. Dusenberry, superintendent of the auditorium of the playhouse, admitted that these gates had remained locked against the frantic crowds through all the terrible rush to escape. Against these, bodies were piled high in death of those who might have gained the open air had they not been penned in by the immovable bars.

Not until the sworn statement had been secured from Dusenberry were the investigators brought to a full realization of the horrors of the imprisoned victims.

These deadly iron gates, four to five feet high, according to Dusenberry's testimony, were quietly removed after the fire. One of the gates was at the landing of the dress circle. The other was on the stairway which led from the dress circle entrance to the landing above. At the Randolph street entrance were two grand staircases. Passage down one of these staircases was shut off completely by the iron gates.

According to Dusenberry, the gates were locked with a padlock, requiring a key to open them. It was the custom to open these gates after the intermission at the close of the second act, so as to give the people an unobstructed passageway for leaving the house at the close of the play.

The exact condition made by the locked gates and the extent to which they contributed to the immense loss of life may be realized by Dusenberry's sworn testimony in detail on this point.

DUSENBERRY'S TESTIMONY

It was as follows:

Q. Do you recall an inspection which I made of the stairway of the second floor of that theater the next day after the fire? A. Yes, sir.

Q. And showed you two iron gates that folded up like an accordion? A. Yes, sir.

Q. Please state whether or not these two gates were locked at the time of the fire. A. Yes, sir.

Q. State where the lower one was located. A. At the landing of the dress circle.

Q. And do I understand that one side of it was solidly hinged with an iron rod and that the other side of the gate was fastened by a chain locked by a padlock? A. A small lock.

Q. The lock required a key to open it? A. Yes, sir; a small key.

Q. How high was this gate? A. I should think four or five feet.

Q. And was I correct in saying it folded up like an accordion when not in use? A. Yes, sir.

Q. Where was the other one located? A. On the stairway which led from the dress circle entrance up to the landing above.

Q. And was it secured and locked in the same manner as the other gate? A. Yes, sir.

PURPOSE OF THE TWO GATES

Q. Consider the first one; what was its function? A. In order that we could have system in handling the house.

Q. Yes; but what was it used for? A. When people were going upstairs that gate simply turned them for the balcony stairway.

Q. You are talking about the lower gate? A. Yes, sir.

Q. So, by reason of this gate, when the people started out they could have only one direction in which to leave, instead of two, as would be the case if no gate were there? A. Yes, sir.

Q. Let us consider the other gate; what was it for? A. To keep the people from going down into the dress circle, and to keep them on the regular stairway for the balcony.

Q. I believe you told me that you locked these gates yourself just before this matinee began? A. Yes, sir.

Q. That is correct, is it? A. Yes, sir.

Q. Did you ever say anything to Mr. Noonan or Mr. Powers or Mr. Davis as to the importance of having men stationed there, instead of a gate, so that in case of fire this would not be an obstruction? A. No, sir; they were always unlocked after the second intermission.

Q. In what act was that? A. At the close of the second act they would be always unlocked. They were exits.

Q. At the time this fire began and people started out, were they still locked or unlocked? A. They were locked.

NEVER ANY FIRE DRILLS

Dusenberry admitted that at the time of the fire's outbreak he was descending from the top balcony after having made an inspection of the entire house. This was his custom, to see that the ushers were in their places. He said that 100 persons were standing in the passageway back of the last row of seats on the first floor and about twenty-five persons occupied standing room in the rear of the first balcony, and seventy-five in the rear of the top balcony.

He admitted that he had never received any instructions from any of the owners or managers of the theater as to what to do in case of fire. He said that he had been told in a general way by Will J. Davis that he was to instruct the boys in their duties as ushers and make them familiar with the house.

There had never been any fire drills, he said. He did not know, he said, from what point or in what manner the large cylindrical ventilator over the auditorium was worked. It was because this ventilator was open and those above the stage closed that the fire was drawn into the front of the house. He said the nine exits on the north side, three of which were on each floor, were all bolted at the time of the fire; also that the nine pairs of iron shutters outside the inner doors were bolted at the time, and that he had never received orders from any one to have these unbolted while the audience was in the house.

GATES WERE BATTERED

"I found these gates in a battered condition by personal inspection, the next morning after the fire," Fire Department Attorney Fulkerson added. "I hunted up Mr. Dusenberry and took him to the place and examined him on the spot as to each minute detail. The examination was with reference to their being locked, and as to why a man had not been stationed there, in place of a gate, to direct the people.

"I called two policemen as witnesses. The reason I have kept this matter secret until now was the fact that this is the first day I have had an opportunity of examining Mr. Dusenberry under oath and taking his statements in shorthand to be used in any proceeding that may follow.

"The importance of his testimony is that he is the man the theater management had put in direct control of the audience and auditorium, and the facts which he has testified to speak for themselves. Let the public draw its own conclusions.

"I wish to say, however, with reference to those iron gates that they are no part of the building or the stairway as turned over by the builders and were not a part of the plans of the same, but a feature installed by the management after the stairways were finished and accepted, and no permit was obtained from the city building department to place the gates there. They proved to be the gates of death. Until this time they have been overlooked in the general investigation and silence has been maintained by the fire department for the purpose of clinching the evidence concerning them. This was rendered necessary through the fact that those best qualified to tell of their danger gave up their lives in acquiring that knowledge. They were gathered from behind the deadly barriers and now lie in eternal silence beyond the reach of all earthly summonses and the jurisdiction of our tribunals."

Ernest Stern, 3423 South Park avenue, Chicago:

"There was nothing left in the playhouse but standing room when my sister and I arrived, so we bought tickets according that privilege and took up a position in the middle of the first balcony. We were standing there when we saw the first evidence of fire and at once ran out. We owe our lives to that fact.

"It was about the middle of the second act when I noticed the blaze on the upper left-hand corner of the stage. Those on the stage seemed to be in semi-panic. The people didn't know what to do. Then there seemed to be somebody giving directions for them to put down the curtains after a burning piece of scenery or something fell on the stage. A man came out and gave instructions for them to pull down the curtain and after that we went out the door, downstairs and came to a door on the left hand side in the foyer, facing the street, and in the inner vestibule. There was a man there. He was not in uniform. He was trying to open the door, which was locked. There was a pair – two doors – and one of them was open and a great crowd was going out. This man was trying to unlock the other door and he could not do it. I broke the glass, and that wouldn't do either, so I kicked the whole door out and we escaped."

DIDN'T BOTHER ABOUT LOCKED DOORS

That the foyer doors, which the van of the fleeing audience found closed, were locked during the performance was the statement of Harry Weisselbach of Chicago. He was at the ticket office in the outer vestibule off Randolph street, some time before the fire and saw two men in an argument regarding the doors. They were coming out of the theater.

"That's a mean trick, to lock the doors so people can't get out," said one of the men. "They have locked the doors again," he continued, looking back at the door man. "I wonder if there is a policeman around here."

The man's companion replied that he wasn't going to bother about the matter and the two left the theater. Weisselbach went around to the Northwestern University school and was there only a short time when the fire in the theater started. His story of the fire from that viewpoint was similar to that told by Witness Fred H. Rea.

CHAPTER XXII.
DANCED IN PRESENCE OF DEATH

Heroes and heroines – every one of them – the members of the octette told the coroner how they sang and danced to reassure the vast audience of women and children while death lowered overhead and swept through the scene loft, a chariot of flame. Modestly they revealed the part they played in the catastrophe while billows of flame, death's red banners, menaced their lives.

Madeline Dupont, 145 Franklin avenue, New York:

"I first saw just a little bit of flame, which was on the right hand side of the first entrance on the west, the first drop of the curtain. It was just above the lamp that was reflecting on the moonlight girls. It was a calcium light. I went back and got in my place with the pale moonlight girls and the boys came out and sang their lines. Then we eight girls went on the stage – as we always did – went down to the front of the stage – and going down stage I saw the flame getting larger. Mr. Plunkett, the assistant stage manager, was in the entrance, ringing for the asbestos curtain to come down. He rang the bell until we reached the front of the stage, where we went on singing. We sang one verse of 'The Pale Moonlight' song, and then Mr. Foy came out and spoke to the audience. What he said I don't know, and then Miss Williams fainted. She was one of the 'pale moonlight' girls, and stood alongside of me. She was taken out, and then Miss Lawrence and myself were the last girls to leave the stage. I went downstairs to notify the girls down in the basement in the dressing rooms. I called to them that there was a fire, and advised them to run for their lives. Nobody was coming up then. Then I went out of the regular stage door entrance."

Ethel Wynne, New York City:

"When I was about to make my exit I noticed a very small flame to the right of the stage at the first entrance. It was really above the short fellow – a little gentleman, rather – who stands on the bridge. This flame was above his head. When he noticed it he put both hands up to get the burning material – just grabbed up to get the material that was burning. But the flame was away beyond his reach.

"The calcium light is below that, and it appeared to me as though it was the side of the curtain where the curtains are drawn up, or something. The flames spread very rapidly. I remember seeing Mr. Plunkett very plainly in the first entrance and hearing bells ringing for the curtain to fall. I said to Miss Dupont and Miss Williams, 'The curtain will fall in the meantime, the bells have rung.' We went to the back to make our entrance and the bell still continued to ring. I remember very plainly that I heard some one yell, 'Drop the curtain.'

"I noticed clearly that the curtain was caught, and it must have been on our left. It came down on the right hand side. The flames were going up very rapidly. I very foolishly lost my reason and walked back to the back steps, where I had made my entrance. From there I unfortunately had to watch the awful sights that we know of. I don't know to this hour how I got out of the burning theater."

Gertrude Lawrence, 5 West 125th street, New York:

"I was the leader of the octet, and I was on the platform going to meet my partner when I first saw the flame. I went on working as usual, down to the front, and paid no more attention to it because I thought it would soon be out. It was on the right hand side of the stage, above the stage. I noticed there was quite an excitement on the other side, but I went on working. I thought if there was an awful fire there would be a panic, and I thought by working I would quiet the people. Then I turned and saw the flames and went up the steps, there looking back and seeing the audience in the awful panic. Then I went out the usual stage door."

Daisy Beaute, 178 West 94th street, New York:

"I was standing in the third wing ready to go on, and I saw a flame on the left hand side, facing the audience, from the draperies above the first entrance on my right hand side. It was in the draperies clear at the top of the arch in the stage opening. We kept on dancing, but Miss Williams fainted. I ran for my life without waiting to see anything more."

Miss Edith Williams, the member of the octet who fainted on the stage, swooned again soon after she took the witness stand. Deputy Coroner Buckley had just administered the oath and asked the young woman to be seated, when she fell backwards. The fall was broken by a stenographer, and the woman saved from serious injury. She was assisted to the witness room and revived. Another witness was called.

Miss Anna Brand, another member of the octet, testified to the facts similar to those related by Miss Dupont and Miss Wynne, Miss Lawrence, Miss Beaute, Miss Richards and Miss Romaine, the remaining members testifying in a similar strain. None admitted knowing who opened the rear stage door leading to Dearborn street, the door through which came the cold blast that forced the fire into the auditorium.

"Jack" Strause, 31 West 11th street, New York:

"The octet had just made its entrance, walked four steps and danced eight, bringing the members to the center of the stage, when I discovered the fire overhead at the side of the proscenium arch. My partner in the scene, a young woman, cried out that she was fainting. She braced up, however, did a few more steps and collapsed. As I stooped to pick her up I saw the curtain fall possibly six or seven feet. From that time on I observed nothing more of the progress of the fire, being engrossed in an effort to carry out the unconscious young woman. Upon reaching the big scene door at the north of the stage, a strong blast of air blew us both into the alley. The rush of air was occasioned by the falling of a partition behind me, I think. I carried the girl into a neighboring restaurant, where she revived."

Samuel Bell (Beverly Mars):

"We saw the fire start about the time we made our entrance, but continued with our 'turn,' reaching the center of the stage. The fire was spreading and large sparks and fragments of burning material were falling, but we kept on until Miss Williams fainted. I saw the people in front commence to get excited and I put up my hands and told the people to keep as quiet and move out as easily as they could and not to get excited. I looked up again and I saw the drop curtain coming down. I should call it the asbestos curtain. It came down, as near as I could judge, about six or eight feet. Then I turned to look for my partner and she had gone. I looked on the stage to see her and I could not find her. She had gone off the stage. I merely went off the stage, out of the same side I had entered – I could not say exactly which entrance – and then out of the stage door, which was wide open."

Victor Lozard, 235 Bower street, Jersey City:

"I was coming out with the boys, eight of us, at the right side. We came up and met our partners and we got down as far front as the footlights, when Miss Williams fainted, which attracted my attention to some flames up at the first entrance on the right side. I then immediately turned around and helped pick Miss Williams up, and by that time my partner had left me, and I left the stage on the right side. I went up and was going to leave by the stage door, but people were going out there, and so I went over to the back drop, to the right of the stage, and there, about the middle of the stage, I was blown down or knocked down, I don't know what happened to me, and the next I knew of myself I was out in the alley. I don't know how I got there."

John J. Russell, Boston, Mass.:

"I had taken the first twelve steps of the dance when I first noticed the fire. It was in the first entrance, prompt side, about fifteen feet above the stage. The flame then was about five inches in length.

"I noticed that for about a second. I continued on with the rest of the business, and me and my partner, as I always had done in that number, went down to the footlights. When we got there we continued in the business for about three or four seconds after getting down. Then Miss Williams fainted. The flames were falling to the stage, large pieces of burning material, and seemed to create quite a little disturbance among the people in the audience. I spoke to a number and tried to quiet them.

"I told them to be seated, that everything would be all right, and to quiet down, and quite a number did. After Miss Williams fainted it attracted my attention, of course, to what was going on on the stage. I saw one of the moonlight boys pick Miss Williams up in his arms and go toward the stage entrance, other members of the octet following, except myself. I staid until they were out of sight. I left the stage by the second entrance on the prompt side. I went down stairs by the stairway beside the stage elevator.

"I came back on the stage again, made one more trip down stairs, and then I came to the stage once more. I went partly up stage, toward the stage entrance, that was all in flames. I looked to the other side of the stage and that was all in flames. I went down to the footlights, crossing again across the stage, and jumped over the footlights into the auditorium and made my way out to the first exit on my left, looking into the auditorium from the stage, into the alley. The panic was on at that time and it was a dreadful sight."

The statements of the remaining members were almost identical with those quoted.