Chicago's Awful Theater Horror

Chief Schuettler ordered captains from a dozen stations to bring their men, and then they rushed to the

r ten feet high. They discovered many persons alive and carried them to safety. Other firemen crawled over the mass of dead and dragge

ng the dead from the balcony, while other polic

rst balcony the bodies were so terribly interwoven

uted the chief to his men. "Tr

e came a fain

re, boys," came the

e long struggled in v

ing crowd coming down the stairs from the third balcony at right angles. The two streams formed a whirlpool which ceased i

es of humanity from each direction. Many tried to crawl over the top of the heap, but were drawn down to the grinding mill of dea

to death, but others were held as in a vise until

eat gilded marble foyer of the "handsomest theater in America" was somber and dark and still as a tomb, except for the whistling of the e

licemen worked, and this very fact, perhaps, made their tas

ED BODIES FOUND EVE

y in their seats and not to join in the mad rush for the doors and run the risk of being trample

ntil, choked by the heavy smoke

fallen forward, with the head resting on the seat in fr

eir seats until they finally were convinced that the dan

astily sent by the Edison company equipped forty arc lights, which shone bravely through the smoke. With

ere," shouted Chief Musham to a fireman. The fir

me one else," shouted

lantern the chief carried one could see the tears coming fr

e got a girl like this at home.

he head of the stairs broke apart while the fireman, hold

mness and serenity, and firemen sometimes found it hard to believe they were dead. Three firemen carried the body of a young woman down the stairs in a rubber blanket. She ap

led in heaps everywhere, the Iroquois theater had been turned

WORKERS IN MAD

truggled to untangle the mass of bodies gave the

houted one of the policeme

to those who are alive," replied the chief. "This ma

they had it free. Then another body was taken out, and then again the workers se

that one who's alive," implor

ved except when the firemen and police dragged with a "yo, heave," like sailors hauling on a rope. As fast as t

crawled a fireman carryi

men, let me out!

e child to a place where help might be given before it was too late. Then other firemen from inside the theater passed out more bodies

an pulling at the

f!" he said. "She's

ed Schuettler; "but hurry an

released her from the tangled heap, and a big fireman, lifting her t

alive," said the chi

er, for they were pulling and hauling as though their

sketch books on the floor to jump forward and pick up the feet or head of a body that a fireman or policeman found too heavy to carry alone. Constantly now a stream of workers was passing slowly down the stai

irl alive?" a

est her soul," said the fireman reverently, and then he picked his way down the s

oting and would have fallen ha

he way, there, out of the way, men," and he went dashing headl

downstairs. Some were little boys in new suits, sadly torn, and with their

inner balcony. He carried a girl of 10 years in his arms

oot heel. A woman with a little boy clasped tight in her arms was wedged into a corner. Her clothes were almost torn

the little owner had tried to save, in spite of the fact that her own life was being crushed out of her. Watches, pocketbooks and chatelaine bags

or. At the main entrance of the gallery lay another heap of bodies, and there was still another at the angle of the head of the sta

n stamped under foot and either killed outright or left to suffocate. Many of the

and again from the pitchy blackness of the smoke-filled gal

ALIVE IN

long the hall until the merchants in State street began sending over blankets. Men from the streets came rushing up the stairs, bending under the weight o

RIED INTO NEARBY R

aurant in Randolph street, adjoining

house, with its tumbled heaps of corpses, its shrieks of agony from the dying, and the confusion of d

and others black from suffocation; some crushed in the rush of the panic, others but the poor, broken remains of those who leaped into death. And m

es to ransack piles of bodies for relatives and friends, made up a scene of pandemonium of which it is hard to form a conception. There was organization of the fifty physicians an

f life was given over to the physicians, who with oxygen tanks and resuscitative movements sought to revive the heart beats. As soon as death was certain the body

one still warm with life. In a thrice the body was on a table and the oxygen turned on while the doctors worked with might and main to force respiration. Almost always it was in vain-life went out. Two or three we

e a panic spread among the waitresses and kitchen force. By this time fire company 13 was on the ground in the alley side of the theater and the police were at the front attempting to lead the a

or the injured. Captain Gibbons dispatched another policeman to issue a general call for physicians and a detachment to take charge of the restaurant and the first aid to

sending back word as he ran that Secretary James Markham should summon doctors and ambulances from every place available. The west side district of the medical schools and hospitals was calle

TY COMES TO AW

awful drama of death within the theater. The firemen had quenched the fire and all the living had escaped. All that

groans of the tortured beings who writhed upon the tables in the throes of their passing. And over the cries of the suffering rose the shouts of command of the Red Cross corps-now the directio

police guard to look for loved ones in the charnel house. There was Louis Wolff, Jr., searching for two nephews and his sister. There was Postmaster Coyne, who had hurried from a meeting of the cr

n?" shrieked a hysterical woman. "S

iss Errett-she's a n

nings-have you found him,

s so great that no single plaint rose above the volume of sound

se clothing was burned to the skin. She staggered across the threshold and fell prone. Her last br

n supported between them into the restaurant. But at the word she collapsed, and,

OUGHT BACK

finger move in a mass of the dead ag

physician flung aside the bodies till he had uncovered a woman of middle age, te

ms like pumps, while a nurse manipulated the region of the heart. At length there was a flutter of a respiration, while a doctor bending ove

tes the woman was saved from immediate death, at least, though suffering terribly from burns. She was just able to murmur th

AIR, POLICE CARRY

100 bodies from the rear stage and balcony exits of the Iroquois theater to the Northwestern University building, formerly

fforts to reach safety, blinded by the fire and smoke, lost their

a score of charred bodies lying under blankets in the room. The dead were carried from the pile of bodi

d in a few minutes professors and dental students gathered in the offices and stores to lend their assistance. Wounds were dre

the rows of balcony and gallery seats, many occupied by a human form. Incited by the sight, the police redoubled t

lances at the doors of the university building. All the afternoon the elevators carried down police in twos and fours carrying their burde

F ANXIOU

those seeking knowledge of friend or relative who had been in the play. Some made their way to the third floor and looked hopelessly at the charred bodies lying there. In one corner lay the bodie

nto the room. He was looking for a lit

e asked James Markham, Chief O'Neill's secretary, wh

est. "Three of the girls in the party have got home, but Lillian and the Weiskopp girl are

ile results were duplicated scor

ND GALLER

visitors. While the work of rescue was going on inside the building, the streets about the entrances were thronged with thousands of curious spectators. As soon as an ambulance

those who had escaped by the alley exits reached Dearborn street they found the doors of the Hallwood Cash Register offices, 41 Dearborn street, open to them.

he company with his wife and two daughters were among the dead. The Ludwig family lives in Norwood Park, and th

E OF CITY COUNCI

of the disaster became known at the city hall. First to grasp the import of the news was Ald. Raynier, whose wife a

, and the commissioner of public works to proceed in this emergency without any restrictions as to expense. Do eve

n informing him of the fire and the executiv

word to Chief O'Neill and Fire Marshal Musham tha

lanterns," Chie

s might be needed. Supt. Doherty assembled 150 men in Randolph street and seventy wag

es against a police officer. Lieut. Beaubien came from his office and whisper

rd was in executive session trying six firemen on a cha

tened. Then the news of the magnitude of the fire reached headquarters. The boar