Chicago's Awful Theater Horror

lowing suggestions be published for the benefit and warning of patrons of public places, also as an aid to city officials, ar

ded with exits, and are unsafe on account of overcrowding. Thereby each person attending a performance in any of Chicago's theaters does so at a risk of his own

en overcrowded by reducing sizes of stairs, aisles and exits the building is really worse

horror as has been witnessed at the Iroquois, which was

in the section. In the Iroquois the seats in the gallery are so closely spaced from back to back that one cannot sit in a comfortable position at any time. All seats should be made of iron framework, with seats fixed so that danger

exit door placed at end of each aisle leading directly to the vestibule. The present system is one large door at the center so that people from the side aisles collide with those from the center aisles and

les and replaced by interlocking rubber tile or so

angerous. Stairs to be straight without winds or turns and at every ten feet from the sidewalk there should be a landing tw

should have a metal hand rail back of each row of

Also at each fire exit there should be in view of the audience a box containing saw and tools and plainly marked for use in case of fire, providing locks

eads eleven inches and rises seven inches, and treads provide

m a smoke flue in case of fire. Wires controlling this ventilator should run in conduit fireproofed and in addition to switch an electric emergency switch weighted with a fused link to make a contact when link breaks. Same to apply to stage, halls and stairways, except that fir

itorium, balconies, halls and stairs and built of fire-proof boxes with wired plate-glass face. These lights should be operated on a

vented from outside sources, but if in case of accident the lock should fail to work from the in

gallery. In the Iroquois the scenic lights were placed at the extreme top of the upper galler

ctions with fusible link connections so that in

in steel guides of sufficient size to allow for expansion in case of fi

d be used especially for patrons using carriages so as to prevent the present system of bl

a fire plug, also a hose long enough to rea

ed, but some of the above suggestions if carried out

is found to conflict with the law and the safety of an audience the city offici

HITECT

of the disaster in Pittsburg, Pa., and at once started for Chica

ample fire exits and they were available. The house could have been emptied in less than five minutes if they were all utilized. The fact that so many people were caught in the balconies woul

cause I have built many theaters and have studied e

BY ARCHITECT

the theater was equipped with an asbestos fire curtain, said: "After a careful investigation, I am c

o curtain had been removed, as is claimed, I cannot understand how the claim can be set up that the theater had a fire curtain. No one denies that there was a curtain there, but had it been made of asbestos, as required by the ordinance, it would not have been

ois regarding the fire drop. Mr. Frankenstein said that the stage manager told him that the Iroquois stage was not equipped with a true fire curtain. According

UTIONS FOR NEW

e large hotels, suggested a number of precautions which might be adopted in New York theaters. Among other

hich are used so seldom that the employes are unused to having the audience pass out through them. Besides the one exit ordinarily in use there a

the greatest danger, would undoubtedly become thor

that it could be put into immediate operation without the spending of a

low the crowds to pass down in safety. The law now requires the stairways to be covered at the top, and covering the outsid

el the use of scenery on frames of light metal covered with canvas that has been saturated in a fireproof solution. Firepr

aning out of rubbish beneath the stage. In a number of