THE ORIGIN OF THE FIRE--THE ASBESTOS CURTAIN AND THE LIGHTS.
The real story of the origin of the fire was told by William McMullen,
assistant electrician. He said: "The spot light was completely
extinguished at the time of the fire. I am positive of this, because I was
working on it. Three feet above my head was the flood light. I noticed the
curtain swaying directly above it and suddenly a spark shot up and it was
ablaze in a second."
McMullen called the attention of his assistant to the flame.
"Put the fire out," he said.
"All right," said the other man, reaching down, using his hands to put out
the small flame.
"Put it out! Put it out!" shouted McMullen.
"I am! I am!" said the other, clapping the flimsy stuff between his hands.
Some of the stage hands at this moment noticed the fire.
"Look at that fire!" these called out. "Can't you see that you're on fire
up there! Put it out!"
"D---- it, I am trying to," said the man who was clapping away at the
burning paint impregnated muslin.
Then a flame a foot high shot up and caught the draperies above those on
fire.
"Look at that other one. It's on fire," some one on the stage yelled.
"Put it out!" shouted another.
"All right," said the man on the perch. But he did not clap hard enough
or fast enough, and in ten seconds the flames were beyond his reach.
It was after these hand clapping attempts to extinguish the fire had
proved futile that McMullen shouted a call for the asbestos curtain to be
put down.
"I did not see the curtain move."
ANOTHER ACCOUNT OF THE FIRE'S ORIGIN.
W. H. Aldridge, who was employed to operate one of the so-called calcium
lights, told how the fire started.
"I was about twenty feet above the lights which were being used, having
left my place to watch the performance," he said. "While I was looking
down on the performers I noticed a flash of light where the electric wires
connect with the calcium light. The flash seemed to be about six inches
long. As I looked a curtain swayed against the flame. In a moment the
loose edges of the canvas were in a blaze, which rapidly ran up the edge
of the canvas and across its upper end.
"A man named McNulty was in charge of the light. Whether he accidentally
broke the wire and caused the flash I do not know. The light was about
twenty feet from the floor. It consisted of a 'spot' light, used to follow
the principal performer, and a 'flood' light, which was used to produce
the moonlight effect."
WERE ELECTRIC LIGHTS TURNED OUT?
James B. Quinn, general manager of the Standard Meter company, who was
present throughout the panic, said on this point: "Had the electrician who
had charge of the switches for the foyer lights remained at his post long
enough to have turned on the lights in the foyer there would not have been
one-half the loss of life in the foyer and balcony stairs. When that
awful darkness fell on the house the frenzied people did not know where to
turn. They had not become fully acquainted with the turns because the
theater was new. I was there and assisted in removing the dead and dying,
and having been connected with lighting plants all my life I know what I
am talking about. We did not have an electric light turned on for two
hours after the fire. It was too late then. True, we had lanterns, but
they were inadequate and would not have been needed had the electrician or
his assistant done their duty. When the lights were turned on it was done
by outside electricians."
STATEMENT OF MESSRS. DAVIS AND POWERS, MANAGERS OF THE THEATER.
When the fire broke out Manager Will J. Davis of the Iroquois was
attending a funeral. A telephone message was quietly whispered to him and,
after hesitating a moment, Davis unostentatiously slipped on his overcoat
and left the place.
Mr. Davis and Harry J. Powers later stated as follows:
"So far as we have been able to ascertain the cause or causes of the most
unfortunate accident of the fire in the Iroquois, it appears that one of
the scenic draperies was noticed to have ignited from some cause. It was
detected before it had reached an appreciable flame, and the city fireman
who is detailed and constantly on duty when the theater is open noticed it
simultaneously with the electrician.
"The fireman, who was only a few feet away, immediately pulled a tube of
kilfire, of which there were many hung about the stage, and threw the
contents upon the blaze, which would have been more than enough, if the
kilfire had been effective, to have extinguished the flame at once; but
for some cause inherent in the tube of kilfire it had no effect. The
fireman and electrician then ordered down the asbestos curtain, and the
fireman threw the contents of another tube of kilfire upon the flame, with
no better result.
"The commotion thus caused excited the alarm of the audience, which
immediately started for the exits, of which there are twenty-five of
unusual width, all opening out, and ready to the hand of any one reaching
them. The draft thus caused, it is believed, before the curtain could be
entirely lowered, produced a bellying of the asbestos curtain, causing a
pressure on the guides against the solid brick wall of the proscenium,
thus stopping its descent.
"Every effort was made by those on the stage to pull it down, but the
draft was so great, it seems, that the pressure against the proscenium
wall and the friction caused thereby was so strong that they could not be
overcome. The audience became panic-stricken in their efforts to reach the
exits and tripped and fell over each other and blocked the way.
"The audience was promptly admonished and importuned by persons employed
on the stage and in the auditorium to be calm and avoid any rush; that the
exits and facilities for emptying the theater were ample to enable them
all to get out without confusion.
"No expense or precaution was omitted to make the theater as fireproof as
it could be made, there being nothing combustible in the construction of
the house except the trimmings and furnishings of the stage and
auditorium. In the building of the theater we sacrificed more space to
aisles and exits than any theater in America."
FIRST RELIABLE STATEMENT AS TO WHY THE CURTAIN DID NOT COME DOWN.
The man who gave the first reliable explanation of the failure of the
"asbestos" curtain to operate properly was John C. Massoney, a carpenter,
who was working as a scene shifter.
"The reflector was constructed of galvanized iron or some similar
material, with a concave surface covered with quicksilver about two feet
in width," he said.
"The reflector was twenty feet long and was set on end. The inner edge was
attached to the stage side of the jamb of the proscenium walls with
hinges. Along the inner edge, next the hinges, was a row of incandescent
electric lamps.
"When the reflector was not in use it was set back in a niche in the
proscenium wall, and the curtain, when lowered, passed over it. When used
it was swung around to the desired position, and projected from the wall.
When the reflector was in use it prevented the curtain being lowered."
"I have not ascertained whether the reflector was in use. The one on the
south side of the stage was not, and from this I infer that the one on the
north was not being used. If it was not in use, then somebody must have
been careless."
Massoney said he was on the south side of the stage when the fire started.
"I did not see the fire start, but I saw it soon after it began," he said.
"The fire was in the arch drapery curtain, which is the fourth curtain
back of the 'asbestos' curtain. I saw the 'asbestos' curtain coming down
soon after, but I noticed that the south end was very much lower than the
north end. The south end was within four or five feet of the stage floor,
while the north end was much higher.
"I ran round to the north side and up the stairs to the north bridge. I
found the north end of the curtain was resting on the reflector. I tried
to reach the curtain to push it off the reflector, but could just touch
it. I could not get hold of it. I am 5 feet 11 inches tall, and I can
reach a foot above my head at least, so I figure that the north end of the
curtain was nineteen or twenty feet from the floor.
"When I first reached the bridge sparks were flying in one little place
near me, but before I got down I saw a great sheet of circular flame going
out under the curtain into the audience room. I stayed on the bridge as
long as I could trying to move the curtain. I half fell down the stairs of
the bridge and got out as fast as I could."
"Why didn't you call some one to help you?"
"There was no one on the bridge when I got there and no one on duty, that
I could see, on the north side of the stage."
"Was the reflector in use?"
"I do not know."
"Whose duty was it to look after the reflector?"
"I do not know."
"Did the curtain blow to pieces?"
"It seemed all right. There was no hole in it that I saw."
ANOTHER STORY AS TO WHY THE CURTAIN DID NOT LOWER.
Joe Dougherty, the man who attempted to lower the asbestos curtain, says
that the reason it stuck and would not come down was that it stuck on the
arc spot light in the first entrance near the top of the proscenium arch.
He was the last man to leave the fly loft and at the time he attempted to
lower the asbestos curtain he was twenty feet or more above it, so that
when it caught on the arc spot light he was unable to extricate it. The
opening of the big double doors at the rear of the stage, he says, caused
such a draft that the curtain could not be raised again to free it from
the obstruction.
Dougherty denies that the wire used by the flying ballet had anything to
do with the obstruction of the curtain. The regular curtain was within a
few inches of the asbestos sheet and had been operated a few minutes
before the fire occurred. If one curtain worked the other would if the
flying ballet rigging was not in the way.
THE THEATER FIREMAN'S NARRATIVE.
W. C. Saller was the fireman employed by the theater managers to look
after fire protection. He was formerly connected with the city fire
department.
"I was on the floor of the stage about twenty feet from the light," he
said. "The base of the light was on a bridge fifteen feet from the floor.
The light was about five feet high and was within a foot and a half or two
feet of the edge of the proscenium arch and close to the curtains. I saw
the flame running up the edge of the curtain and ran to the bridge. I
threw kilfire on the burning curtain but saw it did not stop the blaze and
yelled to those below to lower the asbestos curtain. When the curtain was
within fifteen feet of the stage floor the draft caused it to bulge out
and stick fast. It was impossible to lower the curtain further, and after
that nothing could be done to stop the fire.
"In my opinion the draft was caused by the doors opening off the stage
into the alley and Dearborn street. There were no explosions except the
blowing out of fuses in the electric lighting system."
Saller was severely burned about the hands and face.
THE STAGE CARPENTER.
Edward Cummings, stage carpenter, and his son, R. N. Cummings, his
assistant, of 1116 California avenue, testified that the fire started in
the curtains at the south end of the stage. Both asserted that the draft
or suction caused the asbestos curtain to stick. They said the fire spread
with remarkable rapidity among the curtains, which were about two feet
apart, and when the asbestos curtain stopped they said that no human
agency could have prevented the disaster that followed.
THE CHIEF ELECTRICAL INSPECTOR'S TALE.
Chief Electrical Inspector H. H. Hornsby of the city electrician's
department declared the electric wires in the theater were in the best
condition of any building in Chicago.
"The wire leading to the calcium arc light might have been broken or
detached," he said. "It requires no volts of electricity to operate one of
those lights. The man operating the light may have got his legs or arms
entangled in the wires and broken one of them at the point of connection
or he may have pulled the light too far and broken or detached the wire.
The arc created would have produced intense heat and readily ignited the
inflammable curtain. If the light had not been set so close to the scenery
the curtain could not have blown into the arc.
"While the theater was being wired Inspector B. H. Tousley made
twenty-five or thirty inspections. Though the ordinance requires only such
wires as are concealed to be placed in iron conduits, in the Iroquois all
wires were put in iron tubes. The switchboard was of marble, with the
connecting wires behind it in iron conduits. The management seemed
desirous of making the electric system the best possible and adopted every
suggestion we offered to improve its safety. I am satisfied there was not
a better job in Chicago. I do not believe it could have been made safer.
"It is impossible to guard against a wire being broken. The wire leading
from the switchboard could not be inclosed in an iron conduit. It had to
be flexible to permit the light being moved around. The arc light was
encased in a closed box to prevent sparks falling on the floor or being
blown into the scenery. All the fusible plugs were in cartridges to
prevent sparks from falling if the plugs burned out. Every precaution we
could think of was taken to make the system absolutely safe."
ONE OF THE COMEDIANS SPEAKS.
Herbert Cawthorn, the Irish comedian, who took the part of Pat Shaw in
"Mr. Bluebeard," assisted many of the chorus girls from the stage exits in
the panic. After being driven from the building he made two attempts to
enter his dressing room, but was driven back by the firemen, who feared
lest he be overcome by the dense smoke.
With several others of the leading actors in the play Mr. Cawthorn took
refuge in a store on Dearborn street after the fire. He was still in his
abbreviated stage costume and was suffering considerably from the cold.
He gave a graphic description of the origin of the fire and of the panic
among the stage hands and actors. He described the scene as follows:
"I was in a position to see the origin of the fire plainly, and I feel
positive that it was an electric calcium light that started the fire. The
calcium lights were being used to illuminate the stage in the latter part
of the second act, when the song, 'In the Pale Moonlight,' was being sung.
"I was standing behind a wing on the lefthand side, which would be the
righthand side to the audience, when my attention was attracted above by a
peculiar sputtering of what seemed to me to be one of the calciums. It
appears to me that one of the calciums had flared up and the sparks
ignited the lint on the curtain. Instantly I turned my attention toward
the stage and saw that many of the actors and actresses had not yet
discovered the blaze.
"Just then the fireman who is kept behind the scenes rushed up with some
kind of a patent fire extinguisher. Instead of the stream from the
apparatus striking the flames it went almost in the opposite direction.
While the stage fireman was working the flames suddenly swooped down and
out. Eddie Foy shouted something about the asbestos curtain, and the
firemen attempted to use it and the stage hands ran to his assistance.
"The asbestos curtain refused to work, and the stage hands and players
began to hurry from the theater. There was at least 500 people behind the
scenes when the fire started. I assisted many of the chorus girls to get
out, and some of them were only partly attired. Two of the young women in
particular were naked from their waists up. They had absolutely no time to
even snatch a bit of clothing to throw over their shoulders."
ABOUT THE LIGHTS.
A dozen different stories from a dozen different people were told about
the extinguishment of the electric lights. Assistant City Electrician
Hyland, who was the acting head of the city's department during the
absence of City Electrician Ellicott, stated:
"The switchboard controlling the electric lighting apparatus is located
under the place where the fire started at the left side of the stage. It
was made of metal and marble and practically indestructible. The wires
were led into the switchboard through iron tubes, and those tubes and
wires are there yet. I visited the theater after the fire and turned on
five sets of lights. Those five were in working order, but I think they
controlled the lights into the foyer and halls. The lights in the theater
were burned out. That I know, because when I paid my first visit to the
switchboard I found the switch affecting the lights in the auditorium
turned on. The terrific heat in the theater when the fire was sweeping
across it must have burst the glass bulbs and may have melted the wires
leading into the lights in the auditorium. How many minutes it took to
explode these incandescent lights and melt the wires running to them
depends entirely upon the length of time it took the theater to turn into
a furnace.
"I have been told that a moonlight scene was on the stage just before the
fire broke out. In such a scene it would be customary to turn off most if
not all of the lights in the auditorium, so as to darken the place where
the audience was and concentrate upon the stage what little light was
used. Yet, the way I found the switchboard, with the circuit leading to
the auditorium turned on, the knob melted off and the condition of the
board showing that it could not have been tampered with since the fire,
convinces me that the lights must have been on when the fire broke out, or
else they were turned on after the first flames were discovered. It is
hard to discover the facts even from people who were in the theater at the
time it was burned. Almost every one tells a different story."