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Harold Page and Eva Specht were
schoolmates at the Normal Practice school in
Chicago - where cadet teacher
Susan Biegler, another Iroquois Theater victim,
was learning teaching skills. Eva was twelve and
Harold's twelfth birthday was two months away. On December 30, the teens went with their mothers, forty-five-year-old
Bertha Alexander Page and thirty-six-year-old Ione* Lashar Specht, to an afternoon theater matinee
of Mr. Bluebeard at
Chicago's newest playhouse, the Iroquois Theater.
All four perished in the fire.
Newspapers reported that
Bertha was Ione's mother but that would have meant
Bertha gave birth at age ten. Despite much
effort I have not been able to find a familial
relationship between the Specht and Page families
but think they did probably attend the theater
together. There was a substantial difference
in socioeconomic circumstances but the children were classmates and the
families were neighbors. Given the clamor for
stories, it is not hard to imagine how such a
reporting error might have happened. A
reporter's scribbled notation, "Bertha
like Ione's mother," could have been later read
as "Bertha .. Ione's mother."
The Page family owned their home at 6562 Stewart Ave in Chicago
near the St. Bernard School. The Specht family lived
down the street at 6542 Stewart Ave.
Bertha's body was found at Rolston's funeral home and Harold's at Carroll's.
Bertha's brother, Edward Alexander, identified
Bertha's and Harold's bodies. Clara L. Kinney
(probably a cousin, related to Ione's mother,
Sophronia, who was born a Kinney) identified Eva and
Ione's bodies.
Ione and Eva's funeral was held at their home on Sunday, January 3, 1904.
Interment was probably at Rosehill Cemetery.
I did not find information about the Page's funeral. The family
at one time attended the
Presbyterian church but it is not known if the
funeral was conducted there.
Iroquois Theater fatality -
eleven-year-old Harold Page (1891-1903) was a native of Illinois
with two sisters — Florence Page Ackerman and Edna.
Michigan native Charles T.
Page (1849-1921) husband and father to Bertha
and Harold, married Bertha in 1877. After
serving in the Civil war he became
co-owner in a hardware store in Monmouth,
Illinois then moved on to Chicago. By the
1880s he was wealthy and prominent with
interests in banking, the Bankers Electric
Protective Company (manufacturer of banking
alarm systems), as well as the Englewood Electric
Light Co., Englewood Lumber and Chicago Elevated.
According
to some storytellers, however, Page's fondest
memories came from his years as a pioneer in
baseball. Page played first base for the
Forest City Club of Rockford, IL in the mid-1860s, with Pop
Anson, Albert Spalding and other
historic baseball figures. His most important
contribution to the sport came as a financier
rather than a player. In the 1880s he purchased a
one-third ownership of the Chicago
franchise of the National Baseball League (an
investment known as the Taft-Murphy block of
stock) and helped mend a league dispute.
(see accompanying story below).
Charles and Spalding signed
Billy Sunday to the Chicago Cubs for the news-making
annual salary of $2,500. Spalding married
Charlie's niece, Elizabeth Churchill, daughter of
his sister, Abbie.
Charles remarried two years after the fire and had a son
with his second wife. Relocated to
Atlanta, GA. a few years after the fire and sold
real estate.
The Spechts
Iroquois Theater fatality
thirty-six-year-old Ione Lashar Specht
(1867-1903). Pennsylvania native. Ione Specht may have
welcomed some cheering up — her father, John A. Lashar had died two months before the fire.
Iroquois Theater fatality
twelve-year-old Eva Specht (1891-1903).
She had one sister, Ione Augusta Spect.
Wisconsin native, Adolph William Beckmeister Spect (1866-1934),
Eva's father, had married Ione in 1887. A
St. Louis newspaper reported that Adolph was found raving
and was restrained by police after an
unsuccessful 48-hour search for his family. Adolph worked as a dry goods salesman
in 1900, for Armour in 1903, and later in a
hat manufacturing company. After the fire,
he married a nurse
Discrepancies and addendum
Newspapers reported that the
initials for Ione's husband were F. G. instead of A.
W.
Some newspapers inaccurately
included Charles T. Page in lists of fatalities.
* Pronounced "eye-own" or
"eye-own-ee"
Baseball player Charles Dexter survived Iroquois Theater fire
Baseball retiree turned
barman Houseman at Iroquois
Louis Zimmerman helped
Iroquois victims
Other discussions you may find interesting
Story 2788
A note about sourcing. When this
project began, I failed to anticipate the day might come when a
more scholarly approach would be called for. When my
mistake was recognized I faced a decision: go back and spend years creating source lists for every page, or go
forward and try to cover more of the people and circumstances
involved in the disaster. Were I twenty years younger, I'd
have gone back, but in recognition that this project will end when I do, I chose to go forward.
These pages will provide enough information, it is hoped, to
provide subsequent researchers with additional information.
I would like to
hear from you if you have additional info about an Iroquois victim, or find an error,
and you're invited to visit the
comments page to share stories and observations about the Iroquois Theater fire.
