They carried bodies, put out a few flames, carried bodies, put out a few more flames, carried more bodies and pumped out the excess water.  They were Chicago firemen at the Iroquois Theater fire in 1903.  In terms of loss of life, it was the deadliest single building fire and theater fire in the nation's history, the worst fire in Chicago's history, but flames were the least of what confronted them on December 30, 1903.  Hundreds of bodies of women and children, some blackened and burned beyond recognition, limbs separated from torsos, melded together.  A more horrific sight can scarcely be imagined but that was the job.  Getting these tragic forms out of the theater was the first step to returning them to their loved ones.

The alphabetical list that follows includes links to fire fighters that have been discussed elsewhere on the website as well as brief biographical information about men for which I've found minimal information.  This list is far from complete.  Until they've all been researched, victims continue to occupy first place on my to-do list but I add to first responders and other participants as I find them, if only to "rough in" their names for future development.  As always, I welcome input  from descendants and historians.

Charles J. Berkery (1875–1942)

Irish immigrant joined the department in 1903 and went on to serve for thirty-nine years. He was injured when blown to safety during the December 1910 stockyard fire but recovered sufficiently  to serve as pallbearer for captain Patrick F. Collins of the 59th who died in the fire.  In 1912 Berkery's four-year-old daughter was badly burned  and he donated skin grafts.  He was promoted to battalion chief of the 11th in 1920, the 12th two years later, and the 17th in Pullman in 1925.  Married in 1902 to Margarite O'Rourke, he fathered seven children, all but one surviving to adulthood.

Edward Buckley

Edward J.Callahan (1863–1937)

Captain Engine 13 in 1903.  Irish immigrant, joined fire department in 1891 and retired in 1927.  He married Catherine Walsh? in 1893 and they had two sons, Timothy and Edward.

John Campion

Michael J. Corrigan

Francis A. Daly (1868–1956)

As a crew member on truck company number six, Daly was one of the first responders who worked in the third-floor balcony, helping thirty people to cross the plank to Northwestern University.  To bring in hoses, put out residual fire, and look for possible survivors, the dead had to be swiftly removed from the theater but the exits and stairwells outside the doors leading from the balcony to the lobby were jammed with bodies.  The only solution was to drop hundreds of bodies from the balcony to the Couch Place alleyway below.  Francis was a rookie fireman at the time and it was a gristly task that he remembered for a lifetime.  He worked for the department for thirty-two years.  He was the son of Francis and Margaret Madden Daly, husband to Honoria J. Judge and, at the time of the fire, father of two.  His family would grow to six children and he and Honoria would celebrate sixty years together.  In a 1955 newspaper interview he reminisced about family members who were on scene at other historic events, including the Great Chicago fire, civil war and capturing of the U-505 German submarine that in 1904 went on display in the Museum of Science and Industry.  Yours truly toured it on several class trips.

John Dohm (1879–1925)

John spent the last years of his life as a patient in a state asylum in Kankakee, IL, according to his 1925 obituary, having been driven insane by recollection of his experiences as a city fireman, saving many lives at the Iroquois Theater. Few lives were saved by fireman at the Iroquois but there were horrors enough to produce nightmares to be sure. When fire fighters arrived on the scene they found dead and fleeing theater goers, not trapped or surviving injured.  They removed bodies, many of them badly damaged and a ghastly task.  Dohm's obituary reported he had been at the asylum for twenty years but his death certificate states he didn't arrive there until 1916, only a decade prior to his death.  The death certificate also states he had been a steam fitter, rather than a fireman.  I thought perhaps he'd worked as a steam fitter after the fire and until his hospitalization but the 1903 Chicago directory also reported his occupation as a steam fitter. Contrary to the obituary, I found no confirmation that he was a Chicago fireman or present at the Iroquois.  Hundreds volunteered to help carry out victims, however, and few of those were identified.  The story was not made up whole cloth.  A descendant of Dohm's reports that family lore supports that he was traumatized by the fire.

He was one of many children born to Phillip and Margareta Koch Dohm, both of whom survived him.  He did not marry and was reported to have been a model patient in the state hospital.  Phillip, a German immigrant, operated a cigar and candy store from the family home at 455 Larrabee that became 1658 N. Larrabee after 1909.  The store remained in the family and was operated until at least 1965 by John's older brother, Phillip Dohm jr.

Thomas Hacket

Captain testified before the grand jury February 9, 1904.  Other than than a newspaper reference the following day, I cannot find further evidence that Hacket was in the fire department or even lived in Chicago.  I wonder if it was Thomas Hasset of the police department.

John Hannon

Charles N. Heaney (1864–1945)

Captain Engine 42.  Married to Amelia "Millie" Blum.  Son of John and Mary McGonigle Heaney.  Fell when a ladder broke fighting fire at Lake and Market.  Fought 1935 Goose Island fire.

Martin Francis Henry (1864–1940)

Martin immigrated from Ireland in 1884 and married Delia (who died a tragic death in 1915) three years later; they had five children.  He served the Chicago fire department from 1891 until 1921, receiving bravery awards for his performance at the Iroquois Theater and 1910 stockyards fire.

James J. Horan

James R. Hughes (1870–1946)

James was on truck #9, reportedly the first hook and ladder to reach the scene at the Iroquois - but others claimed that honor too.  Family legend had it that James set his eye on joining the fire department as a four-year-old child. He retired as a captain.  He married Elizabeth Lucy and five of their seven children became firemen.   His badge is pictured on Find-A-Grave.

Hussey, John (1863–1941)

Was promoted to lieutenant a week after the Iroquois Theater fire. Served for forty-seven years, including being on the scene at the Iroquois Theater, and two major fires at the stockyards.  He eventually became a captain, and retired from engine company 117. He was seriously injured twice. Hussey was Canadian born, parents from Ireland.  Married to Margaret with five children.

Patrick "Paddy" Jennings

George Kelly Sr. (1864–1955)

George immigrated to the United States from Ireland in 1890, the same year he joined the Chicago Fire Department where he'd serve for thirty-eight, years, retiring in 1928. His son, Leo Kelly, also a fire fighter, recalled his father's most vivid career recollections were of hours spent removing bodies from the Iroquois Theater. He received the Lambert Tree award for bravery in 1938 after carrying an invalid from a blazing forth-floor apartment.

Anthony "Anton"  J. Leiber (1875–1952)

Received the Henry Weaver and Lambert Tree medals in 1905 for saving a boy from drowning in Lake Michigan at 26th St.  Anthony retired as a captain. He was married to Elizabeth ____ and they had four children.  As captain of engine house 126 on Kingston in 1924 he joined his ten men in a vegetable-garden competition with other fire houses. He got to oversee the 126th in its new building five years later, still on Kingston, at the corner of 73rd.

James. W. McElligott (1873–1963)

Served on the fire department for thirty-six years, from 1900 until 1936. In addition to being on the scene at the Iroquois Theater he was at stockyard fires in 1910 and 1934. Was slightly inured in an accident with an axe in February ten months before the Iroquois Theater fire in a fire at a picture-framing company on Jefferson St, Klicka Molding. Firefighters carried flaming wood picture frames from the basement to the street. Married to Jessie with seven children, including a pair of twins.

Edmond D. McCahill (1874–1958)

Also fought stockyard fire, worked Eastland disaster scene and helped found firemen's pension fund and was an originator of the two-platoon system

John C. McDonnell (1861–1941)

Joined the Chicago fire department in 1885 to work as a driver, soon becoming a pipeman and promoted in 1888 to lieutenant. He trained Edward J. Buckley on engine 14. In 1891 he was appointed captain, in 1904 battalion chief and in 1911 4th assistant marshal. Mayor Harrison appointed him head of the nearly created fire prevention and public safety bureau and during World War I McDonnell served the War Dept as a fire protection expert in the eastern U.S. By the time of his retirement in 1924 he been cited for bravery four times and for devotion to duty at the risk of his life.  "At a 1934 gathering of the Iroquois Memorial Association, John described his Iroquois Theater experience. He was off duty when the fire broke out but reached the Iroquois at 3:30 P.M., before the fireball hurled into the auditorium.

McDonnell retired in 1924 as a deputy fire marshal after thirty-nine years on the job. The Chicago Tribune described him as a nationally known fire-prevention expert. He moved to his twenty-acre fruit farm near Miami, Florida and looked forward to a cruise down the Mississippi in a 35-ft. motorboat. He and his wife, Catherine Daly McDonnell, bore three children.

Dennis McSweeney (1858–1923)

An Ohio native, M'Sweeney joined the department in 1878 when it was known as the Tigers.  At the Iroquois Theater he was captain of hook & ladder company 9.
In 1897, as captain of engine company 31 fighting a blaze on Fifth Avenue at the J&P Coats Thread Company, he suffered three scalp cuts when a cornice fell upon him.  He was back to work after fourteen stitches and a few days off. 
In 1905 he was charged with failure to pay $70/mo (inflation adjusted: $2,500) in child support for his three daughters, Nellie, Gertrude and Marian. He and Ellen Nolan had married in 1882 and were divorced in 1900.
In 1906 he was briefly jailed for the same offence when he fell behind by $690.  The girls then were ages ten to seventeen.  Ellen died in 1908 without remarrying.  Dennis remarried Catherine Alexander, a woman over twenty years younger, and they had a daughter.
He was scheduled to testify in Iroquois Theater manager William J. Davis' trial in Danville in March 1907 but was suspended from the fire department and came back to Chicago before Davis' acquittal. When numerous tales of his generous spending in Danville taverns leaked upstairs, fire department manager inspector/Assistant Fire Marshall John C. McDonnell determined McSweeney was presenting a bad image of the department.  Dennis was then captain of engine company 88.  Soon thereafter he left the department and became a teamster.

William Henry Musham

Benjamin F. O'Connor 1862–1927

His small stature won him the nickname of "Little Bennie." He served in the fire department for forty-three years, reaching the position of chief of the 13th battalion headquartered on Sheffield & Diversey. He received many department awards and was said to be one of the first to reach the Iroquois, on engine 3. He was also at the scene of the Eastland disaster. He and his wife, Mary, had five children, including one that also became a fire fighter.

Michael Roche

William J.Smith (1873–1963)

Retired in 1936 as a fire inspector after 33 yrs of service including five citations for bravery.

John P. Stahl (1873–1967

Engine 13. Joined department in 1895, made lieutenant in 1902.  One of first fireman to reach the Iroquois.  Opposed the two-platoon system.  Retired as a division marshal.  He and his parents had immigrated to the U.S. in 1875.  Farmed prior to joining the department.  Married to Nellie Finn, father of three.

William H. Townsend (1847–1905)

Second assistant fire marshal in 1903.  Father of eight, married to Mary Healy.  Promoted to first assistant fire chief by Campion when Musham's retired in late 1904, Townsend knew his health problems made him a poor candidate to assume the position of Chief should it come to him so he retired in 1904 at age fifty-eight after thirty-five years of service.  He spent the last nine months of his life battling asthma and edema.  James Horan assumed Townsend's position and went on to become Chief in 1906.  Townsend's retirement salary was $2,250, half his salary as first assistant.

John H. Touhey ( 1876–1955)

Also worked Eastland disaster.  Retired as fire marshall. Joined dept in 1901 as a driver on engine 5.  Chief of Fire Prevention Bureau in 1928.  Son William Touhey became a police officer.

Cyrus C. Wilber (1870–1960)

Son of Spencer and Julia Chapman Wilber.  Married Caroline "Carrie" G. Knapp in 1899.  Carrie was misreported as among Iroquois fatalities.  Retired in 1921.

Other discussions you might find interesting