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Five residents of Racine, Wisconsin, were at a matinee of Mr. Bluebeard in Chicago
on December 30, 1903, at Chicago's newest luxury playhouse, the
Iroquois Theater. Of them, three perished in the stage fire that
spread to the auditorium and became America's worst theater
disaster. Fiancés Harry Bliss and Mabel Botsford were in the
second-floor balcony, along with
William and Sarah Kranz. Harold was a senior at the Chicago
College of Dental Surgery. Mabel lived in Racine. She had
accepted tickets purchased for her parents to attend the Mr.
Bluebeard matinee at the Iroquois with the Kranz's. Ollie and
Julia could not attend so Mabel and Harold went in their stead.*
The Kranz's saw Mabel and Harold enter the auditorium and take
seats five rows behind them. The fellow Racine residents nodded
to one another. William Kranz, who owned a stationery shop, was
a fellow shop keeper in Racine with Mabel's father, Ollie
Botsford. The Kranz and Botsford couples had planned to attend
the theater together. A family death interfered with the
Botsford's plans.
Kranz did not see Harold and Mabel leave the auditorium after
the fire started but predicted that if they left by the entrance
through which they entered the auditorium, they probably
perished. Despite this observation, William accepted the
deception for a week that his wife had escaped, survived and was
recovering elsewhere. As did the mothers of Mabel and Harry,
though for a shorter time due to their children's funerals.
Concealing the death of loved ones was common in 1903.
Physicians no longer shared the public's view that
death-by-grief was common but it was recognized as a risk for
the aged and ill.
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Twenty-three-year-old Harold "Harry" S. Bliss (b. 1880)
A native of Racine, Wisconsin, Harold was a senior at the Chicago
College of Dental Surgery.† He had graduated from
the Racine High School in 1900 and gone to work for
the gas company and Knight & Peck Realtors before
entering dental school in the fall of 1901. He
became a member of Psi Omega Kappa fraternity.
Harold was one of four children born to Massachusetts
natives, Cornelia Packard Bliss (1850-1932) and the late George Bliss
(1845-1896), who had been a bookkeeper (and may have
served as the city clerk in Racine 1894-1896). In
the 1900 U.S. Census Cornelia Bliss described
herself as a capitalist. That probably means she was
a shopkeeper, but a self-proclaimed lady capitalist
in 1900 was ahead of her time. She owned her home at
724 Lake Avenue in Racine.
Harry's body was identified by W. H. Raymond, of
unknown relationship to Harry. His watch and fob
were recovered and returned to his mother.
On January 18, 1904, the Chicago College of Dental
Surgery held a memorial service for Harry, attended
by several hundred of his former classmates.
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The Racine community lost three
of its citizens to the Iroquois Theater fire,
Sarah Kranz,
Harold Bliss and
Mabel Botsford. A
fourth Iroquois patron, Clara Hanson, a school
teacher, survived. A former Racine resident,
Annie Ellis, was also among the fatalities.
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Twenty-one-year-old Mabel Anita Botsford (b.1882)
Mabel traveled to Chicago for
the Mr. Bluebeard performance, probably with
the Kranz's. She was the only child of Wisconsin
natives, Oliver F. "Ollie" Botsford (1855-) and
Julia A. Hough Botsford (1857-1939). Oliver owned a
combination book, stationery and sporting goods
store at 534 Main Street on the Monument Square in
Racine: Botsford & Wooster. The Botsford family
lived at 732 Park Avenue in Racine and maintained a
summer home in Dover on Eagle Lake, WI west of
Racine. Harry, Mabel and another couple spent a week
there the summer of 1903, with a chaperone, of
course.
Like William and Sarah Kranz, the Botsfords were
members of the Universalist Church with pastor
Dr. Albert Cotton Grier (1864-1941). In 1902
Mabel played the organ there for the wedding of a
friend, while Harold served as an usher.
When word of the Iroquois fire arrived in Racine,
Ollie Botsford and Herbert Jilson, brother-in-law of
William Krantz, immediately boarded a train for
Chicago, about a three-hour ride. They arrived in
time to begin searching Chicago hospitals and
morgues before they closed for the night. They found
Sarah and William Kranz at hospitals, Sarah deceased
after an agonizing death around 11:00 pm and William
with badly burned but survivable injuries to his
face and shoulders. Doctor's predicted a four- to
five-day hospital stay. Botsford and Jilson renewed
their search for Mabel the next morning.
Back in Racine, friends and relatives gathered
around to support Mabel's mother throughout the
night. In the morning, others from Racine traveled
to Chicago to assist in the search effort.
Except for the shoes by which
she was identified, Mabel's clothing was burned away
and her body damaged beyond recognition. Her jewelry
was recovered and returned to her family.
Her closed-casket funeral was
held at 1:00 pm on Saturday, January 2, 1904, at her
parent's home. Burial was in Mount Cemetery in
Racine. Pallbearers were John Harding, A. Terry, E.
E. Scott, Halley Knopke, L. Daggett and Julius
Anderson.
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