|
A cartoon by Pultizer-winning political cartoonist John T. McCutcheon, published
after the Iroquois fire, captured Chicago's grief. The empty chairs at the table were once filled by family members lost in the fire. McCutcheon may have had the
Holst family in mind. Mary Holst, her thirteen-year-old son and two
daughters perished at the Iroquois Theater, leaving Mr. Holst with their only surviving child, a six-month-old son.
|
|
John Tinney McCutcheon (1870-1949) graduated from Purdue University in 1889 and by 1903 was working at the Chicago Tribune
newspaper. Wikipedia tells me that he was so instrumental in creating Chicago's Brookfield Zoo that they almost changed the name to the
McCutcheon Zoo. He declined the honor.
His Pulitzer was awarded in 1932.
|
|
Iroquois Theater manager
Will J. Davis and McCutcheon were social friends, sharing membership in several clubs and exchanging Christmas cards.
In 1905 a group of Indiana-born Chicago men formed a social organization named the
Indiana Society of Chicago. McCutcheon was one of the club founders, along with his brother, novelist George Barr McCutcheon, and newspaperman man-turned
playwright George Ade. Will J. Davis, Iroquois Theater manager, was a charter member, serving in various officer positions over the years. In
1908 Davis hosted the club's gathering in Crown Point, Indiana, site of his summer farm, Willowdale. McCutcheon was one of a couple of dozen elite guests
Davis invited to a private dinner in 1901, the guest of honor British Shakespearean actor, Henry Irving. The dinner was also attended by Dracula author Bram
Stoker, who was traveling with Irving, as well as actress Ellen Terry, newspaperman and playwright George Ade, novelist Booth Tarkington and other noted figures
in Chicago's literary community.
|
