In Chicago, on December 30, 1903, over six hundred people died in America's worst theater fire. The disaster happened at the newly constructed Iroquois Theater on Randolph Street. Among the victims was a party made up of children and adults from the Gartz, Guthardt, Theni and Fahey families. Of six, only one survived.

Gartz Family

Barbara and Mary were the daughters of Katherine Elizabeth "Kate" Crane Gartz (1865–1949) and Adolph F. Gartz (1862–1930). Kate was the sister of Charles S. (1826–1839) and Richard Teller Crane Jr. (1873–1931),^▼3 a pair of wealthy Chicago industrialists, all three siblings heirs to the Richard Teller fortune. Her husband, Adolph, was treasurer at the Crane Brothers Elevator company.

Barbara (Bobsie) and Mary had two brothers who did not attend the matinee — Frederick and Richard. In Chicago, the Gartz family lived at 4860 Kimbark Ave. in the Kenwood area. They also owned one of four homes at the Crane summer Jerseyhurst compound on the north shore of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, the Glen Mary. Had Barbara and Mary survived, they might have gone to college or been married at Jerseyhurst, as was Gloria in later years.

The body of Mary Gartz was found trampled and suffocated on the stairwell in the lobby that became a death trap for an estimated one hundred victims.  She was identified at Rolston's Funeral Parlor. 

One early Chicago newspaper list included a Harry Gartz as a victim but I did not find a Harry in the family.  That list was picked up by other newspapers around the country so genealogists have perhaps spent a century trying to find him.

The Gartz girls were buried in Oak Hill Cemetery at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin in the Crane family plot.  The last belongings of the theater party, a small purse found in the theater with content described as "valueless," was tracked to the Gartz family and turned over to Adolph Gartz on December 28, 1904, days short of a year after the fire. Nothing more was reported about the contents so it cannot with certainty be said that the purse belonged to Barbara or Mary Gartz.

Around 1905 Kate and Adolph moved to California for Adolph's health, and two years later had a fifth child, Gloria. Adolph died in 1930, and Kate eventually remarried. She became an outspoken social activist, making her Altadena, California home, The Cloister, a salon for 1930s intellectuals including Upton Sinclair, Charlie Chaplin and Albert Einstein.  She was an activist and influencer before the category existed, using the power of her name and financial means to fight for causes she believed in.  Kate came to consider herself a Socialist and gave a large portion of her considerable wealth to charity when she died.

Emma Klara Theni / Thoni ^▼4

Evidence that sixteen-year-old Emma Klara Thoni was employed by the Gartz family is not iron clad but seems probable, chiefly because her body was identified by another woman described as a nursemaid employed by the Gartz family — Maud Parcells.  See information about Maud below.

Emma was described as a nurse living at 4644 Evans Avenue in Chicago — from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. The Lake Geneva connection is iffy.  The newspaper there did a sizeable story about Mary Fahey, a former Lake Geneva girl, but said nothing about Emma.

According to the 1903 Chicago city directory, a pair of dressmakers lived at that Evans Avenue address.  Their names were Eliza and Emma Thoni.  Same Emma?

Occupation — In 1903, the term "nurse" was used to describe babysitters as well as medical caretakers. Emma Klara wasn't old enough to have attended nursing school, so was more probably a babysitter for the Gartz children.

Residence — The Gartz/Crane Jerseyhurst estate of four summer homes in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, included Glen Mary.  Built in 1887, it was a wedding gift for Kate and Adolph from her parents.  Today it is called Woodwind.

Maud Parcells

Though temporarily thought missing or dead (maybe, see  below), Maud survived. She went on to marry in 1909 — to William Edward Boyes — and in 1915 became superintendent of the Legal Aid Society, a blend of two earlier organizations, the Protective Agency for Women and Children (with which she was associated in 1903) and Clarence Darrow's Bureau of Justice). The organization worked to protect women, children and the mentally ill in the courts. In 1912 she was one of the founding members of the National Alliance of Legal Aid Societies.

Maud lived at 31 West Lake St. (or at 79 Dearborn), was born in Iowa, and had two brothers, Earl and Paul.

Their father Walter was an Ohio native and her mother was Lamire "Myra" D. Parcells, b.1846. Brother Earl was born in Illinois in 1868.

According to the 1910 census, Maud and her husband lived with Maud's brother, Earl, who worked as a grocery wholesaler clerk, while William clerked in a furniture store. Also living with them was Maud's mother, Myra, and a nine-year-old nephew, Paul D. Parcells jr.

Maud's husband William died while on a trip to London in 1921 and I found only one reference to her after that, in 1936.  I suspect she remarried.  In 1925 she traveled to London with Kate and Gloria Gartz.

Guthardt mother and daughter Adelheid and Elise Guthardt

Adel and Elise were the wife and daughter of immigrants John A. Guthardt, mother and sister of William and Henry. The family lived at 159 W.113th St. near the corner of Wentworth.

John worked as a machinist and supervisor at a cooking utensil manufacturer. In the years after the fire, he would remarry and see the birth of a third son and the death of his second wife.

He watched his son's marry and produce a granddaughter that may have reminded him of Elise. 

Adelheid's body was found at Ralston's and Elisa's at Carroll's funeral home, both identified by John. Burial was at Mount Greenwood Cemetery in Chicago.

Liability lawsuits of $10,000 each were filed on behalf of Adelheid and Elise. In 1909 they were two of thirty-five $750 settlements from Fuller Construction, builders of the theater.

Mary Fahey

Mary worked as a domestic servant in the Gartz household at 4860 Kimbark in Chicago, assigned to dining service. She was from Lake Geneva, WI and possibly came to the attention of the Crane and Gartz families because her uncle Thomas was employed at the Crane estate in Lake Geneva.

Her body was identified by her brother, Thomas Fahey at Rolstons Mortuary.  Thomas and his brother John were attending the Griggs Business School in Chicago in 1903.

Her funeral was held in Lake Geneva, WI on January 7, 1904, led by Father Eugene E. Rielly, and she was buried in the Saint Francis de Sales Cemetery there.

Mary was the daughter of Irish immigrants, Patrick and Mary Ward Fahey.  Mary Fahey gave birth to ten children and by age seventy had endured the deaths of seven.

Enlarge

To learn more about the circumstances that caused the Iroquois Theater fire, Richard Crane, uncle to the two children in the party, Barbara and Mary Gartz, hired a private fire investigator — John Ripley Freeman, an engineer for Factory Mutual Insurance.

An 1870 advertisement promoted "steam warming and ventilating apparatus for public and private buildings, steam engines, steam pumps, Babbitt metal, wrought iron pipe, brass and by the Crane Brothers of Chicago. Later the company added home plumbing fixtures. 

The Chicago headquarters was located on Jefferson St. between Lake and Randolph and in 1910 employed five thousand workers. Today the company is owned by American Standard. Some fun trivia: comedian Chevy Chase descends from Richard T. Crane.  In 1909 Alfred Gartz wrangled in court with his Crane brother-in-laws.  Under an employment contract, Gartz was supposed to return $100,000 of Crane stock when he left the company.  When he declined to do so, the Crane's sued.

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