Mother went on an errand during intermission‡

Geneva, Illinois was an hour's train ride from Chicago so the Long family might have come into the city for the day, or have planned to be there for several days. Since an office tenant of the Auditorium hotel, Dr. Alfred W. Young, participated in the search for the girl's bodies, the family may have been staying at the Auditorium while visiting relatives in Chicago over the holidays. Both parents had relatives living in Chicago. Helen's sister, Martha T. Welch taught at the Brown School on Warren Avenue and Mary Luthardt, grown daughter of James' brother, Robert, lived with her family in Chicago.

With her girls settled in their seats at the theater, Helen Long left during intermission to run an errand.  She went to a friend's office in a nearby building to pick up parcels.  She and her daughters would meet outside the theater when the play was over.  As Helen returned to the theater she saw people rushing from the building.  The crowd surging from the theater made entry impossible; soon entrances were guarded by police and she could not re-enter the theater.

Locating the girls' bodies

James Long spent all night looking for the bodies of his daughters. Kathryn was found at Horan's funeral home and identified by Dr. Alfred Wheelock Young.† Helen was found at Rolston's and Marian's at Horan's funeral homes, both identified by Edward P. Luthardt, husband of Helen's cousin Mary. 

Frank H. Blackman organized the search parties.  He was the Long family physician from Geneva, Illinois.

Another member of the search party was Henry Ullmann (1881–1950), son of a wealthy industrialist, William B. Ullmann.  William Ullmann had been a co-founder of the Moline Malleable Iron Works and was a prominent figure in Moline and St. Charles, IL.  See more about the Ullmanns below.

Funeral and burial

The girls' bodies were cremated and a funeral was held mid afternoon at Graceland cemetery chapel on Tuesday, January 5, 1904.  Burial was in the family plot at the Oak Hill Cemetery in Geneva, IL. In the years that followed they were joined there by their parents, aunts, and uncles.

Long and Welch families roots deep in Kane County

Married in 1889, the Longs lived at 403 S. Fourth St. in Geneva, near the intersection with Fulton St. Geneva is a small town about forty miles west of Chicago. Ancestors of both the Long and Welch families were among the early residents of the community and were prominent in its history.

The James and Helen Long family
    Daughter — Helen Long 1889–1903
    Daughter — Marian Patra Long 1891–1903
    Daughter — Kathryn Long 1894–1903
    Father — James Carr Long 1843–1933
    Mother — Helen Medora Welch Long 1854–1927

James had served for three months in the 69th Illinois Infantry during the American Civil War, guarding Confederacy prisoners at Camp Douglas in Chicago. He was the second-generation owner of a family grocery and dry goods store in Geneva, his father having relocated to the city from Maine in 1855. James' sister, Elizabeth Long, was also a principal in the business, and for a time, the store was named E. H. Long in an attempt to attract women shoppers. The primary Long store, located at 301 W. State in Geneva, IL, at the northwest corner of State and Third, is presently occupied by Perlman Fine Jewelry but has passed through many owners over the years, including Filbert Drug store and Erday's clothing.

A Kentucky native, the girl's mother, Helen Welch Long, was a Suffragette sympathizer and active in women's clubs in Geneva, speaking and writing about issues she cared about, including road construction, interurban cars, and pure food. Helen was the daughter of an author and university professor, Rodney Welch, and Abby F. Stevens Welch. At her death in 1927, a portion of Helen's estate went to purchase furnishings for the Children's Room at the Geneva, IL library where she had served on the board. As a school board member, Helen promoted kindergarten as a necessary part of a public school education, and training for girls that put more emphasis on practical skills to prepare them for earning a living and/or helping their husbands do the same. With her progressive views, it would have been interesting to see what paths Helen's daughters would have chosen.

In the years after the fire

In October, 1905 James was called as a possible juror in the first damage suit for the fire. The exact courtroom dialogue that ensued is unknown. Though many newspapers were quick to cover the story that a father of Iroquois victims had been called for jury duty, nearly every paper gave a different account of the questions and answers. The only certainty is that after it was learned during venire that he lost family members in the disaster, he was excused.

In 1908 James retired and sold his interests in the Geneva dry goods store. The girl's deaths were noted in James' obituary but not in Helen's.

Fire struck again

Fourteen years after the Iroquois Theater fire, in May, 1917, Susan F. Long, eighty-one-year-old sister to James Long and aunt to his three lost daughters, died from burns suffered during a kitchen fire. Susan's apron caught fire while baking, severely burning her from knee to hip and burning one hand to the bone.

Discrepancies and addendum

* In the Everette disaster book, Marian's name was misreported as Ryan.

† An Osteopath, Young had offices in the Auditorium building but called Geneva, Illinois home, and was familiar with the Long family. His sister, Harriett, was married to Harry Warner of Geneva, and his mother, the former Eliza Woodward, had grown up in Geneva.

‡ Some newspapers reported that Helen dropped the girls off at the theater at the beginning of the performance to go to pickup packages at a store. Correspondence from Charlotte Ullmann to her sister, however, reports that Helen left at intermission and at her destination engaged in a longer conversation than expected. Charlotte had reason to have more accurate information because her son Henry Ullmann was part of the group that searched for the bodies of the Long girls.

Below is a portion of a letter sent from Charlotte Throop Powers Ullmann (1852–1925) to her widowed older sister, Harriet Powers Etheridge (1848–1935).  Harriet was living in London with her daughter Fanny Etheridge Grant to help care for the family after the upcoming birth of Fanny's second child. Harriet Etheridge's late husband, Dr. James Etheridge, had been a prominent gynecologist at Rush Hospital.  Fanny's husband, Jack Grant, was an American Express banker. Written January 3, 1904, three days after the Iroquois Theater fire, the letter was postmarked January 4, 1904 in Chicago. The four Ullman’s lived in St. Charles, IL, an hour west of Chicago, with six domestic servants, including their children.  Some may have been caretakers for William, who at his death in 1918 was described as having been ill for ten years.  Charlotte's handwriting is difficult to decipher but I am grateful to one of her descendants, Jim Young, for giving me the opportunity to pull out what follows. "My precious Sister & all By the time you receive this letter you will have had the papers an have learnt of the last Chicago hours. What has brought it near to us is the fact that the three lovely little girls — daughters of [????]’s Mrs. Long of Geneva — the oldest Helen — (14) years old was a very intimate friend of Dinnsetry[?] of Olive Caldwell — Mrs. Long was going with Helen & Marian (12 yrs old) to this performance, & had front seats in the parquet — Little Catherine — 9 yrs old was wild to go, and though her father had not wished her to, he yielded & bought four tickets in the balcony, for them to  be held. During intermission Mrs. Long went [??] to a friend's office to get her bundles & thinks she must have talked longer than she realized for when she came back the people were coming out & she thought at first the performance was over — She never saw her children — they must have been among the first to feel the effects of the gas. Mr. Long — Harvey[?], her Mrs. [????] I think Mr. Caldwell went on as long as possible but nothing could be found that night. — [???] of a in front[??] met in to the theatre. Henry [Charlotte Ullmann's 21-year-old son] offered his services with others the next morning, to her doctor who was managing the search — he had his new demonstrating car & the Blackmans & the city friends of the Longs, [????] with [?????]. "Dr. Scott & others detailed to a certain district, & others to another. Henry was with her mother when little Catherine was found — Helen was found by Dr. Scott & Marion not until yesterday —they had passed her the day before for she was at the same morgue with Helen. Henry was a bit unstrung Thursday evening — it was the suffering of the survivors [???] he [???] — and he kept telling Edith & myself he told Sarah, in there house. I was very glad he could [???] use Tuesday at Graceland the bodies of the Long children are to be cremated. Just think in about fifteen minutes the horror happened. Dr. of Wheaton[?] — wife and child [????] life[?] run — all of his heart are gone. The Dr. lived until Friday I think. Linda Bolte — the "elefiue of the intio was a [??]ise Wakehe of Mrs. Quetsch — the wife of Jack's friend are gone. We will mail today’s paper also." There were newspaper references to Henry Ullmann's involvement with automobiles later in 1904 and in 1905-6 he was a sales representative in Chicago for the White Motor Car Company. His "demonstrating car" was probably one of few automobiles making the rounds of morgues and hospitals in Chicago on December 30, 1903 but more cars appeared the next day when the wealthy sent their cars and drivers to help.  Context: On Jan 1, 1904, two days after the fire, a classified advertisement in the Inter Ocean newspaper offered for $5 ($170 today) a list of all the automobile owners in Chicago at the time — "nearly 2,000." In 1912 Henry earned a medical degree from Rush Medical (later becoming a recognized cancer and radiation expert), and in 1918 served in Europe.  While there his wife and father died.  Henry himself died in 1950 in an airplane accident at age sixty-nine.  He was traveling with his son and daughter-in-law in a small hired plane when it ran out of gas and crashed into a Santa Barbara channel of the Pacific within sight of the airport.  Only a propeller was found by search crews. If you would like to try your hand at deciphering handwriting in Charlotte's letter to her sister, here is a scan.  Please let me know if your interpretation differs from mine.

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