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On December 30, 1903, newlyweds James and Florence Strong took his mother, Elizabeth
Knight Strong (b. 1850), and his niece, Vera Goolsby (b.1887) ,
to an afternoon matinee of Mr. Bluebeard at Chicago's new
luxury playhouse, the Iroquois Theater. Their seats were
in the third-floor balcony. When a fire broke out on
stage, doorways quickly became jammed with people. Unlike
hundreds of other audience members, the Strongs made it through
the balcony doors, only to discover that the stairwells down to
the lobby were impassable. People were piled up to ten
feet high on one of the landings.
Like twenty-five others, the Strongs fled down the east promenade and into a
small utility stairwell at the front of the building.
Designed for use by theater maintenance and administrative
staff, with easy access to the office, the door was kept
locked.* Washroom attendants
likely had keys, but one of those,
Ragna Anderson, had stepped into the third-floor
balcony to watch the play. She became trapped
in the balcony and died.
James smashed the glass transom at the top of the door and climbed
through, hoping to find a passkey on the other side,
or a tool with which to break open the door. He
was soon joined by lamp operator
William McMullen. While the men struggled to open
the door but the fireball hurled into the auditorium the utility
stairwell soon filled with smoke. Elizabeth Strong,
Florence Strong, Vera Goolsby and other others in
the stairwell suffocated . Overcome by
smoke, James was taken to Michael Reese Hospital.
The bodies of James' relatives were retrieved by
McMullen and fireman
Michael Roche.
James Moore Strong
(1878–1941) and his wife Florence had celebrated
their first wedding anniversary in October. James M. Strong (1877–1941) was a clerk at the Board
of Trade. His wife, Florence, was the former
Canadian native, Florence May Burgess (b. 1879). The
couple lived at 10 Oakland Crescent in Chicago.
Mississippi-born Elizabeth
Knight Strong (b.1850) had been widowed from James'
father, Isaac F. Strong, since 1879 when he died of
consumption at age thirty-eight. Like her
son, Elizabeth's marriage was short, only nine
years. James and Savannah were the only
offspring.
Elizabeth was buried in Oakwoods Cemetery in Chicago.
Vera Goolsby (b. 1887) was the only child of Jame's sister, Savannah "Vannie"
E. Goolsby, and railroad engineer John B. Goolsby.
a native of Americus, Georgia,Vera was living in Chicago while attending school.
Vera was buried in the Oak Grove Cemetery in
Americus, GA.
In the years after the fire
James Strong remarried in
1908, to Ethel Blake, and relocated to Watertown,
New York where he worked as a stockbroker. He
and Ethel had two children.
Discrepancies and addendum
Many newspapers inaccurately
described Vera as Elizabeth's niece. Vera was
Elizabeth's granddaughter and James' niece.
*If there were cash receipts in the office, it was not
reported. Receipts were taken to a nearby cigar store
for storage in a safe but it is not known whether those moneys came
from the ticket office or the administrative office.
Race for life in utility
stairwell
William McMullen and the
lamp that started the fire
Chicago fireman Michael
Roche at Iroquois Theater
Other discussions you might find interesting
Story 1158
A note about sourcing. When this
project began, I failed to anticipate the day might come when a
more scholarly approach would be called for. When my
mistake was recognized I faced a decision: go back and spend years creating source lists for every page, or go
forward and try to cover more of the people and circumstances
involved in the disaster. Were I twenty years younger, I'd
have gone back, but in recognition that this project will end when I do, I chose to go forward.
These pages will provide enough information, it is hoped, to
provide subsequent researchers with additional information.
I would like to
hear from you if you have additional info about an Iroquois victim, or find an error,
and you're invited to visit the
comments page to share stories and observations about the Iroquois Theater fire.
