John Campion, 1st assistant fire marshal in 1903, later appointed fire chief, was taken on a tour through the Iroquois prior to the fire by theater business manager Thomas Noonan. Campion gave Noonan unofficial advice as to what was needed at the Iroquois in the way of fire fighting equipment.

Above Noonan's pay grade

Of Campion's recommendations, Noonan selected one to follow. He purchased a single fifty-foot section of hose (that never held water because the standpipes at the Iroquois were never plumbed).  In fairness, it should be noted that Campion's advice may have required expenditures beyond Noonan's authority. In court, Iroquois managers Will J. Davis and Harry Powers would testify that Noonan had the authority to purchase necessary fire fighting equipment. It was also revealed, however, that without a roof-top water tank dedicated to the standpipes, there would not have been enough pressure for hose water to reach the flaming curtains in the loft above the stage. Since they hadn't gotten around to turning on water to the standpipe, the hose was useless and pressure a moot point. That was just one of the high-authority measures needed.  In Discrepancies section below I briefly consider what all would have been required of a man with unlimited authority at the Iroquois.

By the time the fire dropped to the scenery on the stage floor and became reachable by hoses connected to standpipes, the stage was so fully engaged in flames that even with a dedicated roof-top water tank, there would not have been enough water. The roof-top tank installed as part of the original construction was dedicated to toilets and lacked the capacity needed to operate a fire hose. Consideration of the cost and engineering requirements involved with installing a larger or second roof-top water tank and pumping system would have been beyond Noonan's authority.

Theater fireman Sallers was Campion's man

Campion recommended one of the two applicants for the Iroquois fireman job — William Sallers, former Chicago Fire department fireman. (The second applicant was a son of fire marshal Musham, but his application was withdrawn when he took a job with the St. Louis World's fair.*) Campion assumed Sallers was qualified because he had previously worked at McVicker's Theatre — though Campion did later testify that Sallers was fired from that position. Sallers testified that he lost his job at McVicker's because he raised a fuss about inadequacies in the theater's fire equipment. Campion might have anticipated that Saller's experience at McVicker's could make him too gun shy to speak up to prevent disaster but if it occurred to Campion he probably reasoned, as did many others, that the newly constructed theater would not burn.   Sallers would not make the same mistake again. He kept his mouth shut and kept his job.

Campion's rise and fall

Campion was one of the alternate candidates for the fire chief appointment. When Bill Musham was appointed instead, Campion said he was good with it and could wait his turn. Newspaper stories from 1901-1911 suggest Campion seemed to talk out of both sides of his mouth sometimes, however, and his supporters continued lobbying with barely a pause. A decade younger than Musham, who had been his first boss in the fire department, Campion's relationship with Musham was complicated.

Campion's willingness to wait was not shared by his supporters, who continued to campaign for his appointment throughout Musham's time as chief, as did the supporters of a third candidate, James Horan.

Insurance underwriters who in 1901 had wanted nobody but Musham, by 1903 wanted anybody but. Reading between the lines, it appears the president of the Underwriter's Association, Edward M. Teall, was so obsessed with James Horan that he was willing to lead a five-year assault on every other man put up for the fire chief position. The other committee members resisted leapfrogging Horan over Musham and Campion in 1901 or Horan over Campion in 1905, so Teall had to take down Horan's opponents one at a time. In October of 1903, Musham was Teall's target and almost every week brought new accusations. That Musham was still on the job at the time of the Iroquois Theater fire was because of pure cussedness--his and the mayor Harrison's. Campion got his shot when the Iroquois fire took down Musham, and Mayor Harrison appointed him Chief in October 1904.

Campion's hold on the fire chief position was of even shorter duration than William Musham's. Though reaffirmed in 1905 by Harrison's successor, mayor Edward Dunne, Campion was ousted a year later.

Mayor Edward Dunne and John Campion were like oil and water. Campion wasn't on the job a year when newspapers carried stories of their disagreement over a double-platoon system. Dunne wanted it; Campion didn't. The bad blood between them grew til it fouled the city's planned purchase of nine fire trucks. Everybody got in the fight--the mayor's office and city council, insurance underwriters, fire truck manufacturers and their agents, and Campion was in the middle of it all. Insurance rate increases were threatened, there were accusations about payoffs and rigged bidding. It got ugly. Even Bill Musham's name was brought into it, though he'd been out of the department for two years. Dunne wanted open bidding; Campion didn't want any part of Amoskeag engines and wanted to end International agent Daniel Healy's lock on the city's fire equipment expenditures. Before it was over, Healy persuaded Dunne that Campion was guilty of insubordination, and Dunne fired Campion.

Campion's resistance to a two-platoon system was said to be based on his belief that it would deprive the department of its full strength at critical times. His opponents maintained that firemen should have regular lives with time for sleep and recreation. Organized labor pushed for a double-platoon department. It was estimated that five to six hundred additional firefighters would need to be added to man two platoons. Teall backed Horan's position that a three million dollar high-pressure water system was a better investment. A strong current of politics ran beneath the entire controversy. Teall, Campion, and Horan were all active Republicans. Dunne was a Democrat.

After leaving the fire department, Campion became an insurance broker. He and his supporters lobbied for his reappointment to the fire chief position after the death of chief Horan in 1910 and again in 1911 when Carter Harrison once again captured the mayor's office.

Discrepancies and addendum

* An interesting question arises when considering if the Iroquois Theater fire disaster would have happened at all if son Frank Musham had not gone to St. Louis.  Instead, at a Sunday dinner he might have said, "Dad, it's a mess.  That theater is a disaster waiting to happen."  Back up.  He might not even have needed to interfere with his father's dinner enjoyment.  In the employment interview stage he might have been told by Davis, "You buy whatever you need to get the job done.  Spend whatever you want and if anyone gets in your way, I want to hear about it."  Either way, the Iroquois might have had more standpipes, boat loads of hoses, pikes, water buckets and real fire extinguishers.  But would Frank Musham have had prescience, willpower, courage or authority to order up a larger roof tank and matching pumping system?  To tell Fuller Construction to get the stage vent working come hell or high water?  To tell Klaw & Erlanger's Mr. Bluebeard stage manager to move the fly bridge arc lamp away from the curtains?  To call in an electrician or command Archie Bernard to move the light strips on either side of the proscenium opening away from the curtain path?  To command auditorium superintendent  George Dusenberry to in three weeks train a conscience and maturity into a staff of ushers?  Occurs to me that these would have been actions of someone even above the capacity of the fire chief's son.  Only the primary manager of the the Iroquois Theater, Will J. Davis, had the capacity to see to these matters, and he was in Pittsburgh fraternizing with the Syndicate.  These are measures that should have been seen to during a couple MONTHS prior to the opening of the Iroquois.

† The Chicago Detention Hospital was an institution operated by Cook County to serve as a holding facility until patients were transferred to a state hospital. In 1904 the facility housed 1,780 classified as insane and 1,160 classified as poor.

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