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Engineer John Ripley Freeman (1855–1932) was hired
by Chicago industrialist
Richard T. Crane to investigate the Iroquois Theatre Fire, and Chicago
mayor
Carter Harrison gave Freeman free access to any theater in Chicago.
Contemporary authors credit Freeman's investigation
because it was founded on proper fire-preventive
construction versus municipal fire standards. His
team brought decades of analysis of factory fires to
the investigation.
In January 1904, he pointed out several
serious errors in
Chicago's new theater ordinance
Stage vent size and operation requirements were
inadequate, fireproof paint and hand grenade
extinguishers gave an illusion of increased safety
while providing none, and some of the steel curtains
being installed to comply with the ordinance would
not perform properly in a fire.
Freeman judged only one playhouse in Chicago
adequately constructed and equipped for fire
prevention: the Illinois Theater. Ironically, the
Illinois was designed by the same architect who
designed the Iroquois,
Benjamin Marshall, for the same consortium who owned the Iroquois,
Klaw & Erlanger, and was managed by the same man who managed the Iroquois,
Will J. Davis.
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Among other recommendations, Freeman concluded that
if the roof vents over the stage had opened, the
audience would have had time to evacuate the
theater, whether or not there was an asbestos
curtain or fire-proofed scenery. With no venting,
there was nothing to prevent the fire volume and
temperature from becoming an inferno.
Report of Freeman's detailed study in pdf file.
John Ripley Freeman's expertise was in hydraulics,
earthquakes and fire prevention. He declined offers
of professorship at both MIT, his alma mater, and
Harvard, preferring to remain in industry. He was
instrumental in designing the Charles River Dam in
Boston. He joined a consulting team on the Panama
Canal for President Theodore Roosevelt, and was the
founder of Massachusetts Mutual Fire Insurance.
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