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Julia Berger and Ada B. Lake graduated from the Chicago Art
Institute. On December 30, 1903, they attended an afternoon
matinee of Klaw & Erlanger's Mr.
Bluebeard fairytale
extravaganza at Chicago's newest luxury playhouse, the Iroquois
Theater. Both would escape the conflagration that took over 600
lives that day, but for Julia, the escape was temporary.
Shock and horror attributed to Julia's death eighteen months after the fire.
Twenty-five-year-old Julia Mathlida Berger (b.1880)
escaped from the Iroquois Theater without serious
burns but died eighteen months later. Her family
cited a throat infection* and said that she became
an invalid with insomnia who lost her passion for
painting miniatures. She died in her sleep in July
1905 and was buried at Chicago's Rosehill Cemetery
following a funeral service led by reverend Rudolph
John of St. Paul's Lutheran Church.
Respiratory complications are a primary cause of
death for burn victims, with a long list of
complications, including bacterial pneumonia,
pulmonary edema, arterial obstructions, carbon
monoxide poisoning or direct injury from inhaling
heat and smoke. Breathing problems could also have
contributed to Julia's insomnia and reduced her
enthusiasm for painting. Sitting hunched over a
table to paint would have restricted her diaphragm
and made breathing more difficult. Just sitting
erect might have taxed her strength. That said,
since hundreds of Iroquois Theater goers inhaled the
same smoke but survived, it is likely Julia suffered
from other health conditions that were aggravated by
smoke inhalation.
Julia's doctor and parents attributed her death to
nervous shock and horror at her experiences at the
Iroquois. The limited remarks included in death
notices said only that she and her friend, fellow
Chicago Art Institute graduate Ada B. Lake,
encountered an uncooperative usher and had to
struggle to escape from "the back" of the auditorium
(so they were seated or standing in the second or
third-floor balcony) and crediting Julia for having
dragged Ada to safety. (Based on the woman Ada
became later in life it is more likely Julia pulled
her free from the crowd than that Ada was
immobilized by fear.) It seems possible many
Iroquois survivors suffered from PTSD, but it
probably did not kill Julia.
I failed to learn more about Julia's experience at
the Iroquois fire but turned up information about
her life that explains why her anxiety level may
have been already at a high level when she walked in
the door at the Iroquois. Raised in privilege and
wealth, her life had been turned upside down by the
actions of people she cared about and depended upon
to protect her. Julia was rebuilding her life to
accommodate changed circumstances but lost someone
important to her a few months before the fire. (See
sidebar below.) Respiratory problems may have been
the final straw, destroying her resolve and
resulting in the hopeless outlook noted by her
family.
Much less is known of Julia's theater companion,
Ada Lake. If she ever spoke publicly about her
Iroquois Theater experiences, it was not
reported in newspapers.
Ada was one of four children born to Edward and
Ada J. Butler Lake, natives of England and
Canada. Her father was an accountant for a
Chicago tannery, Bowles & Rogers. Three years
after the fire, Ada became the third wife of a
Boston physician nearly twice her age, John
Angus Bruce, and spent most of her adult life in
north Boston. She and John had one child, a
daughter (1907–1980) named after her mother and
grandmother, who went by her middle name,
Josephine.
In November 1918 Ada wrote a poem (below) and
was interviewed by the Boston Post newspaper about her proposal that Christmas wreaths should
incorporate red poppies as a tribute to World
War I veterans.
The New Signal
"Go to the forests, Cut the laurel bough, Wreath it in your window To greet our heroes now.
Entwine a scarlet poppy, Within that laurel wreath, A signal true of sacrifice We must forever keep — For those in 'Flanders Fields' who
sleep.
Heroes awake! Heroes asleep! Are greeted by your hallowed wreath; So hang it high, let all know then Of 'Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men."
Ada B. Bruce
In the seven years leading up to the fire, the scandal
and financial ruin of her grandfather and father dramatically impacted Julia's world.
It began in 1896 with the forced closure of her grandfather George Schneider's bank, the
largest bank failure in the nation's history at that time, amidst dramatic headlines,
bank runs and the suicides of two other implicated bankers.
Disheartened by the experience, her grandfather withdrew from society. That represented a major change for an influential man who had been a publisher, political organizer, foreign diplomat and valued campaigner for Abraham Lincoln.† Schneider was an important figure in Julia's life. At her death, she was described as one of George's favorite granddaughters. With his background in printing and her love of illustration, they likely shared an appreciation for graphic arts. After her graduation from Kirkland High School and enrollment at the Art Institute, he may have
felt a personal connection to her education. George was on the printing committee for the
1893 Columbian Exposition, for which the Art Institute structure was built, and he served
as a trustee for the Art Institute during Julia's years there.
Given her father's financial and legal troubles it seems possible George had paid for Julia's classes at the art center. Her father Robert Berger was also caught up in the 1896
banking collapse and scandals.‡ He was convicted of embezzling and served a
one-year prison sentence. Upon his release, he filed for bankruptcy with $2 million in
liabilities. The family was forced to give up their home at 439 N State St. and move to
a Roslyn Place apartment.
Seeing George Schneider's humiliation over the bank failure must have been difficult
for his entire family, and his death just months before the Iroquois fire might have
been especially painful for his favorite grandchild.
Schneider had first settled in St. Louis but came to Chicago in 1851 to publish the
Illinois Staats-Zeitung German newspaper. In 1853, he married Matilda Schloetzer, with
whom he had seven daughters, including Julia's mother.
Schneider was a delegate to the first Republican National Convention in 1856. As a
reward for his efforts on behalf of the party and the Union cause, Abraham Lincoln
appointed him to Denmark as a diplomat, and Schneider carried the Union's message to
Europe. He sold his newspaper interests in 1862 to become president of the State
Savings bank, and in 1871 became president of the National Bank of Illinois, 115
Dearborn St., Chicago. For the next twenty-five years, the bank would be the
foundation of his power and reputation in Chicago, becoming the second strongest bank
in the city.
An 1896 action of the Clearing House Association (commercial banking
organization) set off a chain reaction of bank closings that included bank runs with
depositors lined up on the streets to demand the return of their deposits. The action
that triggered the panic was the Clearing House suspending National's membership,
thereby forcing it to close. The story that eventually emerged was that though National
held sufficient assets to satisfy legal requirements, it was guilty of risky loan
practices and deliberately misleading bank examiners. National had granted a $2.4
million loan to a newish south Chicago transportation company, Calumet Electric
Street Railway (CESR). CESR was involved in a bitter competition with an older streetcar
company, Chicago City Railway (CCR). CCR privately notified the comptroller of the
currency that CESR had overstated its assets to National. The comptroller did some
investigation and notified National's directors that the bank's exposure and
procedures were troublesome. National's directors trusted Schneider and did not take
action, so the comptroller called the situation to the attention of the Clearing
House. Upon investigation, the Clearing House discovered the $2.4 million the loan
was uncollateralized. When an additional $900,000 loan to CESR was found hiding in an
account labeled as foreign currency, and other improprieties were found in the books
at E. S. Dreyer & Co, the bank where George's son in law was a partner, the
Clearing House forced National's closure. The abrupt closure denied the bank the
opportunity to liquidate more quietly and happily for competitor CCR, called CESR's
fiscal stability into question. George Schneider liquidated his personal assets to
raise $200,000 to bring National's assets to a level that covered 75% of depositor's
funds. In so doing, he avoided criminal prosecution but was broken-spirited and
withdrew from activity in Chicago, spending the last few years of his life in Kansas and
Colorado.
Discrepancies and addendum
* One Chicago newspaper reported that Julia's throat
infection set in immediately after the fire, but
another newspaper reported the throat infection
occurred just prior to her death eighteen months
later.
† George Schneider (1823–1903) was born to a
middle-class family in the Rhineland-Palatinate area
of Germany. He became a journalist and a
revolutionary, fighting Prussian repression. To
escape capture, he immigrated to the United States
in 1849 and was soon active in the Forty-Eighters, a
group of immigrants from failed 1848 European
rebellions. In America, they reorganized to oppose
slavery and strengthen the Republican party.
‡ Julie was the oldest of four children born to
Robert Berger (1850–1829) and Clara Berger (b.
1857–1927). Clara was the oldest of George
Schneider's seven daughters. Berger was a partner in
E. S. Dreyer & Co, a bank founded by Edward S.
Dreyer, located at Dearborn and Washington. Berger
and Dreyer defied accounting and banking ethics and
protocols to move deposits around in a convoluted
snarl of transactions geared to cover shortages.
When the music stopped, and their procedures were
examined, both men went to jail in Joliet, IL.
Berger went quietly and quickly; Dreyer delayed and
appealed. Also in Joliet were two other bankers
caught in the 1896 Chicago banking scandals. Dreyer
reported the bank's assets were $1.5 million and
liabilities $1.35. Dreyer was represented by Levy
Mayer, who in another few years would be busy
representing Iroquois Theater defendants.
Circuit Court Judge
Theodore Green
Father
and daughter Bray survived
Cousins Nellie Hart and
Maude Smith
Other discussions you might find interesting
irqdelayed
Story 1041
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.
