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Nearly six hundred people died in America's worst theater fire. It took place at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago on December 30,
1903 during an afternoon matinee performance of Mr. Bluebeard.
Clinton, Iowa residents, forty-two-year-old Caroline* "Carrie" Murray Edwards
(b.1860) and her daughter, fourteen-year-old
Marjorie Edwards (b.1889), were among the victims. While they were visiting relatives in Chicago, husband and father William Adelbert Edwards (1846–1909) remained in Iowa operating his business.† William knew his wife and daughter planed to go to the Iroquois Theater and when he heard about the fire called his
brother in Chicago. Carrie and Marjorie were among the missing.
William traveled by rail into Chicago to begin searching for their bodies. He soon found his daughter's body at Jordan's
funeral home, identifying it by a fabric sample he carried with him from Iowa that matched her skirt. One newspaper reported that Marjorie had sent the sample
to him of a dress she'd purchased in Chicago.‡ William's search for Carrie's body lasted throughout the day after the fire. Caroline was at
last found at Ralston's funeral home where two prior families had identified her body as their relative. William was able to prove her identify.
It isn't known where Caroline and Marjorie were
seated in the theater, but it was probably in the second- or third-floor balconies where the
greatest number of deaths occurred It is also not known if they attended the
matinee alone or were in a larger party.
Caroline and William Edwards had married in Oak Park, IL, in 1887. They had living in Chicago
prior to moving to Des Moines Iowa and reportedly moved to Clinton eighteen
months before the Iroquois fire. At the time of the fire Carrie and Marjorie were
visiting William's brother and his family in Chicago. His brother was Reverend John H. Edwards
(1854–1941), rector at the Episcopal Church of our
Savior at 530 Fullerton Ave in Chicago from 1895 to
1912. The rectory was at 700 Fullerton. John's wife
was Susan Bushnell Edwards. William and John were
New York natives; they were the sons of Gershon and Emaline Edwards.
In the years after the fire
Two years after the Iroquois Theater fire, in January 1905, William's company
suffered the loss of a $75,000 mill to fire. Four years later William
was laid to rest with his wife and daughter. Their graves are
near those of Caroline's parents, William and Cordelia Murray. Caroline's mother Cordelia was
widowed at the time of the Iroquois Theater fire and
lived in San Diego with Caroline's younger sister,
Kitty Murray.
Discrepancies and addendum
* The 1860 US census reported Caroline's given name as Clara.
† Edwards Manufacturing produced ready-to-wear apparel for women in Clinton, Iowa. The "Czarina Petticoat" (right) was one of its best-selling products.
After William's death, in 1918, the company was relocated to Spokane, WA.
Mass-produced ready-made civilian clothing had been around since the 1880's but in the early 1900s, especially in smaller
rural communities such as Clinton, Iowa, a large proportion of garments were still made by homemakers and a cottage industry of dress
makers. Sofi Thanhauser's blog offers an interesting history of ready-made clothing.
‡ This sounded improbable to me on first reading. Why would a teenage girl think her father would care about her dress fabric? Then I learned about William's
occupation and it made more sense. As a family that depended upon the clothing industry, dresses, fabrics and fashion may have been everyday conversation at the Edwards dinner
table, in the same way a farming family exchanges information about livestock and feed.
Floy Olson and Bessie
Staffard
Polish immigrant
Kwasniewski Iroquois victim
Beders lost daughters and
grandchildren
Other discussions you might find interesting
Story 2751
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.
