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On December 30, 1903, Anna Green took twelve
youngsters to an afternoon theater matinee
of Mr. Bluebeard at the Iroquois Theater in
Chicago. The group sat in the 4th row on the
ground floor, providing a clear view of the
site of the fire. Anna recognized the danger
and immediately began herding the group
toward an exit. Her son Byram saw the crowd
amassed at the exit through which they'd
entered the auditorium and urged the group
to alternate exits until all had safely
evacuated. When one in their party, Lester
Coffeen, fell behind, Byram went back into
the auditorium theater and led the girl to
safety, in the process suffering burns on
his hands and arms. The Inter Ocean
newspaper ran a lengthy story about Byram's
bravery that appeared two days after the
fire, the morning of New Year's Day. The
reporter made a significant error in
researching the story, however. He matched
the party hostess and her brave son to the
wrong Chicago industrialist. Living in
Chicago in 1903 were two men with the last
name Green who customarily went by their
first initials. There was A.W. Green
(Augustus Warren Green), who was a
commissioner on the Board of Trade, and A.W.
Green (Adolphus Williamson Green), who was
president of National Biscuit (today's
Nabisco). The Inter Ocean story matched up
the Brave Byram story with the National
Biscuit man. It went out on the AP wire and
was rerun in newspapers around the country.
The gaffe probably went unnoticed by many
and was chalked up to confusion of the
disaster, but in newspaper circles, the
Inter Ocean's face would have been red. But
the Inter Ocean did not issue a correction.
Compounding the confusion: Adolphus Green
(1843–1917) and his wife, Esther Walsh Green
(1850–1933) did have a boy of a similar age
to Brave Byram: thirteen-year-old John
Russell Green (1890–1933). Adolphus Green
certainly spent the next several years
explaining that the boy hero of the Iroquois
was not his son.*
Mixing up the husband/fathers wasn't the
only error in the Green family's story.
There wasn't a child named Muriel in the
family. Anna and Augustus had only one
daughter, Grace Green Morrow. I failed to
learn her middle name, so it could have been
Muriel, but since she was twenty-six,
married, and with an infant and a toddler at
the time of the fire, her inclusion in the
party seems remote. There were two other
Green children of an age to have been
included in the theater party: Augustus
Green jr. and Jesse Samuel Green. If one of
them were at the Iroquois, that would bring
the party to the dozen cited in the news
story - though there is little reason to
assume the number in the party is accurate.
See marked-up clipping at the bottom of the
page for various data errors that have
probably frustrated genealogists for a
century.
Edward Payson Bailey jr. (1890–1948) survivor
Age thirteen, 2400 S. Park Ave.
Son of Edward P. Bailey and Minerva C. Spruance
Bailey. Grew up to become a bookkeeper,
married twice, had one child with each wife.
Herman Beardsley Butler (1891–1906) survivor
Age twelve, 1920
Wellington, son of Herman B. Butler and Harriet
Peabody Butler. Herman's father died two
months after the fire. He had been an officer in
the J. T. Ryerson & Son Co. Herman
followed two years later at age fourteen, of
natural but undisclosed causes.
Lester Coffeen(1892–1934) survivor
Age eleven, 3133 Calumet, daughter of Milo Lester Coffeen
and Martha Martin Coffeen. Lester grew up,
married Lewis M. Williams, had two children, and
spent most of her adult life in the Cleveland,
Ohio area.
Byram Green (1889–1950) survivor
Age fifteen (newspaper reported his age as fourteen), 2306 Calumet. Reportedly, two years
after the Iroquois Theater fire, in September
1905, his father, Augustus Warner Green, lost
his multi-million dollar fortune when his
commodities brokerage — Irving, Green & Co. —
failed in its attempt to corner the wheat
market. I didn't find substantiation but
didn't spend long looking.
Annie Countiss Green (1854–1919) survivor
Mother of Byrum, age forty-nine, 2306 Calumet, daughter of
Charles Walsh and Louisa Countiss ? An ancestor fought in the
American revolution.
Henry B. Keep (1891–1918) survivor
Age twelve, 2825 Prairie St,
son of Chauncey B. Keep and Mary Blair Keep.
Chauncey owned Raymond Lead
Co., manufacturer of lead shot and weight strips for decoys.
Henry graduated from Yale in 1915, married
Katharine J. Legendre in 1916, and they had one
child. He died in France during the Meuse-Argonne battle
of October 5, 1918, of WWI. His widow
inherited around $300,000 (inflation-adjusted)
and his share of a trust fund.
Edward Moberly Jr. (1890–1921) survivor
Age thirteen, 3652 Michigan, son of lumber retailer Edward E.
Moberly and Jennie Blair Moberly. His WWI
draft card reported his status as married, but I
failed to verify that. He moved to
Manhattan with his parents around 1910. He
went to Europe in 1919 with the Company B 327th
battalion tank corp to serve on the western
front under Captain George Patten.
Katherine Darling Shedd (1891–1987) survivor
Age twelve, 3838 Michigan Ave, daughter of realtor/banker Charles B. and
Margaret Cossitt Shedd. In 1912 she
married Addison Bradley, with whom she had two
children.
Charles Cossitt Shedd (1889–1962) survivor
Age fourteen, 3838 Michigan Ave, son of realtor/banker Charles B. and Margaret Cossitt Shedd. He followed his father into
real estate. In 1931 he married Edith Ware,
with whom he had two children.
Virginia L. Whitehead
(1890–1964) survivor
Age thirteen, lived at Calumet &
20th, daughter of Elisha and Grace M. Laflin Whitehead. As adult
married Edward Shumway
and had two children.
John R.Winterbotham Jr (1889–1966) survivor
Age fourteen, 2215 Michigan Ave, son of widow Amelia E. Morris Winterbotham and
the late John Winterbotham, dead in 1892.
His father was a civil war veteran and worked in
his family's barrel manufacturing business. In
1916 John Jr. married Doris Andrews, and they had
one child.
Discrepancies and addendum
No matter how many times this reporter inserted the word "little,"
it was not going to turn a middle-age woman and
eleven teenagers into toddlers.
Maybe overcompensation for what the reporter
probably knew was an inflated story. The party
was on the ground floor from which all but seven
people escaped. The Green boy deserved
recognition, but I suspect scooping the competition
with an exclusive story about a wealthy man's family
was the Inter Ocean's primary goal....and
that reporters at other newspapers may have viewed
the name mix up as poetic justice.
Small errors:
* In the odd coincidences department, one of
the Iroquois injured from another party,
Kate Buddeke, was convalescing
under the care of Esther Green's sisters,
Mary and Minnie Walsh, at the family home at 4725
Lake. In case you've gotten lost in all these
names, Esther is the wife of the National Biscuit president, i.e., the OTHER
Green family. There is a good possibility the two Green
families were related but so far I've failed to find the connection.
Newspaper coverage
Iroquois Theater fire
Walter Zeisler
Northwestern student
Famous Pulitzer newspaper
cartoonist Iroquois feature
Other discussions you may find interesting
Story 2911
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.
Co., manufacturer of lead shot and weight strips for decoys.
Henry graduated from Yale in 1915, married
Katharine J. Legendre in 1916, and they had one
child. He died in France during the Meuse-Argonne battle
of October 5, 1918, of WWI. His widow
inherited around $300,000 (inflation-adjusted)
and his share of a trust fund.
