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Newspapers worldwide ran stories about the Iroquois Theater fire, oftentimes above
the fold and dominating the front page or first section page. They often
incorporated the lengthy list of fatalities and missing (including the numerous
first-day inaccuracies). Additional inches and premium positioning were given
to stories about victims or survivors in a given newspaper's readership area or
relatives of same. Follow-up stories were published when the bodies arrived back
home for burial and funerals.
Without comparing column inches in various market conditions, I can't guess which
came first — a keen interest amongst readers or rabid competition amongst
newspapers.
Whatever the fuel, many editors didn't let the
lack of a victim in their hometown interfere with making a local
connection. It is common to find Iroquois fire stories in distant city
newspapers about a person local to that paper who walked past the Iroquois during
the matinee or had been to the Iroquois on another day, or who had a
relative who considered attending the matinee and changed his mind.
Based on courtroom outcome and local legislation, it's easy to conclude that busy
Chicago soon forgot about the Iroquois fire. Some historians
have even suggested the tragedy was swept under a rug of shame. The city's
newspapers reveal a different story. Though gone from
headlines, the fire became tightly woven into Chicago's fiber.
The evidence appeared in decades of references in the
obituaries of first responders, survivors, and victim relatives, in
the reminiscences of retirees and family stories.
I think that for many pre-1930 Chicagoans, the
Iroquois disaster became a symbol of the city's stamina,
alongside the 1871 Great Chicago fire, and was perhaps a connection
between people from a diverse range of occupations and economic
groups. Whether you were a millionaire industrialist, who lost
your nieces to the Iroquois, or a milliner living in a flat on the south side, who
lost your sister, there was mutual pride in being part of a city that couldn't be taken down by adversity
or tragedy. Though brought to its knees, Chicago was a city that picked itself up and kept on keeping on.
In Chicago, according to The Encyclopedia of
Chicago, there were
nine newspapers in 1903, including weeklies and Sunday editions.
My online subscriptions to old newspapers do not provide access to all
nine during the relevant years, so for Chicago coverage, this website
relies primarily on these three:
"From its beginnings, the newspaper pledged to be a
good citizen and an active participant in the life
of Chicago." Chicago Tribune
Six months before the Iroquois fire, the Tribune hired newspaper cartoonist
John McCutcheon, a later Pulitzer winner, whose illustrations would
represent several memorable scenes related to the
Iroquois disaster. After working through the
night to turn out a special 8-page edition the
morning of December 31, 1903, the entire front page
of which contained no content other than the lists
of the dead and missing, the Tribune then sent twenty staffers out with victim
lists, instructed to get photos of as many as
possible. As a result, the next morning's
issue, New Year's day 1903, carried many times more
victim photos than any other Chicago newspaper.
The paper then assembled a
group of experts to study the Iroquois structure.
(See below.)
Founded in 1847 as an
independent, the Chicago Tribune spent its
early decades finding its voice. Anti-Catholicism and an allegiance to the Know-Nothing
party morphed into support of Abraham Lincoln and republicanism.
For the first decade or two after the Iroquois fire,
the Chicago Tribune would become increasingly
republican politically and a vigorous competitor in
the newspaper publishing industry. In 1903,
however, its criticism of democrat mayor Carter
Harrison was moderate compared to that of other
republican Chicago newspapers. Stylistically,
its tone was that of an elder statesman that may
have annoyed those who wanted to fry
everything democrat but to others likely represented
moderation and journalistic objectivity. The
Trib made no apologies for city officials who
had contributed to the disaster by not enforcing
city ordinances, nor did it condemn them on the
basis of their political party persuasion. A
January 20, 1904
editorial about the city
council's newly adopted theater ordinance is an
example.
A Chicago Tribune subscription in 1903, delivered via a newspaper
carrier, cost $.75 per month, including the Sunday edition.
The Chicago newspaper is not named in the
story, but since the story is based on
the production of a special edition it
possibly refers to the
Chicago Tribune, and its production
of an extra edition the morning after
the Iroquois Theater fire. (Had
the referenced paper been Hunt's
employer, the Record Herald, it
seems he would have named it but perhaps
not if he sold the story as a
freelancer.) That portion
of the story presents a perspective not
offered elsewhere, and I'd very much like
to know more about its accuracy.
Unfortunately, the second half of the story contains
factual errors and anomalies that give
me pause, including a few
titillating snippets told by no other
newspaper.
The question is
whether the information was known to
other papers who chose not to publish it
or if Hunt embroidered to the point of
fabrication. The suspect
statements are called out at the bottom
of the enlargement. If more information turns up, it will be added.
Meanwhile, if you're interested in
newspaper methodology in 1903, enjoy the
first half of the story with the caveat
that it may or may not be altogether
truthful.
In 1903 Hunt described his position at the Record
as a "copyreader." Mayhap he was
better at writing and editing than he
was at investigating.
The first half of
a January 10, 1904, Nebraska
newspaper story offers a stirring
description of the first 24 hours of a major Chicago newspaper's response to
the Iroquois Theater disaster. The story also ran in the April 16, 1904
issue of The Anamosa Prison Press newspaper, who attributed the
authorship to Thomas P. Hunt of the Chicago Record Herald.
On January 11, 1904 the Chicago
Tribune published the
conclusions of its assembled experts on the
cause of the Iroquois fire and
recommendations on the prevention of future
theater disasters.
The investigative group included
four architects, four engineers,
four building contractors, and three
fire insurance specialists. The
group was still awaiting copies of
theater ordinances in Boston, New
York, London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna,
and St. Petersburg but released its
preliminary report based on
inspections of thirty-four theaters,
of which none were found to be fully
compliant with city ordinances.
The Chicago Tribune committee recommendation emphasized
enforcement of existing regulations
regarding automatic sprinklers,
multiple standpipes, a generous supply
of fire extinguishers, two to four firemen
per theater, unlocked exits,
spacious unencumbered aisles without
turns, aisles at the end of each seat
row, short seat rows, gallery and
balcony exits leading directly to
streets and alleys, enforcement of
over-stage smoke flues that could be
operated with mechanical devices on
both sides of the stage, enforcement of
the requirement for three open sides,
enforcement of auditorium floor
levels, stairs leading directly to
outdoors without discharge into
other exits, enforcement of light
controls with independent power to
exit and stairwell lamps, further
investigation and revision to
existing ordinance regarding fire
curtains, enforcement of
overcrowding and standing
regulations and rendering stage
"paraphernalia" non-flammable.
The Eagle's mission
statement, "Independent in all things. Neutral in
none." in 1903 might more accurately have been: "Hang
Harrison!" The
Eagle's
demonizing of Carter Harrison jr. pervaded every
page. I started to notate all the inaccuracies
and half-truths in its
January 9, 1904, Iroquois Theater article, decided I was succumbing
to witchiness. Had the editor been able to
spend five years reading witness testimony and
expert analysis, he might have written a different
story.
Founded by
Henry Francis Donovan (1858–1929), the Chicago Eagle
began as a Saturday weekly but eventually became
monthly. It was founded in 1889 and continued
into the mid-1940s.
Donovan earned his stripes at the Chicago Evening
Journal and Chicago Times. In addition to publishing,
he served various appointments in municipal and
political organizations.
The Eagle was located in the
Teutonic Building at 172 Washington. Donovan
was born in Ontario and came to America with his
parents as an infant. He went to work at a
newspaper at age thirteen, spent ten years in the
field, then returned eighteen years later.
In January, 1904 the Inter Ocean reported its home
address as 106-110 Monroe St. Subscriptions were 12 cents per week, 17 cents
to include the Sunday edition.
The Inter Ocean was
founded in 1865 as a Republican mouthpiece. Its relaunched version after the
1871 Great Chicago fire reportedly was geared to
appeal to wealthy Chicago republicans. The Inter Ocean veered
down an extremist path that impacted its
circulation and weakened its finances.
Fiscally vulnerable in
1895, industrialist traction thug
Charles Yerkes gained a controlling interest in the newspaper.
In 1903/4, the managing
editor and publisher was
George Wheeler Hinman
(1864–1927), and the
president and editor-in-chief was William Penn
Nixon. Hinman, a Yerkes hire, became a part-owner in 1901 and in 1906 bought a controlling
interest.
He sold out to
H. H. Kohlsaat in 1912† (rumored to have pocketed nearly $1
million in the deal) then, still holding a majority
of its bonds, bought it back from receivership for
$50,000 in 1914 to broker it to James Keeley, former
Chicago Trib manager.
By 1918 the Ocean's remnants were part of the Chicago
Herald Examiner, owned by William Randolph
Hearst.
Yerkes used the Inter Ocean
as a weapon to punish those who interfered with his
transportation empire and as a prod to intimidate
others into cooperation, specifically with his
objective to have the city council grant fifty-yr
leases to traction companies. Chicago
mayor Carter Harrison opposed Yerkes' bullying thus
became a favorite Inter Ocean target both
before and after the Iroquois Theater fire.
That dynamic ramped up in the
first quarter of 1904, resulting in the
newspaper's attempted manipulation of public grief and anger
over the Iroquois disaster to take down
Harrison. Nowhere was it more evident than in
the Inter Ocean's shrill support of
Arthur Hull and his effort to avenge the deaths of his
wife and children by pocketing a chunk of change. In the end, the Inter Ocean
contributed to confining Harrison's
political ambitions to Chicago, but family members of
Iroquois fire victims, through the Iroquois Theater
Memorial Association, rejected the
newspaper's manipulation. By 1906 both Charles Yerkes
and Arthur Hull had left Chicago. (Am reading a book about Yerkes so perhaps my
viewpoint will be different a month from now.
At the moment, both Yerkes and Hull seem opportunistic and
predatory.)
The journalists (in progress)
Charles Collins (1881–1964)
Chicago Herald. Graduated from the University of
Chicago in 1903. He would later work at the
Inter Ocean and Chicago Tribune.
Frederick J. Garner (1884–1962)
Chicago Tribune, newspaper illustrator and later
an author of drawing instruction books.
Arthur Sears Henning (1877–1966)
Chicago Tribune. Editor Sloan assigned him
to write a story about the scene at Thompson's diner
that had been converted to a primary medical triage
center.
Walter Howey (1882–1954)
Inter Ocean Was walking along a
street in Chicago when a manhole cover opened, and
costumed children emerged.
James Keely (1868-1934)
Chicago Tribune organized staffers to
respond to hundreds of Chicagoans looking for
missing relatives who came to the newspaper for
answers. The names provided helped the paper
create the list of missing and dead that appeared in
the midnight edition. It was Keely who
envisioned the impact of devoting the entire
front page to a seven-column listing of victim's
names in the morning edition following the fire.
Phillip Kinsley (1881–1960)
Chicago Tribune junior level reporter paid
$12/week. Keeley sent him to victims' homes to
get photos and to morgues to identify bodies.
Richard Henry Little (?–?)
Chicago Tribune. He would later become editor
of Line O' Type column. Helped carry bodies
from the theater, all the while knowing there was a
possibility his sister was among them.
E. O. Phillips (?–?)
Chicago Tribune. He lost three nieces in
the fire.
Clifford S. Raymond (?–?)
Chicago Tribune. Would later become chief
editorial director and a novelist. He had married
the night before and was on his honeymoon.
Edgar Sisson (?-?)
Assistant city editor at Chicago Tribune.
He set up a command post in Dyche's Drug Store on
Randolph and State near the Iroquois to issue
directives to a dozen reporters.
Discrepancies and addendum
* Despite the strong anti-Harrison position of
the Inter Ocean and moderate position of the Chicago Tribune, the perspective of Iroquois
Theater manager Will J. Davis was that he was a
persecuted victim of a conspiracy of newspaper
interests. He maintained that viewpoint
for at least four years after the fire. I
keep a list of topics to investigate when I'm
able to visit a Chicago library and review
newspaper coverage in other newspapers.
This one is on that list.
† Kohlsaat, a
wealthy founder of a chain of bakeries, had been
publisher of the Record-Herald for two years
but resigned his involvement with the Herald
to concentrate on the Inter-Ocean. He cited
several reasons for his acquisition, all related to
his commitment to the republican party and
determination to combat what he viewed as
destructive policies followed by the party while
under the influence of his former friend, Theodore Roosevelt,
specifically the "twin evils of anarchy — the
recalling of judges and recall of judicial
decisions."
Carrie
and Susie Turney
Lost bodies and surviving
husbands
Lola Kuebler was sixteen
Other discussions you might find interesting
irqnewspapers
Story 2890
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.
