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Three residents of Taunton, Massachusetts were members of
Klaw & Erlanger's theatrical touring production company
in 1903. Mr. Bluebeard was an interpretation of a fairy tale brought to
the stage a year prior by the Drury Lane Theater in London. Klaw &
Erlanger had purchased the costumes and special effects from
Drury Lane and staged an Americanized version on Broadway in
early 1903. After a short run, it went on the road and
reached Chicago in time for the Christmas holiday.
It played at the city's newest luxury theater, the Iroquois Theater
on Randolph Street.
The three Tauntonites were Nellie Capron, John Yates and Edward Sherman.
On December 30, 1903 they survived a historically significant
fire that killed over 600 and injured hundreds more. Nellie was
in the cast, John in the orchestra and Edward Sherman was one of
the property managers. Efforts to learn of a common
connection between the three, other than Taunton, have not been
successful. A brief newspaper story reported that
Nellie and John joined the theater company at the same time but
said nothing about Edward. His involvement was almost
certainly prior to the autumn of 1903 but it could have been
months or years earlier.
Today a community of around 57,000,
Taunton's population in 1900 was 31,000. I found
copies of a few early Taunton High School Journals
online but none mentioned students named Capron,
Sherman or Yates.
The first reference to class involvement in the
theater or music did not appear until 1904 and the
1902 Taunton city directory did not list a theater.
The 1901 directory did, however, list over thirty
music teachers, three sellers of musical
instruments, and three bands, thus giving William
Yates numerous opportunities to learn to play an instrument.
Note to Taunton history buffs.
I suspect much more could be learned about each of these individuals
in period Taunton newspapers that are not online for me to search but are probably
at the library. What theaters operated in Taunton in
1903? Were these three connected in Taunton before joining
a NYC theater company? Do I have the right Edward Sherman?
Drop me a line with whatever you find and I'll add it to their
story.
Nellie Mae Capron (1883–1959) age twenty
Mr. Bluebeard was Nellie Mae Capron's first
production in the theatrical profession. She
was the daughter of Franklin S. Capron and Ellen
Mason Capron. Her father and brother Edmon operated
a used boiler and engine shop. Two years after the Iroquois fire she
married a silversmith, Ernest L. Myers but the
marriage did not last. In 1908 she was
performing in another Frohman production, Lady Frederick
with Ethel Barrymore, a comedy
by a then new British playwright,
William Summerset Maugham. It was performed in
numerous Indiana cities so perhaps that is where she
met her second husband, Oscar J. Henderson.
Henderson was stage manager of an opera house in
Logansport in central Indiana, a city then of
around 20,000.
Nellie performed in musical comedy's in vaudeville
but seems to have retired by 1934. Oscar
served in WWI then returned to Logansport. He
would remain in the theater until at least 1942 when
he worked for the Cass Theater Corporation as a
projectionist. Nellie sometimes went by Mae
Henderson, later in life as Cheska Nell Henderson.
During WWII she worked in the office at Alpha
Industries there.
When Oscar died in Indianapolis in 1956, on the day of
his 66th birthday, police in Indy were unable to
notify Nellie directly because she did not have a
telephone. Logansport police gave her the bad
news but she had to call the police in Indianapolis
to verify she'd received notification. She
went to the police department in Logansport to make
the call to Indianapolis. On her way to
the stationhouse she fell, injured her wrist and was
taken to the hospital. There would be several
other hospitalizations over the next three years
prior to her death at age seventy-five of cirrhosis
of the liver. I found no evidence of her
having had children. During Prohibition Nellie
was arrested once for possession of alcohol, Oscar
for public intoxication and possession.
John W. Yates (c1876–1955?) age twenty-seven
In Mr. Bluebeard John played the role of Bluebeard's ugly wife, Badun,
that on Broadway had been played by Abner Symmons.
George, Margaret and John Yates immigrated from
England and settled in Taunton, Massachusetts.
George Yates worked as a pattern maker, perhaps for
one of Taunton's stove manufacturers.
Prior to joining the Bluebeard theater company John
Yates worked as a photographer for Albert L. Wood
in Taunton and as a stenographer. In the 1902
Taunton city directory it is reported that John had
moved to New York but that could be a different
John.
I found nothing to indicate that John Yates remained
in the theater or music world. His prior jobs
in photography and stenography may suggest he
had clerical and hand skills sufficient to open
doors in various occupations. His parents
remained in Taunton 1919 then moved to Fall River,*
Massachusetts where they boarded in a home owned by
Margaret's sister, Mary Williamson Sumler. In
the 1930s they lived in Westport, Massachusetts.
It is unusual to be able to track a man's parents
but not the man himself. I suspect he rarely
used his middle initial and may not have returned to
Massachusetts. He may have become an insurance
agent, married a woman named Mary Reed, had a
daughter named Margaret and died in 1955 but that
could be an altogether different John W. Yates
because according to his obituary, insurance man
Yates had a sister named Elizabeth and John Yates
who survived the Iroquois Theater fire was an only
child.
Edward Sherman (1880–1977) age twenty three
I found nothing to place Edward Sherman in Taunton
on a particular date so
turned to the 1900 U.S. Census . There I found one man who seems
like a possibility, a young silversmith. In 1903 Edward Gordon
Sherman (1880–1977),
youngest son of Irish immigrants, Gordon
and Catherine St. George Sherman, brother of Ann,
Margaret and William, was twenty-three-years old.
Gordon Sherman had died two days after Christmas,
the same year Edward was born, leaving Catherine
with four children under age
twelve. The children stayed close for the
first years and they got
along. In 1900 Edward worked as a silversmith
and in 1901 William, Edward's older brother, worked
at
Barton & Reed. The Taunton
city directory that year did not state an
occupation for Edward, however, suggesting
that he'd left silversmithing behind. The family lived then
on Adams Street.
In Chicago in 1911 Edward married an Iowa native, actress Gladys May Benjamin
(daughter of Edna, sister of Hazel). They would have
one child, John Edward Sherman (1917–1955), born in
Iowa, who served in the U.S. Air Force during WWII, but the marriage
did not last and Gladys remarried.
A man named Edward G. Sherman became a successful
talent agent in the 1930s, representing Abbott and Costello.
Though I did not find
evidence that he was from Taunton, it seems
a strong possibility.
Discrepancies and addendum
* A druggist named George R. Yates lived and worked in
Massachusetts during the same years, also with a son
named John.
Party of twelve survived
Survivor story reaches to
Huntsville and North Carolina
Cousins Nellie Hart and
Maude Smith
Other discussions you might find interesting
irqperformers
Story 2928
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.
