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I've failed to find a Winnie,
Winnifred, Winifred or Winnefred with the last name Gallagher or Galager,
that can be tied to the Iroquois Theater.
I found Winnie Gallaghers of the wrong age in the wrong states. There were
thirty-nine girls in Chicago in the right age range and with the last name
Gallagher, but no Winnie's and none with
the middle initial W.
No evidence either of a Winnie speaking about her Iroquois experience in
later years. (That absence may suggest that she died before reaching
old age. For many survivors, their lifetime fifteen minutes of fame
came from newspaper coverage about their Iroquois experience and it seems
to have become a defining moment. They attended annual Iroquois memorial
events and it was mentioned in their obituaries.)
As indicated in the representative clippings above, summarized in the
chart below, there were slight variations in newspaper details about
her experience at the disaster. Was she with her mother or, as
suggested by a few newspapers, an aunt? The discrepancies are the result
of the story being copied and edited by dozens of editors, sometimes
editing already edited text. The consequence is an identification
problem over a century later. Even the aunt business is probably
an accidental red herring, a case of Editor #3 having copied a version
of the story from Editor #2 who was short on space so cut out Mom.
To Editor #3 who knew nothing about Mom, the story looked chopped and
there was room for another line or two, so he added an aunt.
Her address and seat location are the only two bits of information presented
consistently in newspaper stories, but I found no Gallagher's at that
address 1900–1905. Found a man named Levy but no indication
that Levy was related to Gallaghers. Winnie might have been
visiting in Chicago with relatives who had a different last name, over the
holiday or for a longer stay. By the 1910 Census she might have been
married. If a genealogy whiz has the time and is interested in a
challenge, PLEASE JUMP IN.
The emphasis on danger in the Winnie news stories reflects the lack of
information about the fire during the first twenty-four hours. Subsequent
investigation by the Coroner's office and fire department revealed that
fewer than one percent of fatalities came from the main floor. The first floor was empty by the time the backdraft hurled
the blast of flame into the auditorium that killed nearly six hundred people
in the balconies and on the fire escapes. Winnie and her fellow
first floor occupants didn't know that of course, and were terrified,
but they were not in mortal danger.
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