Chicago's Awful Theater Horror Part 37

"The steps were very steep and people occupied them quite a way down. They had to rise and stand aside to let us make our way to our seats. There was a man and a woman sitting on the step right beside our seats. At the end of the first act I went out to the foyer. I had considerable difficulty getting out. There was a great deal larger crowd in the aisles and sitting on the steps than there was when we came down first. They were strung along the aisle and there were a great many women on the steps. I went out and walked around for a while and then came back and took my seat. I had to make the women get up as I was coming down the aisle again.

"When the fire started I went right to the first exit and out on the fire escape platform. When I got to the door there were flames and a great deal of smoke coming out from a window that was near there, and we couldn't go out at that time, so we waited for a few seconds, and the fire died down.

Then we went down the fire escape to the alley.

"Many other people escaped by the same means before us--at least I should judge there was, because we saw a number of hats and furs and things of that sort on the steps. There wasn't anybody coming down in back or in front of us while we were going down."

GAS EXPLOSION HOURS BEFORE THE FIRE.

That the explosion of a gas tank came near destroying the Iroquois theater a few hours previous to the performance on the opening night, about a month before, was testified to by John Bickles, 6711 Rhodes avenue.

According to Bickles, a gas tank under the stage exploded with such force that flames shot over an eight-foot part.i.tion. It was only after a hard fight on the part of employes of the theater and the fact that there was little inflammable material near the fire that the flames were subdued.

Bickles stated that he did not know what sort of a gas tank exploded, as he did not inquire of the other employees. At the time he was standing in a room opposite the one in which the gas tank exploded.

"The flames leaped over an eight-foot part.i.tion, but did not burn me,"

said Bickles. "I went on to the stage soon after the explosion and the next day was discharged by the George A. Fuller company, builders of the theater, by whom I was employed as a carpenter. There was no work was the reason. There were a number of actresses and sewing women in the theater at the time of the explosion. The first performance was to be given that evening and everybody was making ready. I was the person who fixed the wall plates for the skylights, but I never saw them after they were finished."

From Bickles' testimony it seemed the George A. Fuller company had kept a number of its men in the theater after it was occupied by the Iroquois Theater company. They were completing unfinished details. The fact of the fire, he said, was hushed up.

PANIC AMONG THEATER EMPLOYEES.

Gilbert McLean, a scene shifter, at work on the stage when the fire started, told of the failure of the fire extinguisher to put out the blaze, and declared that the failure of the fire curtain to drop was due to a misunderstanding among the men in the flies who were supposed to operate it. Then men appeared not to know what was wanted and lost priceless time hesitating. McLean's story would indicate that the stage employees ran away long before the audience knew that there was danger.

Speaking of the efforts of the stage fireman to put out the blaze soon after it started in the grand drapery, McLean said:

"If the extinguisher had been effective he could not have reached the fire at that time, though the part he did reach did not seem to be affected at all. Then there was a commotion, everybody was running back and forth, and I yelled as loud as I could to send the curtain. I saw the men did not understand the signal; they were signaling from the first entrance then by a bell. I could hear the bell ringing and I could see the fly men, as they called them, and saw they didn't understand. I yelled as loud as I could and they did not seem to understand me or to know why the curtain should be sent at that time, as it was not the regular time for the curtain.

"Well, the fire kept making headway towards the back of the stage. It spread rapidly right straight back. There seemed to have been a draft from the front of the theater. The show people started to go out fast, coming from the bas.e.m.e.nt and from the stage and leaving the stage by the regular stage entrance. Somebody hallooed, 'She is gone. Everybody run for your lives.' I went towards the rear door then and made my way out as best I could.

"There had never been any fire drill on the stage so far as I know and I never heard any fire instructions. Many were out before I left and I guess all the stage people got out some way or another. It was every man for himself then."

AN EX-USHER'S WORDS.

Willard Sayles, 382 North avenue, Chicago: "I was formerly an usher at the Iroquois theater. During my period of employment the fire escape exits at the alley side of the house were always kept locked. There was one exception. The opening night Mr. Dusenberry, the head usher, had me open the inner set, the wooden doors that concealed the big outside iron ones.

The people on the aisle were complaining that it was too warm. He gave orders to the director and myself to open the wooden inner doors to the auditorium. Later on Mr. Davis came up and told me to close them and not to open them unless I got instructions from him. That was the only time I got instructions from either one of them. We had not got instructions as to what doors we were to attend to in case of fire. The only time we got instructions was the Sunday before the house opened; Mr. Dusenberry called us all down there and told us to get familiar with the house. There was no fire drill or anything of that kind."

CHAPTER XXI.

IRON GATES, DEATH'S ALLY.

That two iron gates, securely padlocked, across stairways in the Randolph street entrance, held scores of women and children as prisoners of death at the Iroquois theater fire horror, was the startling evidence secured on Sat.u.r.day, Jan. 9, ten days after the holocaust by Fire Department Attorney Monroe Fulkerson.

In a statement under oath George M. Dusenberry, superintendent of the auditorium of the playhouse, admitted that these gates had remained locked against the frantic crowds through all the terrible rush to escape.

Against these, bodies were piled high in death of those who might have gained the open air had they not been penned in by the immovable bars.

Not until the sworn statement had been secured from Dusenberry were the investigators brought to a full realization of the horrors of the imprisoned victims.

These deadly iron gates, four to five feet high, according to Dusenberry's testimony, were quietly removed after the fire. One of the gates was at the landing of the dress circle. The other was on the stairway which led from the dress circle entrance to the landing above. At the Randolph street entrance were two grand staircases. Pa.s.sage down one of these staircases was shut off completely by the iron gates.

According to Dusenberry, the gates were locked with a padlock, requiring a key to open them. It was the custom to open these gates after the intermission at the close of the second act, so as to give the people an un.o.bstructed pa.s.sageway for leaving the house at the close of the play.

The exact condition made by the locked gates and the extent to which they contributed to the immense loss of life may be realized by Dusenberry's sworn testimony in detail on this point.

DUSENBERRY'S TESTIMONY.

It was as follows:

Q. Do you recall an inspection which I made of the stairway of the second floor of that theater the next day after the fire? A. Yes, sir.

Q. And showed you two iron gates that folded up like an accordion? A. Yes, sir.

Q. Please state whether or not these two gates were locked at the time of the fire. A. Yes, sir.

Q. State where the lower one was located. A. At the landing of the dress circle.

Q. And do I understand that one side of it was solidly hinged with an iron rod and that the other side of the gate was fastened by a chain locked by a padlock? A. A small lock.

Q. The lock required a key to open it? A. Yes, sir; a small key.

Q. How high was this gate? A. I should think four or five feet.

Q. And was I correct in saying it folded up like an accordion when not in use? A. Yes, sir.

Q. Where was the other one located? A. On the stairway which led from the dress circle entrance up to the landing above.

Q. And was it secured and locked in the same manner as the other gate? A.

Yes, sir.

PURPOSE OF THE TWO GATES.

Q. Consider the first one; what was its function? A. In order that we could have system in handling the house.

Q. Yes; but what was it used for? A. When people were going upstairs that gate simply turned them for the balcony stairway.

Q. You are talking about the lower gate? A. Yes, sir.

Q. So, by reason of this gate, when the people started out they could have only one direction in which to leave, instead of two, as would be the case if no gate were there? A. Yes, sir.

Q. Let us consider the other gate; what was it for? A. To keep the people from going down into the dress circle, and to keep them on the regular stairway for the balcony.

Q. I believe you told me that you locked these gates yourself just before this matinee began? A. Yes, sir.