CITY WOMAN RECALLS HORRORS OF IROQUOIS THEATER FIRE
by John Scotzin, Evening News Staff Writer
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

She Danced With Chorus 50 Years Ago

Today is one of heart-chilling reminder for Mrs. Terry Jones, of 503 N. Front St.

It was exactly 50 years ago - December 30, 1903 - that she fled for her life from the stage of the Iroquois Theater in Chicago as it was transformed within a brief half-hour into a charred oven piled high with 596 dead, mostly women and children.

Fifty years ago this afternoon Mrs. Jones was Madeleine Dupont, one of eight dashing chorus girls who with eight young blades in showy costume strolled through the measures of the popular song of the day, "The Pale Moonlight."

The horror of the death-dealing fire and panic that broke out as her chorus danced is still recalled vividly by Mrs. Jones, whose husband, a traffic coordinator with the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, was a featured comedian in his younger days.

A holiday matinee crowd of 2,000 had packed the handsome new Iroquois theater for the scenic extravaganza "Mr. Bluebeard." "Bring the Children," urged advertisements throughout Chicago and the youngsters were there in force in the midst of the holiday season. A double treat eagerly awaited by the excited children was the clowning of Eddie Foy, leading comedian of the times.

The auditorium and stage were darkened for the "Pale Moonlight" number. Up in the scenes an electrician was busy with the arc light that bathed the stage in a moonlight effect.

FLAMES DEVOUR SCENERY

There was a startled cry as a tiny tongue of flame crept over the inside of the grand drapery... a spark from the spotlight... then flames devouring the flimsy scenery.

Foy bravely stood on the stage and entreated the alarmed audience to remain calm. His voice was drowned out as prop ropes burned through, dropping tons of scenery on the now-deserted stage. The vaunted asbestos curtain was dropped but it stuck midway down. A door left open in the rear by fleeing performers created a draft, which swept the mass of flame out over the auditorium.

Before it the vast throng broke and fled in frenzied panic. Newspaper reports described the struggle of men, women and children toward the jammed exits as beyond the wildest imaginations of Dante in his visions of Inferno.

EVERY RULE VIOLATED

Practically every fire rule in the book had been violated, it developed in the investigative aftermath. The coroner's jury found non-compliance with building ordinances regulating fire alarm boxes, fire apparatus, damper or flues on and over the stage and fly galleries. Firemen responding to a delayed alarm because there was no firebox in front of the theater strung their hose lines over layers of bodies which were 10 feet deep in some places.

The public was appalled at evidence showing that most of the 30 exits were bolted, barred, or padlocked shut. Stage flues had been covered with heavy timbers, nailed down. There were no lights over exits nor conspicuous exit signs. The theater's lighting system failed when fire burned through wires which should have been encased in fire-resistant coverings.

Madeleine Dupont and the others of the octette told the coroner how they sang and danced in trying to prevent panic.

The transcript of her testimony:
"I first saw just a little bit of flame, which was on the right hand side of the first entrance on the west, the first drop of the curtain. It was just above the lamp that was reflecting on the moon light girls. It was a calcium light. I went back and got in my place with the pale moonlight girls and the boys came out and sang their lines. Then we eight girls went on the stage - as we always did - went down to the front of the stage - and going down stage I saw the flames getting larger... We sang one verse of "The Pale Moonlight" song and then Mr. Foy came out and spoke to the audience."

"What he said I don't know, and then Miss Williams fainted. She was one of the 'Pale Moonlight' girls and stood alongside of me. She was taken out, and then Miss Lawrence and myself were the last girls to leave the stage."

"I went downstairs to notify the girls down in the basement in the dressing rooms. I called to them that there was a fire, and advised them to run for their lives. Nobody was coming up then. Then I went out of the regular stage door entrance."

In the shock of the calamity, theaters throughout the country and in Europe closed their doors for inspection of their fire precautions. A crusade against violation of fire ordinances developed in every large city.

The result was a rigid overhaul of fire regulations for theaters, as well as hotels and all other public gathering places. Today's steel fire curtains, broad aisles, better floor pitch, lighted exits and uniformed attendants before exits are an outgrowth of the Iroquois theater fire.