Chicago's palatial Iroquois Theater was touted as fireproof when it welcomed an audience to enjoy the songs and one-liners of a vaudeville comedy performed inside its marble and mahogany interior on Dec. 30, 1903. Although it was just five weeks after the theater had opened at 24-28 W. Randolph St., the claim of safety proved tragically untrue--as historic documents related to the Iroquois Theater Fire, Chicago's second deadliest disaster, attest.
These documents, discovered in the basement of the Bloomingdale Public Library, recently were donated to the Chicago Historical Society.
A Cook County coroner's list of the 602 people who died, as well as yellowed newspaper articles and scrapbooks about the fire, were discovered by Bloomingdale historian Barbara Sondalle.
"I was unpacking all kinds of interesting things from old boxes," she said.
"These materials were in a grocery bag dated 1972. I looked inside and realized that this stuff didn't pertain to local history."
Noting that the papers were about an important event in Chicago history, Sondalle decided they would be more appropriate for inclusion in the Historical Society's archives.
The theater fire is the city's second deadliest accident behind the sinking of the Eastland. More than 800 people died when the excursion ship sank in the Chicago River in 1915.
Although a collection committee at the society will decide whether to keep the documents, Julie Thomas, collection manager, said they are certainly worth consideration.
"This fire was a huge event in Chicago history," she said. "It was a major tragedy and it had a noteworthy effect. It changed a lot of fire codes."
Sondalle said the coroner's list seems particularly interesting because it is complete and includes the victims' names, hometowns, ages and occupations.
The documents also include information about the Iroquois Memorial Association, founded to commemorate the victims.
It seems likely that the documents were compiled by George Tobias, husband of Florence Tobias, who died in the fire. His portrait was among the items in the bag.
How the documents landed in the library's basement was another question that Sondalle has pursued and answered.
The bag included a note stating that the papers were inside a time capsule found in 1961 at Randhurst Shopping Center in Mt. Prospect.
Sondalle recently learned that Angelo Piagentini, a former Bloomingdale resident, came upon the time capsule while working as an excavator.
His wife, Lida, 78, now lives in Bartlett. She said it was common for her husband to unearth items, though the time capsule was more interesting than most.
"He found these in a galvanized, steel box," she said. "We had to use a can opener to open it."
When Piagentini moved from Bloomingdale, she gave the items to the library.
"It seemed important enough that it shouldn't be destroyed," she said. "I'm glad someone will gain some knowledge from it."
Although Thomas said the theater disaster caused changes in fire codes, it appears that precautions that existed in 1903 were ignored or were ineffectual because of poor construction.
Nearly 2,000 people, mostly women and children, were in the theater to see a matinee performance of "Mr. Blue Beard," starring comedian Eddie Foy.
As the second act was under way, a hot light caused a red velvet curtain to catch fire.
An asbestos fire curtain, which should have protected the audience, never reached the down position because it was obstructed by projecting lights or cheap wooden tracks.
Most of the performers and stage hands behind the curtain survived.
The theater management also had locked iron gates over many exit doors.
"More people died of smoke inhalation than they did of fire," Thomas said.
"A lot of people died, jammed at doorways because they were trying to escape."
