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Tinder Box: The Iroquois Theatre Disaster 1903

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With extraordinary thoroughness and an obvious love of his subject, Anthony Hatch makes vivid the story of Chicago's Iroquois Theatre fire of 1903.

With eerie parallels to the Titanic disaster, the Iroquois' programs boasted that the theater was "Absolutely Fireproof"-- but everyone involved seemed to think somebody else had done whatever was necessary to make that claim a reality.

The most deadly theater fire in U.S. history, the event is heartbreaking to read about, but Hatch has ferreted out the many human stories of the victims, survivors, reporters, firefighters, theater managers, and politicians who were involved, and found heroes as well as villains in this tragedy.

In spite of the lessons learned and laws changed as a result of this terrible loss, Hatch's research shows that many modern theaters repeat some of the careless mistakes of the Iroquois. Everyone who frequents public buildings would be well-advised to read this fascinating story and take its lessons to heart.

Mr. Hatch has written a taunt true story of grim reality. Like the Titanic, The Hidenberg, The Coconut Grove and other assorted and avoidable human disasters, the reader knows the ending before opening the book. But like all good reporters - and Mr. Hatch is first, last and always a well seasoned newsman - it is how he stacks the facts that counts. In Tinder Box it is not 'what' happens, as much as 'how' and 'why,' and finally, sadly, who pays the price. In today's era of litigation, much is made of the lawyer-sharks; but before their arrival, the victims of these man-made tragedies were like guppies swimming with piranhas. Only the victims paid. Mr. Hatch is never brutal, but neither does he turn aside from the grim facets of those ghastly events of that day in in late 1903,when 600 victims, many of them women and children, burned to death in an "absolutely fireproof" building. It is a great read, fast paced and gripping.

It was the end of 1903, and many people were looking for entertainment for themselves and their out-of-school children. The new Iroquois Theatre was widely hailed as fire-proof, and the matinee performance of Eddie Foy in the musical fantasy Mr. Bluebeard sounded perfect. The theatre filled to capacity, and beyond, as people packed the standing room areas and prepared for a good time. However, when a sparking spotlight set a curtain on fire, the theatre proved to be a death trap, leaving some 600 people dead, mostly women and children.

In the resulting investigation, it was found that the Iroquois was built without proper, legally required, safety features, and that city inspectors had been bribed with free tickets into turning a blind eye towards the theatre's many violations. However, when all was said and done, only one person was convicted of anything, a man convicted of robbing the dead! Just what happened on that December day in Chicago, what brought it on, and what was the result? Read this book to find out!

Overall, I really liked this book. The author does a great job of explaining what happened to make the Iroquois a death-trap. And, I must say that I was surprised to see that even back then the theatre owners could hire themselves a sharp, unscrupulous lawyer, who would see to it that they were not held responsible for their actions...or perhaps I should not be.

This is a very informative and highly entertaining book, one that I highly recommend to everyone. (By the way, the Iroquois Theatre disaster was the second worst in Chicago history, the sinking of the Eastland claimed some 844 lives.)

On December 30, 1903, the Iroquois Theatre in Chicago was crowded beyond capacity with theatergoers eager to see Eddie Foy in "Mr. Blue Beard". The well-written and well-researched "Tinder Box" by Anthony Hatch describes what happened that tragic afternoon when a spotlight short-circuited starting a fire that eventually killed over 600 people.

Considering the fact that the fire happened over 100 years ago, with no living witnesses to interview and many facts have been lost in time, Hatch does an admirable job describing the events leading up to the fire, the fire itself, and the aftermath. He does an excellent job describing how the Iroquois came to be built and the haste with which it was built (it only took five months) and the shoddy workmanship involved, as well as how many officials were willing to turn their heads and ignore the many fire code violations at the Iroquois. His description of the crowded theatre the day of the fire is mind boggling; one victim in fact called the theater a fire trap as she went to her seat. There were over 500 more people than capacity in attendance; the exit doors opened in instead of out; and the person who was supposed to operate the fire curtain was a substitute who didn't know which lines actually worked the curtain. There was little done to help the audience and incredibly enough the actors continued to perform while the fire was burning. Hatch also gives descriptions of the fire victims and survivors, which make the tragedy even more real. Some of the ways people escaped the fire were incredible and there were many heroes that night. There were also many villains that night and Hatch describes they way people robbed some of the dead. Hatch also covers the aftermath of the fire including the trial and how the owners tried to blame the victims and how evidence was tampered with.

Although Hatch did not write the book until 2002, he had started to research it back in the 1960's and at that time had interviewed a fireman who had fought the fire and a newspaper reporter who covered the fire. Those accounts helped make the scene of the fire real as I was reading the book. There was no spot photography at the time, so while there are pictures of the theatre before and after the fire, there are no actual pictures of the fire itself. But Hatch includes many drawings done at the time of the fire that show how horrible it was. He also includes editorial cartoons that show how much the fire touched the lives of people in Chicago. There is not a list of people who died in the fire because there was never an exact count of how many people did die.

"Tinder Box" is a well-written account of a tragic event in Chicago's history.

Virtually forgotten in the present era, the 1903 Iroquois Theatre fire killed more people in less than an hour than the celebrated Chicago Fire of 1871 which raged over the course of several days and destroyed much of the central district of the city. Thousands of people pass the site of the Iroquois tragedy on a daily basis without giving it a moment's thought. A combined theater and office building occupies the exact site of the Iroquois Theatre on Randolph Street today. The theater has been extensively remodeled and stages Broadway quality performances.

As the author explains Iroquois fire was a disaster that could have been avoided. The construction of the building was not completed when the theater was opened to the public. The architect failed to incorporate significant fire safety features into the cost cutting design. In many instances, the building contractors had not finished their work: two examples, the rooftop venitalation system and the exterior fire escape, itself, were not even fully functional! The closed vents trapped toxic gases and smoke which asphyxiated audience members in their seats.

The pennypinching theater owners failed to purchase adequate fire extinguishers to be placed throughout the building and assigned only one employee to act as fireman for the entire building. The supposedly fire resistant curtain was shoddy both in terms of the inexpensive materials substituted for asbestos and its poor workmanship. When put to the test, none of the stage hands knew how to operate the curtain and it jammed during its descent. Thus the fire could not be contained on the stage and it spread into the auditorium. Panicked patrons struggled to find their way out, but the emergency exits were not clearly identified and many of the doors were locked. As a consequence, many people were trampled to death in the confusion.

The theater lacked a fire alarm and the ushers were not properly trained in emergency procedures (no fire drill had ever been conducted on the premises). Although the response of both the Chicago Fire and the Police Departments was praiseworthy, these heroes were summoned too late to render effective assistance to many of the theater patrons.

The subsequent investigation of the disaster was even worse. Corrupt city building inspectors simply ignored numerous code violations. Over at City Hall, the politicians were too busy whitewashing their own neglect in the scandal to be bothered with searching for the truth.

Anthony P. Hatch does a fairly effective job with the materials, but the text contains a few minor mistakes. I was sorry that Hatch never secured an interview with the late Bryan Foy (1896-1977), the son of stage comedian Eddie Foy. Bryan accompanied his father to the theater on that fateful day and was in the wings when the fire broke out. He later became a Hollywood film producer.

In an age when government wants to regulate nearly every aspect of our lives, it seems incredible that the Iroquois Theater disaster could have even happend. So that the reader may understand the how and why of it, author Hatch has provided us with fine introductory chapters concerning the theater business of the day and how it operated, the political realities of Chicago (and elsewhere)at the time, the physical aspects of how fires were fought, and how the combination brought about this disaster. Without this information, the book would be far less informing than it is. With it, it becomes a fascinating, horrific look at a disaster that didn't need to happen.
This book is excellent reading and reminds us all that we forget the lessons of the Iroquois Theater at our peril.

What was the deadliest disaster in Chicago. If you said the Chicago Fire of 1871 or the Eastland sinking, you are wrong. The Iroquois Theater Fire killed close to or over 600 people in 1903. Like the Titantic, the Iroquois was brand new, but the owners cut corners and the result was a fire trap. On a matinee performance during the Holiday Season of 1903, the theater was crowded with women and children watching a spectatular performance when a light started a fire. This fire ignited the overhead scenery in minutes. People panic brought people running towards the doors, many of which were locked. Hundreds died of fire, suffocation, and being run over by other people.

If you are interested in the history of Chicago, this is a nice book to read. Many disasters have gripped Chicago. This one was one of the worst. Hatch provides a glimpse of the times in his book. He not only covers the disaster itself, but also some of the issues with theater management at the turn of the century. A nice read.

I found the book very interesting. What a sad and tragic event! The author did a pretty good job considering how long ago it was. I would like to have known more but, due to the time period and the lack of modern technology and forensics noone may know the answers to the questions I had after reading this book. I guess I'm spoiled to computer generated re-enactments and "CSI"-type forensics. But why did some people stay in their seats knowing the place was on fire? How come the people, in their seats, died of burns or body trauma or suffocation? It looks like they would have all died of one or all three things but some people in their seats were burned to death while others were suffocated with no visible burns and others died of body trauma such as broken back or decapitation. One woman had no burns and was checked out by her doctor but she died 4 days later. Why? It was this sort of thing that kept niggling me after reading the book. The fire only lasted about 30 mins and yet the horror in that 30 mins! At times it was a little difficult to follow the chronology. To me, events were sometimes hard to place because the writing was a little erratic but a lot was going on in that 30 mins. I couldn't place when all the production crew was getting out vs. all the theater-goers who were sitting in their seats as though nothing was happening or stampeding the exits. But the author did give us personal stories to get us emotionally involved. It would be interesting to know how it affected the survivors for the rest of their lives. Did they talk about it with their families? Were they fearful? Did they ever go back into public buildings again? Were they afraid of fire? How long did they live after this event? Could the emotional or physical trauma have shortened their lives? All these unanswered questions may never be known but this book left me wondering.

This book takes eight chapters to get into the fire
itself. It has a large amount of information about the
Theater Trust organization that is not necessary to the
story.