Iroquois Theater Fire

A fire in Chicago's Iroquois Theater on December 30, 1903 resulted in the deaths of 571 persons. Hundreds were injured and another thirty would die from their injuries in the following weeks. The fire occurred during the Christmas holiday while schools were out. The matinee performance of Mr. Blue Beard drew a standing-room crowd of nearly two thousand people, mostly women and children.

The theater's managers and several public officials were indicted in connection with the fire, but no one was ever punished. The tragedy spurred a drastic toughening of safety standards for theaters and other public buildings.  The tragedy inspired the passage of improved fire safety legislation throughout the United States. Henceforth, all theater exits had to be clearly marked and the doors rigged so that, even if they could not be pulled open from the outside, they could be pushed open from the inside.

Nearly one entire volume of the Cook County Coroner's Inquest Records was needed to record the inquests for the persons killed in the Iroquois Theater Fire. Below is the entry in the Coroner's Inquest Record for Mary Edna Torney, one of the victims of the tragic theater fire. The coroner's jury verdict for all of the inquests held for the victims of the Iroquois Theater Fire was appended as a separate document.
 

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