THE IROQUOIS FIRE 1903

CHRISTOPHER, PORTER, COLEMAN, BARRY, LANDERS, GROVES, SMITH, MARTIN, WINSLOW, BOEHM, SOBEK

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 6/14/2021 at 19:37:58

Source: Decorah Republican Jan. 7, 1904 Page 2

THE IROQUOIS FIRE
Miss Belle Christopher and Miss Wilma Porter among the Dead.
ONE JUMPED AND THE OTHER WAS BURNED.
Mrs. W. F. Coleman Painfully but not Seriously Injured—Uncle of F. C. Sobek Killed.
When the REPUBLICAN went to press last week it was not known that Decorah was directly concerned in the result of the awful fire in the Iroquois theatre in Chicago that brought sorrow to so many homes. As the details unfolded the fearful loss of life was appalling, and one could not comprehend how so many people could be killed in so short a time nor believe that the report was half true.
But all too true it proved to be. A few hours after the first reports reached Decorah a telegram came telling of the death of Miss Belle Christopher and Miss Wilma Porter. No details could be secured but later when the daily papers came and the awfulness of the disaster became more fully impressed upon the mind, details were scarcely necessary. Those who were fortunate enough to reach balconies and fire escapes met new terror in being crowded off or being compelled to jump for their lives. Those who were left behind had the fire and suffocation to face. We do not undertake to tell the story ourselves. We leave that to the special report supplied us by the A. N. Kellogg Newspaper Co. of Chicago and printed on page five of this issue.
Not until Sunday were details concerning the Decorah victims received.
As is well known, Miss Christopher accompanied Mrs. W. F. Coleman to Chicago to spend the holidays. In company with Mrs. E. P. Barry and her daughter Wilma Porter they attended the performance of “Mr. Bluebeard, Jr.,” at the Iroquois theatre on that fateful afternoon. They were unable to secure seats together, so had taken seats in the second and third rows of the first balcony, Miss Christopher with Mrs. Barry and Wilma with Mrs. Coleman. They remained in their seats until the smoke from the fire, on the stage blew into their faces, when they started to get out of the building Mrs. Barry, Mrs. Coleman and Wilma had just climbed out on the platform to a fire escape when Mrs. Coleman was struck by something, presumably a falling body, and rendered unconscious.
That was the last she know until she regained consciousness in a saloon where she had been carried by two men who administered restoratives, placed her in a carriage and took her to her sister’s home at 4330 Greenwood avenue and remained with her until she was in condition to be left. It is supposed that Mrs. Barry and her daughter also jumped or were pushed from the landing, but the former escaped without injury, while her daughter died at St. Luke’s hospital where she was taken.
Burns about the head and face tell the story of Miss Christopher’s death. F. S. Landers, who has been in Chicago since last week, wrote his family on Monday that it was undoubtedly due to her efforts to help Miss Porter that she lost her life. All her life Miss Christopher has been helping others. In her young womanhood she went into the Landers home and there she has remained, second only in the affection of the children to their parents, their companion and confident, in times of sorrow their trusted friend and consoler, in time of distress their help and adviser. She was fifty-five years old and is survived by four sisters and two brothers—Mrs. F. J. Groves, Mrs. A. C. Smith, Miss Mary Martin and Eber Christopher of this city, and Miss Emily Christopher of Chicago.
Miss Porter was born in Decorah, and while her home has been with her mother in Chicago she has been a frequent visitor here and has many friends who deplore her death. The measure of sympathy which is felt for those who have been afflicted cannot be expressed In words.
The funeral was hold at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Barry last Saturday afternoon at two o’clock, and the bodies were placed in vaults, where they will remain until spring, when they will be brought to Decorah for burial.
Later reports brought the news that C. E. Winslow of Thief River Falls, Minn., brother-in-law to J. M. Boehm and uncle to F. C. Sobek, both of the firm of F. C. Sobek & Co., was in the fire and lost his life from burning. He and his family had been making a holiday visit in Milwaukee and he went down to Chicago on business. A. C. Baker, who knows him quite well, says he thinks no man in Thief River Falls will be more generally missed, as he was prominent in business, social and church life.
Mr. and Mrs. Porter of Winona, brother-in-law and sister of Mrs. F. S. Landers, were also in the theatre when the fire broke out. They escaped without their wraps, so the Winona papers report, though in doing so they had to pass over the bodies of prostrate people.