Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-01-09
AT FIRE
School Girl Tells of Effort to
Lower Curtains It Iro.
quois Fire.
ONE WAS ASBESTOS SCREEN
Other Was Ordinary Drop Curtain
That Flashed Into EIaze
at Once.

Chicago. Jan. 9.-Mr> NJ y. Nelms
died today from burns and injuries
received in the Iroquois fire, making
total Of $50 deaths. 1t is reported
two other fire victims Will hardly re-
cover.
Chicago. Jan. AT the coroner's
inquest today John Nickles. a work
man employed in the construction of
the Iroquois theatre. swore that fire
broke out the very first night the the
atre opened. He said he was told the
fire was the result of some kind of
ga~ tank that exploded in the base
meut. Several persons who Witnessed
the fire from adjacent buildings stat
ed today the outer edge of the smoke
and flames coming out of the play
house were tinged with a peculiar
greeni>h color. They express the be-
lief there were chemicals on the stage
which added to the fury of the fire.
Two Curtains Dropped.
Chicago. Jan. g. - Two curtains
dropped when the fire at the IroquoiS
theatcr broke uut-firSt the asbestos
curtain. then the painted one. In this
statement Ruth Michel. Il school girl,
supplied the apparent solution of Il
mystery when she testified before Cor
oner Tracger and his jury. The fire
proof screen. she said. stuck and he
came lodged high up in the prOSccnium
opening it was supposed to shut off.
The regular ''act curtain fell she said,
burst into flame and scattered the
ifat thrnTr ssI0rrt tho p1rI fal-iI1nl If tho
girl is correct her statement rcconciles
those of others who declared. Oh one
hand that ii was an asbestos curtain
that came down. and on the other hand
that it was an act curtain.
Theater Engineer Testife>.
Another important witness was Rob
Crt T.. Murray. the stationary engiu-
Ger of the thcater. who graphically
described his part in the holocaust.
which ranged from an attempt to pull
down the retarded curtain To saving
chorus girls. prevented n boiler eXplO-
sion. ordering his fireman to crawl
II coal hole and finally. aft
or satisfying himself that there were
no others under the house. making his
exit through coal hole. carefully drag
ginG n box of valuable tools with him.
Scratching her hands in desperation
aCHinst n wall. hc found the little fly
ing ballet girl. Nellie Reed. and or
dcrcd a stage hand 10 see that she was
I ikCu I'm safety to the street.
Fireman Was Using "KiIfire.''
"The first person | found when l
rca Ched the stage" said Engineer Muir
ray. was the fireman. He was
sprinkling kilfire The curtain was
down to within ten feet of the stage
and | tried To jump for it To grab it.
But il was out of my reach. Fire
was falling from the loft. l went to
the elevator and ! saw the elevator
boy was making trips and bringing
people down as fast as he could. When
I saw he was doing his duty | went
down stairs and told my fireman to
shut off steam in the house and pull
the fires" The asbestos curtain. the
witness said. had wooden rod along
the bottom. The curtain was operated |
10y hand. being adjusted with weights |
and CONFERENCE.-The to make it work |
easily.
Four Standpipes in the House.
Murray said there were four stand |
pipes in the house. and of which was |
on the stage. hut strange to say he |
testified that there was no hose for |
this standpipe The coupling was an |
ordinary one according 10 his dcScrip- |
tion and Il hoy could have made CON |
rCctiou. # the hose had been tehrc. |
ana have turned the water on.