The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-01-02
NINETEEN YHEATERS CLOSED
RESULT OF THOROUGH INSPEC-
 TIoN IN CHICAGO.

Mayor Harrison Finds that All of Them Are Running in Violation of Ordtn-
 ance Requiring Asbestos curtains-
 Some of the Houses Closed Among the
 Most Popular in the cisy-0ther
 Alarming Defects That Propriefors l VIII Have to Remedy.
 Chicago, Jan. 1-Mayor Carter H. Harrison to-day took steps to provide, as far as possible, against repetition of Wednesdays horror at the Iroquois theater. As result of an investiga- tion made at his orders, and lasting but a few hours, nineteen theaters and mu- i seums were ordered closed, some of them being among the leading and most popular playhouses of the city. The act of the mayor was based on one sim | gle violation of the ordinances which are intended to protect the patrons of theaters from just such an occurrence as that which cost so many lives on Wednesday. This was that every one of these places had omitted to supply an asbestos curtain. The theaters or dered closed are:
 Towards, Sam T. Jacks, Marlowe, Music, Alhambra, Avenue, Bijou, Chi cago Opera house. Columbus Stock, Thirty-first Street, Criterion, Piegen- baums. Milwaukee Avenue, Garrick and Glickmans.
 Iii addition to these, the London, Globe Museum and the Clark Street Museum were also compelled to close their doors.
 The Chicago Opera house and the Olympic thsater are vaudeville houses of the highest class, and probably do as much business, in point of numbers, as any of the theaters in the city at a single performance. They, however, .I give a matinee every day in the week, and it is seldom that seats can be ob- tained for any performance at the time of opening. In addition to this they have been accustomed to selling large numbers of tickets for standing room, and as a general thing more people are within these places of amusement at an average performance than can be found at any other playhouse in the city.
 The Garrick theater, which was or dered closed, Is a small playhouse on the northwest side of the city. and 1t should not be confounded with the lar ger theater of the same name on Ram 1 dolph street, one block west of the Iro- quois.
 The inspection ordered by the mayor to-day was carried out by Building Commissioner Williams and Chief of Police O'Neill. The scope os the inves- tigation included no other feature than asbestos curtains. The mayor instruct ed Commissioner Williams to report to kim promptly at the conclusion of his investigation, declaring that it was his intention that no theater should open It's doors in Chicago hereafter unless it was provided with an asbestos curtain, of standard quality, that would work at all llltimes and under all conditions.
 Tt may not be possible" said Mayor Harrison, ito prevent loss of life when rush for the doorways occurs, but I have determined to see that every pre- caution is taken to prevent such occur rences as will alarm the people and start them on rush for the exits. It is all very well to say that the loss of life in the Iroquois was due to the fact that the people lost their heads and crowded into the doorways and aisles like maniacs but the fact remains, and it cannot be denied, that there would have been no panic if the apparatus in this theater, which, judged by all ordi- nary standards, was the best equipped playhouse In the city, had been in prop CT working condition. There Is no get ting beyond that fact. From all the evidence now in hand 1t is clear that if the asbestos curtain in this theater had been in the condition 1t should have been there would have been no loss of life comparatively speaking"
 The report of Building Commissioner Williams showed that the Academy of Music with a seating capacity of 2000, had curtain of burlap. The Alham- bra, with capacity of 2,300 the Ave- nue 600, the Bijou 1900, Clark Street Museum 270, Criterion, Criterion 1.400, Pegenbaum's 400, Towards 900, Mar lowe 1900, New American 1.400-all had curtains of linen, covered with fireproof paint. In the Columbus theater, with a seating capacity of about 1,600, and in Sam T. Jacks they were of canvas. The Olympic theater, with a seating capacity of about 1,6Oo, has a curtain of canvas
 'eThere were other glaring defects," said Commissioner Williams, which | ;o nf lao hut we were not paying particular atten- ton to them to-day, although I noted them, and the theatrical managers will