The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-01-07
Official List in the Hands of the
Coroner
includes the Names of $50 Dead
Persons.
A SEPARATE VERDICT
VIII Be Rendered In the Case of
Each Victim.
Proceedings Opened With the
Name of Miss Nj. E. TOrney.


the city hall, Coroner Traeger and a
jury of six men today began the Off |
cial investigation of the Iroquois the
ater fireS Witnesses were persons who
were in the audience at the matinee.
They told of the panic and of finding
exits locked. Outside in the anterooms
a host of witnesses waited to be heard. |
Frightened victims who escaped with |
their lives from the fiery furnace.
actors. chorus girls, stage hands. po-
hcemen and others men mingled there
with, making a strange gathering. |
Within the council chamber the maui |
sition proceeded along judicial lines.
Lawyers were Oresent in behalf of nu- |
merous interests, seeking opportunity
to examine witnesses along lines of spe- |
c1al interest to their clients Under |
Coroner Traegers ruling such questions
We're barred and the examination con-
tinued strictly along the lines laid down
by that officer.
The coroner's official list of dead
for use at the inquest-contains just
sos names. Previous police reports in
dicating 591 dead are declared now TO
be inaccurate and due to the shifting
of bodies from one morgue to another.
Preparations were complete for the
mostAsearching inquiry into the causes
of the greatest calamity that Chicago
has ever known. Coroner Traeger pre-
sided over the investigation with
States Attorney Dineen or one of his
assistants in constant attendance as
the coroner's legal representative, and
the corporation counsel, the county at
tOrney, a score of lawyers representing
private interests and numerous officials
OF the fire and police departments TAX
ing part in the inquiry
1t is estimated that it will require
at least six days for the jury to hear
the testimony of the 200 or more wit
nesses- The provision of the law that
the jury shall view the bodies over
which the inquest is held having al
ready been complied with, Coroner
Traeger entered at once upon the ex-
animation of the witnesses to determine
the cause Of the fire and the RESPONSE
billty OF the. loss of life Technically
the inquest is held over ''the body Of
Miss Mary Edna Torney and 564 9TH
ers"
Deputy Coroner Buckley knew Miss
Torney and arrived on the scene of the
fire few minutes after her body had
been carried out. He was able to locate
the two policemen who had handled the
body. The check to her seat in the
theater was found on her clothing Pre-
else evidence can therefore be deduced
as to the circumstances of her death
and these circumstances will be inter-
preted to apply in general to the 1854
Others
Although some died of asphyxfation.
some of burns and some from concus-
sion, the jury will find that death in
each cast resulted from shocks and
injury" The jury will sign a separate
verdict for each victim.
For the task of fixing the RESPONSE
bility for the great loss of life States
Attorney Dineen instructed Coroner
Traeger to establish the identity if pos
sible of some person or persons who
n tod oh H. -
south from the entrance of the second
balcony. There a locked door cut off
the escape of hundreds, whose bodies
We're found against the barricaded
door. The coroner has succeeded in
gathering this evidence.
Mrs. Strong of Chicago and her niece,
Vera Strong of Americus, Ca, died at
the foot of the stairway. The story of
their death before the locked exit has
been told to the coroner by James NJ
Strong, son of the elder victim. Mr.
Strong, who is a board of trade clerk
consented to testify.
The arrest of William ]. Maher and
George Nagel, which took place today
is considered important by Coroner
Traeger in connection with the investi-
cation. The men were employed by a
subcontractor of the Fuller Construc-
tion company. According to the police
the men say they nailed down the ven
tilators on the roof of the theater over
the stage and that an examination will
show that the skylight frames had
never been removed. In other words,
the safety vents for a fire on the stage
were never opened experimentally and
every audience that ever sat in the
Iroquois theater from the day the the
ater was opened, had been in imminent
danger of roasting to death wholesale
whenever a fire broke out on the stage.
E. Krifting. is the subcontractor of the
Fuller Construction company, who en-
ployed Maher and Nagel. The two
workmen were at home in bed when
arrested. The workmen explain to the
police that the nails were expected to
be removed later and the skylights put
in proper working order when the the
ater was given in to the hands of the
owner. Both men expressed willing
ness to appear before the coroner's
jury.
Great stress is laid by the coroner
upon developments during the inquest
in relation to the stage ventilator and
air shafts, the proper working of which
it is held would have saved hundreds
from death. The ventilators and shafts
were opened the next morning after
the fire for Foreman David of the
George Fuller Construction company,
by two workmen, Maher and Nagel-
According to the police, Maher today
said that he had charge of the metal
construction of the ventiietor. Tho
ventilator was to have been ooera-ae
by lever from the stage: that it
could be thrown open at a moments
notice but, according to Maher, the
lever was never fitted. Maher, accord
ing to the police says that he went to
the theater the day after the fire and
| looked to see if the lever had been at
tached but could find no trace of it.
He saw several temporary scantlings
nailed to tho wall in the way he had
fixed them when his part of the work
of constructing the theater was @n-
| ished-