The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1907-12-30
s Use SHOCKS.
Iroquois Memorial Associa-
ton Denounces Use of
Building as Theatre.

Chicago. Dec 30-Continued use OF /
the site or the Iroquois theater disaster
for a playhouse was denounced as a
public scandal by speakers at the an
niversary meeting OF the Iroquois Me-
mortal association in Willard hall yes
terday afternoon.
1t was announced that the permanent
aim of the association viii be the &C
quirement OF the Colonial theater and
it's site for the purpose of dedieating
the premises 10 some other use, pre-
ferably that OF an emergency hospital
Another announcement was the forth
coming erection Of a monument on the
graves in Montrose cemetery of the
woman who was the sole unidentified
victim OF the catastrophe.
The gathering. which was attended
by $50 persons, was the fourth annual
observance of the day of the 1roquois
tragedy. which occurred four years ago
this afternoon. Without regard to
caste or creed the mourners for those
who persisted in that inferno came to-
gether from the hundred walks OF life
to join in the service of commemora-
ton. Silently weeping. they listened 20
the words of the speakers that recalled
the horror of that day, but roundly they
citation should not rest until a fitting
memorial Is established.
Says Chicago Is FOrGetful.
It was the retiring president J. E. O.
Pridmore, who first touched on the COM
mon feeling Of the sacrilege due to the
existence of the Colonial theater.
so far this association is the only
memorial Of the great tragedy" he said.
T(11f x4rf1I In
existence until Chicago in sheer shame
awakes to its responsibility. What that
| responsibility is need not be named.
There is in the rudest of all civiliza-
ton the instinct that the spot on
which a great disaster occurred should
be hallowed forever after.
In the city in which hundreds of
souls persisted in the great charity
bazaar fire a memorial chapel now
marks the spot. That is the way of
Paris. In the city in which the Ring
theater fire occurred the people would
not tolerate the continuance OF the
use of the site as theater. The build
| ing was demolished and on the spot
was erected a commercial building, the
income from which is distributed to
the widows and orphans of the vic
Tins That is the way of Vienna.
But in this city, responsible for the
greatest theater disaster of the age, the
cry is heard Let us forget 1t is
/ cry that is at once astounding and i'm
moral. This is the way of Chicago.
AT this moment within those walls
there are crowds of merrymakers where
/ four years ago coo men. women, and
| children persisted in an awful death.
| No memorial chapel do you find there.
no sign of a memorial of any kind, no
| outward manifestation of atonement.
That is the way of Chicago.
Would Commemorate Martyrs.
| Chicago must act If it is to hold
| up its head among the cities of the
world We boast of our material
| achievements, but that is not all. Chi
cago must stop long enough in the
mad rush of life to note the noble
works of other cities. Then she will
throw off her yoke of Indifference and
commemorate our martyrs Then and
only then may our association disband."
DR. George J. Tobias. who presided
| said the association had existed long
enough to prove that it's mission was
not to prosecute or prosecute, but to
| commemorate. Then he, too, voiced the
common thought of the mourners.
For those" he said. who can find
enjoyment in that playhouse in Ran
dolph street, knowing the history of
those four walls. I have only this to
say: They must settle with their own
consciences. Whatever form our me-
mortal eventually may take, this as
ISOLATION should not consider its work
accomplished until the property oc-
cupied by the Colonial theater has been
taken over for some other purpose than
| its present one.