Evening star., 1935-03-25
NIGHT CLUB BLAZE
KILLING 6 PRObED
Fl Others Injured in Fire
Sweeping Resort in Chi
cago Suburb.
Rv fbn Associated Dress

By the Associated Press.
CHICAGO, March 25.-A county,
wide investigation was launched today
into the fire which early yesterday
swept the paper-f festooned interior of
the Club Rendezvous in suburban
Morton Grove and took the lives of
four men and two women. Twenty
one others were injured.
County police were ordered by
Sheriff John Toman to visit all road
houses and report Immediately any
fire hazards. They were instructed to
pay particular attention to tissue
paper and any highly inflammable
decorations.
At an undertaking establishment in
Niles Center, another North Shore
suburb, an inquest was opened into
the deaths of the six persons who
were engulfed in the blaze when more
than 100 panic-stricken merrymakers
struggled for freedom from the
inferno.
Festivities were at their height early
yesterday at the road house. a re-
modelled bungalow in suburban Nor
ton Grove, when the first tongue of
flame licked out from the ceiling,
near a suspended gas heater.
Many Students.
DrapeS and streamers stretched
from the walls and ceiling of the
dance hall and dining room. The bar
was packed. A mass of persons moved
to the music of a three-piece orcheS-
ira on the dance floor. Every table
in the dining room was filled. Many
were Northwestern University students
who had just come from a school
musical comedy stage production.
"Fire!"
The girl who had sent the cry ring
ing through the building snatched her
wrap and made for the only exit-eX-
cept the kitchen door-a narrow
doorway on the east side of the dance
hall This doorway led into an ante
room which led to the street
Seizlng a bottle of seltzer water
Mrs. Elmer Cowdrey, wife of the road
house owner, squirted its contents at
the flame, which puffed at her
bigger and better.
Door Opened Inward.
A frenzy of fear seized the merry
makers. Screaming, trampnng, strik-
ing, they surged to the east exit-only
to discover. flremen said, it opened in
ward. The foremost were flattened
against the door and wall by the des-
perate press of the panic-stricken.
Leaping to chair, CoWdrey shouted
directions to use the kitchen door The
cries of the guests and crackle of
flame drowned his voice.
Forcing back the crowd the leaders
succeeded in opening the door as
flames engulfed the dance hall and
raced along the drapes and streamers.
The blazing cloth dropped. bathing
the seething throng in a fiery rain.
A light wire snapped, painting the
place the eerie red of the flames.
Frantic, several patrons trapped by
the crowd fighting in the doorway
plunged through windows head first.
oblivious to the gashes torn in their
faces and bodies.
Sees Companion Burn.
Fred Nash, one of the survivors,
who escaped to the ante-room, turned
oS ILlC OOOI Jd11ulIcu SlluG again dIlO
saw his companion, Robert Wolf, %,
clawing at the glass panel.
Help me, help me! God, I'm burn
ing up."
His clothing and hair was a mass
of flames.
Others had similar experiences and
Mrs. Florence Hronek, who was swept
away from her husband, identified his
body by ring he wore.
Firemen devoted all their efforts to
saving the victims.
An inquest today will mark the
opening of State, county and vii
lage investigation.
List of Dead.
The dead:
Fred Robert Anderson, 20, Eau
Claire, Wis, Northwestern University
junior.
Jack Cocker, 81, Cedar Rapids,
Iowa, Northwestern University senior.
Miss Arlene Harvey. %, Niles Cen
ter, checkroom girl at the roadhouse.
James Hronek, 80, Chicago.
Miss Helen o. Johnson, %, Mil
waukee, formerly of Duluth.
Robert Wolfe, %, employed by an
attorney.
The condition of James Bradford,
30, Chicago, and Gerald Mickelsen,
20, Edison Park, is critical.