| Fay Leon Terwilliger Bill's father born in 1876 died in 1919 His wife was Stella and he had four children, Goerge, Harriet, Mary and Bill He died from cancer in 1919 lived most of his life in DeKalb, Illinois
| [Fay Terwilliger on left -- Roy Terwilliger on right]  Dec 30, Wed: 10 below zero this morning. Chas & Myra Gurler have a little boy. 600 mostly women and children killed by fire panic in Chicago, Iroquois Theatre.
Dec 31, Thu: Had letter today from Roy [my grandfather's brother].  Said MF [Marshall Field] & Co first floor where the dead and injured were partly brought looked like a battlefield. Mrs. Roberts and Minnie Lindberg of DeKalb were at the performance but got out with bruises. The Iroquois was a new theatre having been opened on last Thanksgiving a month ago. There were 38 doors but nearly all were closed. The play was Mr. Bluebeard Jr. with Eddie Foy the star comedian. The holiday matinee was attended by 2000 mostly women, children and school people on vacation.
[Photo from Chicago Public Library Collection]  The seats were full and 300 had standing room. At the beginning of the second act as the octet was singing "in the pale moon light", a spark from the calcium light set the drapery in the top of the stage afire. The hand grenades were ineffective and the asbestos curtain to separate the stage from the auditorium failed to drop. The panic then started and the draft from the open doors fanned the fire which spread to the trappings and fittings of the entire room. The people in the 2nd balcony suffered the heaviest and were burned, suffocated and trampled to death. Those that reached the stairway below piled up on each other and in plain sight of out doors were burned and maimed and killed by fumes and smoke. The building was not damaged in the least, only fittings were destroyed. The whole catastrophe was consummated in less time than it takes to tell about it. The 576 people were killed and hundreds more that were injured met their fates in less than 5 minutes.
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