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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
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[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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