What They Ate and Drank on the Titanic's Last Night-- Part 4: A Chicago Connection

Adolphe Saalfeld had boarded in Southampton and his letter was mailed before the Titanic headed across the Atlantic Ocean,  "It was pure joy for me to stitch together the tales told in letters home, to tell the story of these amazing people through the lens of drinking and dining," Veronica Hinke said.

Hinke's culinary narrative tells the stories behind the dishes, desserts and drinks that appeared, or likely appeared on Titanic menus, based on contemporary Edwardian dining trends no doubt embraced on board.  She also includes recipes, many of which were adapted to modern tastes by Chicago-area chefs.

Hinke now lives in the Chicago area, notes that there were many Chicago connections to the Titanic.  One of them was Anne Isham, one of only five female first-class passengers who did not survive. She refused to leave without her Great Dane.

First-class passengers Ida Hippach and her daughter Jean, of Evanston were survivors of both the 1903 Iroquois Theatre fire in Chicago (at least 602 deaths) and the Titanic sinking.

--Cooter

Chicago's Devastating Fires-- Part 2: The Iroquois Theatre Fire

In one of the most famous fires in Chicago's history, a packed house waited to see America's favorite comedian, Eddie Foy, star in the comedy "Mr. Bluebeard" at the Iroquois Theatre on December 30, 1903.

Touted as being "completely fireproof," the Iroquois had opened earlier that year and a crowd estimated at 1,700 was there for a Christmas week matinee.  The audience watched the second act curtain rise and, as an arc light shorted, ignite.

In minutes, the scenery was aflame, even as Foy ordered the orchestra to strike up a tune and shouted to the crowd, "Please be quiet.  There is no danger."

But soon the theater was roaring with flames.  Men, women and children howled as they rushed to the exits, many of which were locked.

Some people died from the fire itself, others were trampled and smothered to death.  More than 600 were killed, hundreds more injured.

The exterior of the Iroquois was largely intact and later reopened as the Colonial Theater, which was demolished in 1925 to make way for the Oriental Theater.  The Iroquois Theatre  fire was and remains the deadliest theater fire and the deadliest single-building fire in U.S. history.

97th Anniversary of Titanic Sinking

The 97th anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic came and went with little note anywhere.

The April 19th Flashback page by Nancy Watkins in the Chicago Tribune Magazine had a very interesting and little-known story about one Chicago mother and daughter who were aboard the Titanic. Their story also involves an equally sad event in Chicago, the 1903 Iroquois Theatre Fire.

Ida Hippach, wife of Chicago plate glass industrialist Louis Hippach, and her daughter Jean, 19, were returning from a trip to Europe where she had been trying to regain her health which hadn't been the same since two of her sons, Archie, 12, and Robert, 14, had died in the tragic Iroquois Theatre Fire nine years earlier.

On April 12, 1912, they were aboard the ill-fated ship and had to be coaxed upon a lifeboat by John Jacob Astor. They survived, but two years later, son Howard was killed in a car crash.

Nancy Watkins then always has some interesting facts to go along with the story and old photo (of Ida, daughter Jean, and son Howard taken some time before the Titanic sank).

35-- Estimated number of Titanic passengers bound for the Chicago area.

$6,600-- fares for each of the Hippachs in 2008 dollars.

$50,000-- Winning bid in 1998 for Titanic scrapbook kept by Chicagoan Frank Blackmarr, a passenger on the Carpathia rescue ship. (Who says scrapbooks are a waste on time and effort?)

28-- Days after the Titanic's sinking that Collapsable Lifeboat A was found adrift about 200 miles away with three bodies on board.

There is a fascinating and huge web site devoted to all things Titanic at
www.encyclopedia-titanic.org

Where Does Nancy Watkins get All This Interesting Stuff? --Cooter

Iroquois Theater Fire-- 105th Anniversary

While listening to WBBM-AM in Chicago this morning, I heard them mention that today is the 105th anniversary of the Iroquois Theater Fire on Dec. 30, 1903, which claimed the lives of 603 mostly women and children who were there for a holiday showing of the musical "Mr. Bluebird."

I've heard of it before, but very few people really remember it. At this point, I doubt that any of the survivors are still alive, and very sadly, most of the victims should gave been able to escape, but for doors that opened inward, as was the custom, and different door locks that people were unfamiliar with. Some doors were even chained shut in this building at 24-28 Randolph that boasted of being "absolutely fire proof." Well, nine years later, the Titanic was "unsinkable."

It still ranks as the single deadliest building fire in US history.

There was seating for 1,724, but almost 2000 squeezed in to see the movie. The fire started during the second act at 3:15, and at first, patrons thought it was special effects. Corpses were piled ten deep at the exits and 575 died that day with 30 more dying later.

It reopened a year later as the Colonial Theater and then in 1926, was torn down to make way for the Oriental Theater which still stands at the site.

Information from Wikipedia.

People remeber the Chicago Fire, which was devastating, but not this tragedy or the sinking of the Eastland in the Chicago River. Both killed many more people.

I Guess You'd Best Not Boast. --Old Coot