The Tragedy of the Iroquois Theater Fire Hits Home
A Tacoma family is confirmed among the victims of the deadly Chicago theater fire that shocked the nation.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The names of Mrs. Henri Lemenager and two children have been added to the list of relatives of Tacoma people whose lives were lost in the Iroquois Theater fire. This news was brought here yesterday by a telegram to F. W. Chovil, a brother-in-law of Mr. Lemenager. The family resided in Tacoma for a number of years. Mr. Lemenager was employed as a draughtsman in the land department at the Northern Pacific headquarters. Dorothy Lemenager, one of the children, was born in Tacoma.
“The names of Mrs. Henri Lemenager and two children have been added to the list of relatives of Tacoma people whose lives were lost.”
The Iroquois Theater fire of 1903 remained the deadliest single-building fire in U.S. history for decades. While building codes have since evolved to prevent such mass casualty events, the heartbreak of losing locals in distant tragedies remains a shared civic experience in Tacoma.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.