Grace Dawson

Gracie's paternal grandmother, Mary J. Dawson took Gracie to the Chicago's newest luxury playhouse, the Iroquois Theater, to see a musical play, "Mr. Bluebeard", which was a fantastic kid-friendly play. With them was Gracie's aunt, Mary's daughter, Ellen "Nellie" Dawson.

"As they arrived at the theater, they sat at the north side of the third-floor balcony, to enjoy to the play. At about 03:15 P.M., as the play's second act had just started, sparks from an arc light ignited a muslin curtain, probably as a result of an electrical short circuit. As the fire spread quickly through the theater, Mary grabbed her daughter and Gracie and they started to run towards the exit. The staircases were full of screaming mothers and children, and the fire was approaching dangerously. The main problem with the doors was that they opened from the interior and as the crowd was getting piled in front of the door, nobody could escape. Quickly the fire and the heating of it reached Gracie as she desperately tried to escape. She died along with her grandmother. Nellie escaped with several burns of her face and hands. She was rushed at Passavant Hospital were she survived for nine agonizing days and died on January 8th 1904. William (Gracie's dad, Mary's son and Nellie's brother), who had, of course, learned about the disaster, took the train to Chicago in search of his family, while Myrtle had to wait frantically at home. As he saw the piles of bodies brought in numerous number to the morgue, he followed and found the bodies of his little daughter and mother. The three Dawsons who died in the fire were buried in the family's plot in Evergreen Cemetery in Barrington in matching gravestones." (Find a Grave)