Ruth Michel

Mrs. R. S. Michel was in the second balcony with her two daughters, Ruth and Louise.  Louise reached the fire escape and was knocked from it to the one below by a man who was trying to escape.  She was burned about the face and eyes and one of her heels was torn partly off.  For seven weeks, she was compelled to walk with crutches.  Ruth Michel dropped 30 feet from a fire escape to the ground and was not injured.  She [Mrs. Michel] leaped from the fire escape and was bruised so badly she did not recover for several weeks. Chicago Tribune

Louise and Ruth's mother was Catherine "Kate" Allen Michel who dies in 1890.  Their father Dr. Ralph S Michel remarried to Jennie McAbe on October 2, 1906 (after the fire).  So the person identified as Mrs. R. S. Michel could not be their birth mother, as she was already deceased.  It was most likely their stepmother Jennie.