Chicago Westside Architectural Diary

I was eleven when the Seeley Club went up in blazing flames after a patron was thrown out, but later returned with a can of gasoline pouring into the entrance, the only exit trapping nearly 100 in an over-capacity night club, killing at least 21 and injuring so many. My mother grabbed my arm and we ran to the club because it was my Uncle James' regular hangout. However, early in the evening, uncle was thrown out with the eventual arsonist, Robert Lee, for being drunk and disorderly. Uncle's pride said otherwise, that he partied on the Southside that evening, but my aunt's husband validated saying he was there with uncle but left shortly after he was thrown out. That probably saved their lives. I never knew these details or others, because grownups never shared bad stuff with children, even when it was happening to them. Not until 2020 did I learn the details. Uncle said the owner, who was not present during the fire, had a leaking heater near the entrance which probably caused the inferno. Robert Lee was given a life sentence, and I recalled telling my uncle that he had probably died or still serving at that dreadful Illinois Stateville Prison, but there we were in 2020 when uncle said he saw Robert Lee down on Western and Madison at a restaurant. I insisted that he was mistaken, but upon further research he was telling the truth. Robert Lee had been released on a technicality. However, he later returned to his Alabama birthplace where he died from a tractor accident. So, during my research I came across a neighborhood woman who was nine at the time of the fire that took her single mother's life, leaving five children, she being the eldest, and it stuck with me because my mother with her five children could have been a victim as well. One of many eyewitness events in the book.

I was eleven when the Seeley Club went up in blazing flames after a patron was thrown out, but later returned with a can of gasoline pouring into the entrance, the only exit trapping nearly 100 in an over-capacity night club, killing at least 21 and injuring so many. My mother grabbed my arm and we ran to the club because it was my Uncle James' regular hangout. However, early in the evening, uncle was thrown out with the eventual arsonist, Robert Lee, for being drunk and disorderly. Uncle's pride said otherwise, that he partied on the Southside that evening, but my aunt's husband validated saying he was there with uncle but left shortly after he wa thrown out. That probably saved their lives. I never knew these details or others, because grownups never shared bad stuff with children, even when it was happening to them. Not until 2020 did I learn the details. Uncle said the owner, who was not present during the fire, had a leaking heater near the entrance which probably caused the inferno. Robert Lee was given a serving at that dreadful Illinois Stateville Prison, but there we were in 2020 when uncle said he saw Robert Lee down on Western and Madison at a restaurant. I insisted that he was mistaken, but upon further research he was telling the truth. Robert Lee had been released on a technicality. However, he later returned to his Alabama birthplace where he died from a tractor accident. So, during my research I came across o neighborhood woman who was nine at the time of the fire that took her single mother's life, leaving five children, she being the eldest, and it stuck with me because my mother with her five children could have been a victim as well. One of many eyewitness events in the book.