Photos show Walter and Jack several years prior to 1903

Twenty-year-old Tessie Bissinger tried valiantly but failed to save her fifteen-year-old brother, Walter Bissinger (top), and ten-year-old cousin, Lafayette, Indiana resident Jacob "Jack" Pottlitzer (center).

Walter Bissinger was the son of realtor Benjamin Bissinger (1848-1930) and Leah Felsenthal Bissinger (1859-1911) of Chicago.  He had three other sisters in addition to Tessie.  The Bissingers lived at 4934 Forrestville in Chicago.

One newspaper reported that Walter was an usher who died at his post but that seems unlikely.  He had attended the Morgan Park Academy in the 9th grade then gone on to Howe Military academy in Indiana and in 1903 was home for the Christmas break. Walter had begun writing poetry at age seven.  His poems were published after his death. 

Jack, also nicknamed "Jackie," was the only child of Max Pottlitzer (1867-1907) and the late Emily M. Felsenthal Pottlitzer (1873-1903).  Emily had died from surgery complications in March, 1903.  Max Pottlitzer was secretary-treasurer of the Lafayette Cracker Co., owned by his brothers.  He also registered patents for several tools and engine components.  Jack's body was recognized by a surgeon in the emergency treatment center set up next to the Iroquois Theater at John Thompson's diner, Dr. Daniel Eisendrath.  He remembered the boy as the son of his former patient, Emily Pottlitzer.

In the years after the fire

Theresa “Tessa” Bissinger (1882-1960) married Signey Henry Bernheim three years after the fire. She lived in Kentucky for twenty years and died in Denver, CO.