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The Riordan girls were from Springfield, Illinois.  The last name was sometimes spelled Reardon and sometimes O'Reardon.  They may have been the daughters of Irish immigrants, Mike and Ellen Riordan.

Ella

Louise

Forty-six year old Ellen Mary Riordan Cantwell was born in 1856 and was called Ella.

Forty-one year old Margaret Louise Riordan O'Donnell was born in 1862 and was called Louise.

 In 1877 Ella married New York native, Thomas A. Cantwell (1847-1920). 

In 1885 Louise  married Irish immigrant, Patrick P. O'Donnell (1853-1914).  Patrick's family first settled in Springfield, Illinois; he came to Chicago around 1872.

There were conflicting stories about the identification of Ella's body.

One list reported that her body was identified by her husband, Thomas, but the Everett disaster book said she was identified by a cousin named James H. Roche.    (That may have been James H. Roche, a plumber born in 1857 in Pennsylvania, married to Annie.)

There were conflicting stories about the identification of Louise's body.

The Inter Ocean newspaper reported that her husband, Patrick, identified her at a morgue on the basis of a ring he had given her for Christmas.  The Everett disaster book said she was identified by Coroner Traeger who directed that her body be taken to O'Donnell's home on Woodlawn Ave.

Following a double funeral, Ella and Louise were buried in Calvary Cemetery in Chicago.

Ella's husband co-founded the Eagle Brewing company in 1891.  The company ended in receivership in 1897.  He was also a lumber merchant and twice served as a Democratic state senator.

Louise's husband co-founded the O'Donnell & Duer Bavarian Brewing company in 1882.  In 1903 It produced sixty thousand barrels.

Ella had no children of her own but raised three children from her husband's prior marriage to a woman named Sarah.

Louise gave birth to six children in seven years, all of whom were living at the time of her death, aged seven to sixteen.

Ella and Thomas rented at 733 W. Adams St. in Chicago. That structure was razed to make way for the Kennedy Expressway. 

In 1900, Ella and Louise's brother, Dennis Riordan (1840- ), lived with them.

The O'Donnell's owned their home at 4629 Woodlawn Ave, northeast of Washington Park. I was not able to find a photo but it was probably large.  The lot size was 120' x 170' and the home was said to have sold for $35,000 (around $900,000 today).  It may have been built by the man who owned it prior to O'Donnell -- an attorney named Patrick W. Snowhook.

In 1900 one of Louise's nephews from Springfield lived with them -- Robert Riordan (1882-). 

To care for their large home and many children,  Patrick and Louise employed three live-in servants, all from Ireland -- a coachman, cook and maid.  By 1910 Patrick had trimmed that back to one.  He died in the home in 1914 and four of his children continued living there until at least 1920.  Today there is a vacant lot at the address.

In 1894 Ella and Thomas's oldest son, Thomas Jr., nicknamed "Allie," was shot to death by a bartender when he and an accomplice tried to rob a saloon.

Another of Ella and Thomas's sons, Robert E. Cantwell, became a prominent Chicago attorney and was said to have represented over five hundred murder defendants.  He was most notorious for knocking out a baseball umpire at a Chicago White Sox game.

Daughter Loretta "Retta" married a fellow named Tisdelle who was twice accused of fraudulent financial activities in banking and real estate.

At his death, Patrick left $175,000 to each of his surviving five children, "to be held in trust 40 years."  With inflation, that would be about $4.5 million today.  Four of his children died before their twenty-fifth birthday and only two survived to enjoy their inheritance.

Patrick and Louise's youngest daughter, Helen, graduated from the University of Chicago in 1916.

Two of their sons were on the Chicago Board of Trade.

In September, 1905, two years after the fire, a case made it to probate court, brought by Thomas Cantwell against his brother in law, Patrick O'Donnell. 

Cantwell accused O'Donnell of having sent one of his sons to pilfer a key from Ella's purse in the hours immediately after the Iroquois fire (while the purse was held at the morgue or in the coroner's office -- reports varied).  According to Thomas, Patrick then went to the bank and removed documents from a safety deposit box shared by Ella and Louise. 

The bank manager was supposed to restrict box access to a court-appointed administrator to whom was given a password with which to identify himself.  The box was marked so as to alert bank personnel of special access restrictions. 

Cantwell claimed that the bank manager intentionally looked the other way for a short time, thereby granting O'Donnell unsupervised access to the box. 

Patrick said Cantwell's accusation was fabricated but admitted that he had gone to the bank and attempted to access the box.  He claimed the bank prevented him from doing so because he did not know the password.  If he testified as to his reason for trying to access the box, it was not reported in the newspaper.

The bank claimed no knowledge of the situation but admitted that the manager who had been on duty at that time had been fired for drunkenness a year after the suspected box pilfering.

Newspapers did not report whether the dismissed bank manager, or another bank employee, testified as to whether O'Donnell had unsupervised access to the box.

In January, 1906, the judge ruled that since there was no proof the will or promissory notes existed, O'Donnell could not be held liable.

The missing promissory notes were written from Patrick O'Donnell to Ella Cantwell for $9,000 (or $18,000 -- reports varied) and Ella's will reportedly left $20,000 in unidentified property to one of Ella and Louise's sisters who was described as "poor." 

If Patrick was guilty of removing documents from the box, he might have grabbed Ella's will to be on the safe side, in case it made specific reference to the promissory notes.  O'Donnell was said to be a millionaire, but $18,000 in 1904 would be nearly a half million dollars today, thus a tempting sum. 

It seems possible that Thomas and Patrick may have had a combative relationship prior to the deaths of their wives, perhaps a by product of their mutual past involvement in the brewing industry.  If so, without the sisters to keep the animosity in check, conflict might have been inevitable. 

On the other hand, Cantwell and O'Donnell might have concocted the deposit box caper as a mutually beneficial solution.  Cantwell's son, a celebrated defense attorney, was certainly capable of helping to craft a scheme that minimized the chance of prosecution.  The disappearance of the will and promissory notes meant that Cantwell did not have to cough up $20,000 from Ella's estate to give the sister, and O'Donnell didn't have to pay the $18,000 in promissory notes.

I was unable to learn how Ella Cantwell came to have such a large sum to loan her brother in law.  One guess is that it was an inheritance from their parents.  As the oldest daughter, Ella might have been charged with management of their estate and might have viewed the loan to O'Donnell as an investment.  Were that the case, bequeathing the promissory notes to her sister would constitute final distribution of their parents estate.

Pilfering the safety deposit box was obviously anticipated by one of Ella and Louise's sisters from Springfield, name unknown.  She made the effort of informing the bank that the box should only be opened by a court-appointed agent, and followed through to establish that restriction.  She might or might not have been the same sister who was slated to receive the $20K inheritance from Ella, thus explaining hyper vigilance in protecting Ella's will.  At the very least, the sister's actions demonstrate that Ella and/or Louise told her about the box and something of its contents, and something led the sister to believe that someone with a key to the box would try to misappropriate those contents.  She was right.

Things to learn

• Names of Ella and Louise's parents and siblings