Mr. Bryan and Mr. King could not have imaged the infernal tragedy about to unfold at the Columbian Exposition on the afternoon of Monday, July 10, 1893. Thomas Barbour Bryan was a leading figure in the effort to bring the World’s Columbian Exposition to Chicago and had been its First Vice-President. William Fletcher King served as the president of Cornell College from 1863 until 1908. Their conversation was interrupted by smoke billowing from the cupola of a building in [...]