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Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ============================================================================= Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. ============================================================================= The New York Tribune Thursday, 25 December, 1913 83 KILLED IN PANIC AT CHRISTMAS FETE Victims of False Alarm of Fire Given by Unknown Man at Calumet, Mich. Mostly Children of Miners STAIRYWAYS BLOCKED BY CORPSES Leaders in the Wild Rush for Safety Suffocated by the Weight of Those Following Them - Few Think to Use Fire Escapes. Caluemt, Mich., Dec. 24 - At least eighty-three persons, mostly children, were killed to-night at a Christmas cele- bration of copper mine strikers in an Italian hall because of a needless panic caused by a false alarm of fire. While several hundred miners and their wives looked on, the children pressed eagerly toward the stage to receive Christmas presents. Just then a man put his head through the door of the hall and yelled "Fire!" The cry was taken up by those in the hall. Every one started for the doors. The weaker were thrown to the floor and those behind tried to climb over those ahead of them. Panic Follows False Alarm The stairway and other avenues of egress were blocked so that those inside could not get out and those without could not get in to aid the panic stricken crowd in the hall. It was some time before the panic subsided. The alarm was spread outside the hall by a few persons who had been near the door and had escaped unhurt. A crowd soon assembled and the work of clearing the hall was begun. The principal exit was a narrow stairway at the back of the hall. When this had been cleared of the bodies that filled it to the top and a quick accounting had been made it was found that seventy-four corpses had been piled up beside the hall building. It is thought that a dozen others were carried away by friends. The dead that were piled up beside the hall included thirty-seven girls, nineteen boys, thirteen women and five men. Excited men and women stood about the building, some dazed by the sudden change from holiday festivities to tragedy, others calling hysterically for a missing child, and a few even threatening violence to the res- cuers for keeping them back from the long row of bodies. Only Three in Hospitals There was not much work for the many doctors who hur- ried to the scene as soon as the alarm was spread, for those who were not killed in the first rush were held upright and safe by the very force of the onrush toward the exit. Only three injured persons were taken to hospi- tals, and a few went home with the assistance of friends. For many days the children of the copper mine strikers had awaited expectantly for the Christmas tree exercises that had been arranged by the Woman's Auxiliary of the Western Federation of Miners. The entertainment was set for the early evening, and the hall, which is on the second floor, was soon filled to its limit. The children selected to recit Christmas selections and sing carols had finished their part of the programme, and the man selected to play the part of Santa Claus had appeared to distribute the presents that were pile around the large illuminated tree. The children were instructed to march up the aisles to the tree, so that the presents could be handed to them. The aisles were filled with the boys and girls when a large, bearded man thrust his head in the door of the main hallway and shouted "Fire!" Woman's Efforts Useless MRS. CAESAR, who was near the door, realized the import of the act, and seized the man by the shoulders and tried to counteract the alarm. It was useless. The man wrested himself from her grasp and ran away. The cry of "Fire!" was repeated throughout the room. The word was shouted in several languages as parents rose and rushed forward to get their children. The lives were crushed out in almost a twinkling. Then the physical impossibility of further movement brought the panicky per- sons to their senses. It was realized too late that there was no fire, but most of those in the hall could not get out of the jam that they had caused. Policemen and firemen hurried to the building, to find the hall congested. Several officers climbed the fire es- capes and entered by the windows. In a short time the un- injured and the faint had been pulled from the tangle of human beings and placed in the front of the hall. Corpses Set on Chairs Other men began to pull the bodies of the dead and help- less from the stairway and lay them in a row beside the building. This disposition of the crumpled bodies was found inadvisable because of the hysteria it caused among the spectators, and the corpses were carried back into the hall as soon as it was emptied of the frightened persons. All the chairs were lined with bodies and other corpses had to be placed in the kitchen of the hall and beneath the stage. Inside of an hour nearly every one in Calumet was as near the scene as it was possible to get. The police formed a cordon about the place and kept back the crowd. After much effort a lane was opened through the crowd and the bodies of the children were carried through ranks of moaning and wailing parents to Red Jacket Village Hall, which was made into a morgue. It was many hours before all the bodies were identified. During the confusion several bodies of children were wrongly identified by mothers and taken away, only to be returned later by the parents, who had found their own offspring safe. In other cases parents ran about for some time uncertain whether their children were dead or alive. Many mothers fainted, while fathers curses all those who interfered with their mad search for lost girls and boys. For hours frantic women ran through the streets calling for their little ones. Efforts were made to calm the frantic women, and many were taken into homes that had not been bereaved, so that they might have proper attention. In this way sometimes husbands and wives were separated. Over 500 Children in the Hall Of the 700 persons in the hall more than three-fourths were children, many of them having gone without their parents. These fathers and mothers soon rushed to the scene and added to the confusion. They did not under- stand what had taken place and hindered the rescuers by insisting on information as to what was the matter. There was a fire escape at the rear of the building, but only those who were very near it could make any use of it until after the fatal rush was over. Probably not more than a hundred persons escaped the first rush by way of this fire escape. About a score more jumped from the windows near which they sat. As it was not many feet from the ground, the jump did not cause injury. The Italian hall was built about five years ago and was well provided for emergencies, it was thought. The entrance was a hallway about ten feet deep. A stairway about eight feet wide led up from this vestibule to a small landing about eight by ten feet. The main door of the hall opened on this landing. There is a small cloak room about ten feet square to one side of the main door. The loss of life was heavy at the small door of this room. The rush apparently turned many against the door of this room and crushed them to death within the door- way. Stairway Packed with Dead The greatest number of dead in any one place, however, was at the bottom of the stairs. Those who reached the stairs first were evidently hurled to the bottom by those behind, and in this fashion the stairway was filled to the ceiling. That death in most instances was due to suffocation under the weight of those who fell last was indicated by the fact that few of the corpses bore marks of in- juries. Bodies were crumpled and broken, but the fea- tures were not cut or bruised. Precautions Taken Against Fire It was ascertained that there was no fire in the building to cause the alarm. Even the Christmas tree did not show any evidence of fire. It was lighted by electricity and every precaution had been taken by those in charge of the entertainment to avoid danger on account of the large number of children. MRS. ANNIE CLEMENS, president of the women's auxi- liary, in charge of the entertainment, said that she was on the stage directing the distribution of gifts when the panic started. She and other women had been intent on keeping the children in line and orderly, as they were eager to see what Santa Claus had brought them. MRS. CLEMENS said that the boys and girls had been very patient, in spite of the tiresome wait, and that the women of the committee had just remarked to each other how well the youngsters behaved when the cry of "Fire!" spread through the house. She said the women in charge tried to stem the onrush and quiet the peo- ple, but their shouts of warning that nothing was wrong were futile. The children even were seized with panic, but the smaller ones, many not more than five years old, were soon deprived of fear with the snuffing out of their lives under the heels of the larger persons, who blindly, or because impelled by those behind, trod their very offspring to death. One man was seen to stoop to take up his little girl, only to be pushed with great force to tread her beneath him. A woman who ran to seize three small boys was crushed to death with them as she sought to shelter them in her arms. One child, about five years old, who was too greatly frightened to give her name, made her way unharmed to the street by way of the fire escape, after all others who were free had fled. She had been knocked down by the mad rush, but no one had stepped on her, as she was near the tail end of the line. A search was begun to-night for the man who caused the panic. Some of the strikers asserted that they had reason to believe the man was a member of the Citizen's Alliance, recently organized to restore law and order in the mining field during the strike. This charge was quickly denied by alliance members, hundreds of whom were early on the scene aiding in the removal of bodies and caring for the injured and bereaved. It was said by those near the door that the man came up the stairs from a saloon below, and that his breath smelled strongly of alcohol. It was said by some of those present that the man may have been in a maudlin condition and shouted the word without any thought as to what he was doing. Many men in the crowd about the hall after the catastrophe swore vengeance if the man could be found. It is also feared that the distraught condition of mind under which many persons are laboring as a re- sult of the disaster may renew open hostility between members of the miners' union and the Citizen's Alli- ance. The Coroner to-night began to impanel a jury to make a thorough investigation of the disaster. Meetings will be held on Christmas Day to decide whether to hold a general funeral, with a procession composed of nearly every resident of Calumet. Holiday festivities in many private homes were saddened to-night by the disaster in Itallian Hall. Many parents who had rushed out to learn details of the tragedy returned to the homes and suspended de- coration of the family Christmas tree out of respect for the childless homes that resulted from the panic in the hall. Among the men killed in the hall was JOHN P. WESTOLA, secretary of the Finnish Mutual Life Insurance Company, of Calumet. Aid for the Bereaved Citizens of Calument and Houghton rallied to-night to the aid of those bereaved by the panic. By 9 o'clock residents of Houghton had pledged $1,200, and a committee was appointed to take charge of additional subscriptions. This action was taken at a public meeting, at which reso- lutions were adopted pledging the citizens there to do all in their power to relieve the distress here. Public meetings have been called for Christmas after- noon by the Mayors of Red Jacket and Laurium. Everything possible will be done to relieve relatives of victims, it was promised tonight. Arrangments already are under way for a public funeral of the dead. Suspension of all work in the copper mining district during the exercises is probable. ===============================================================================