The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1913-12-26
FALSE ALARM OF FIRE
OF the Seventy-fOur Bodies Re.
covered More Than Fifty
Are Those Of Children.

Cdlumets MICH, bec. Zb.-AI ledSl
seventy-four persons, fifty eight of
whom were children ranging in ages
from five to eighteen years, attending
Christmas celebration in Italian
hall, were trampled to death when
nm unknown man appeared at the
door and shouted fire"
The cry had no sooner left his lips
when the 700 persons in the building
arose in one heaving mass and rushed
for the exits. Little children who
were formed in line in the aisles,
awaiting to pass to the stage to re
ceive their Christmas gifts from
Santa Claus, We're crushed under foot
like straws
Persons seated near the main en-.
trance in the rear of the hall at
tempted to warn the panic stricken
crowd of the false alarm, but were
themselves borne down under the
seething mob.
The Christmas observance was
being held for chilsren of striking
copper miners. Shouting and laugh.
ing boys and girls, who a few days
ago faced a Christmas without gifts
of Santa Claus, had gathered to par
take of the cheer provided for them
by the Woman's Auxiliary of the
Western Federation of Miners Mer-
riment was turned to horror in
twinkling and the Christmas spirit in
the city was drowned by sorrow
Seventy-four Bodies Found.
Although seventy-four bodies had
been recovered and identified, il was
believed half a dozen or more bodies
were taken home by relatives. The
identified dead include thirty-seven
girls, nineteen boys, thirteen women
end five men.
Most of the dead are children OF
miners, who had been on strike since
early last summer and who are being
supported during their idleness by
labor organizations.
Because of conditions surrounding
The prolonged strike, which has been
contested bitterly by both the miners
and the operators, ii is feared that
should the unidentified man who
relied fire" be apprehended a lynch.
ing may follow.
President Meyer of the Western
Federation of Miners, in a telegram
% his best information no one in
,ympathy with the strikers brought
.bout the catastrophe.
Whole families were wiped out in
he rush which followed the cry OF
ire. The Christmas exercises were
ield In Italian hall by the womans
auxiliary of the miners union, and
children predominated. The cry Of
ire was taken up in many different
languages, and in an instant most of
.he 700 persons in the hall were panic
stricken.
The children had been formed in
ines and were just starting towarc
he platform in the front of the hall
lc receive Christmas presents when
he shouts of fire was heard
All Dash for the Exits.
Many miners and their wives had
accompanied their children to the ex-
srcises and occupied seats in the hall.
Both parents and children made a
lash for the exits. Men were power
ess in their efforts to rescue their
children from the rush for the doors
The crush was SO great that many
IRE believed to have been suffocated.
others were knocked down and
rampled over.
The great number of dead were
ound at the bottom of the stairs
Those who reached the stairs first
lad been hurled to the bottom and
we're soon covered with the weight of
many bodies. Only a comparatively
aw persons were successful in reach
ng fire escape at the rear of the
lall.
The rush was toward the main exit
It the front of the building. A few
escaped uninjured by jumping from
windows to the ground only few