Evening times-Republican., 1913-12-26
DEAD
N CALUMET HORROR
rcontfnued From Page IL
E.ol cr,.. "rir.' and start. Panic.

man stuck his head In at the door
Of the hall and yelled "tire."
The ory OF alarm was instantly taken
On by those in the hall. Everyone,
started for the doors. The crush pre-
vented movement. The weaker were
thrown to the floor and those behind
tried to climb over the human impedt-.
msnt z
In . few minutes tho panic waA
stopped by the fact that the stairway.
ana tho other avenues Of egress were
blocked 20 effectually that those inside
could not get out and those without
could not get in to aid the manned anu
remove the dead.
The alarm was spread outside the
han by few persons who had es-
capped unhurt. A crowd soon" as
senbled and the work Of clearing the
hall was begun. -,
Exit Marrow Stairway.
The only regular exit was narrow
stairway at the back Of the hall. When
thIa had been cleared of the bodies
that filled 1t to the top, seventy-four
corpses had been piled up beside the
building. Il was thought that prob
ahIv dozen more had been carried
away by friends
The dead included thirty seven girls
nineteen boys. thirteen women ana nVe
men. The excited relatives stood apout
the building, some dazed by the sud
dan change from holiday festivities to
tragedy, others calling hystericaHy 1or
a missing child and Few even tnfeae-
en,ng violence to the rescuers for Keep.
ing them back from the long 70" Oh
bodies ~.
@od n The scene
~, those who were not killed IN tne
nr,+ rush were held upright and safe
!. hv The force Of the onrush towards the
exit Only three injured persons were
taken to hospitals and a few went
home with the assistance OF friends.
Children Awaited che Day.
For many days the children or the
cocner mine strikers had waited anx-
iously for the free Christmas Tree
a,arc,ses that had been arranged ny
the woman's Auxiliary OF the west
avn Federation Of Miners. the enter
ta,rment was set for the early evening
a.a the hall. which Is on the SECOND
0oor was soon filed to its limit. me
ch,,dren selected to recite Cnrlstnias
selections and sing carols mad nhlsneu
their part Of the program anu le
man selected to play the part OF sahla
f1aus had appeared in MS eaia oless
~ distribute the presents ina! VI.
piled around the large pret1hy hsn'"
tree. ,,.+-rcted to
march up the aisles TO inc =.
that presents could De nahu a,.u 40
sh.,, THE aisles were filed with tne !
boys and girls when a large inan ,.,.,,n
t,oayv heard like the one usually
-,,t,,rei - belonging to st. Nicnoias'
(, ,,,,t his Head in at the door OF the
,,.an hallway and yelled "fre.
( The Fool Runs Away.
a. ca~ar5 who was near the door.
...,,.ad the danger Of the act anu
.s;zad the man by the shoulders ana
sIad to counAeract the alarm. 1T was
,,.sIa.s The man tore loose from nef
r-..n and dashed away. The iaeal
v,ord had reached the ears OF many IN
the han and it was reported tnruou'
the room. ar.,
beverages az fond parents rose ana
rnshed forward to get their ch1ldfen.
,rha lives were crushed out in almost
twinl<linx. Then the physical I'M
roasibility Of further movement
brought the panic stricken persona to
8 .he,r senses. It was realized too late
1hat there was no fre but most OF
4hoee in the hall could not get out OF
the fam that they had caused
hystsria Follows.
policemen and fremen hurried to
the building only to and the hallway
inpassible because Of the congestion
of bodies. Several officers climbed the
ire escapes and entered thru the win
dows. In short time the unin1ured
and the faint had been pulled from
the tangle Of human beings and placed
in the front Of the hall. Other men
began to pull the bodies of the dead
and helpless from the stairway and lay
them in a row beside the building. Thls
disposition Of the crumpled bodies was
& found inadvisable because OF the
hysteria caused among spectators ana
the corpses were carried back into the
hall as soon as 1t was emptied on the
frightened persons. All the chairs were
q tined 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 Gordon about the place and
KENT back the crowd. At:cc much e4-
fort and persuasion. . lane was
opened thru the crowd and bodies OF
the children were carried thru ranks
of means and walls to Red Jacket
village hall which was made into
morgue. It was many hours before AL
\ the bodies were identified.
Children Wrongly Identified.
During the confusion several bodies
Il OF children were wrongly identified by
mothers and taken away only to be
4 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
I mothers tainted, while fathers cursed
all those who interfered with their
mad search for lost girls and boyA
For hours frantic women ran the
streets calling for their little ones.
1 Efforts were made to calm the frantic
women and many were taken into
homes that had not been bereaved 30
that they might have proper atten-
&ion. In this way sometimes hus-
I bands and wives were separated.
Hundreds OF Children.
OF the 700 persons in the hall more
than three -fourths were children.
many Of them having gone without
their parents. These fathers and moth
efs soon rushed to the scene and