The Calumet news., 1913-12-27

or smolderlng, Mrs, Charles Meyers
| wife of the manager of a tea stor,
which Is located on the first floor oi
! the hall and Miss Florence Moore
are among those VINO witnesses this
act
MIR Meyer states that lac heard the
him and that he began 10 investigate.
heavy trampling in the hall owe"
As he entered the door i'm the south
end of The building ne say masses e
children. women ana men piling M
near the bottom Of the stairs. The
doors were open. ne declared. Several
men attempted To assist him i'm remov-
ing the bodies hut their efforts were In
vain.
Matt Saari. father Of one of the
boys who was killed tcstifies i'm an
AFFIDAVIT that no ON" came mp tho
stairs hut that screams of IRE" came
from within the hall. \ boy of nc.
teen wears declares. in an affidavit
that he saw a man, apparently intoNi-
Gated, making his wav hack and forth
i'm the hall fully fifteen minutes be-
fore the cry was sounded. IL is he
Hevcd that this man may have been
tho who was responsible for the panic.
Despite the mass of evidence and
facts In possession of tho authorities,
ing reports that the cry was sounded
at the instigation Of the Citizens Al.
lance. This awful charge. IL is as
serted may he traced to Annie Cl".
meme. the woman who became motor
ious through thcr connection with ViO-
lcnce during the strike. In the pres
cncc OF physicians ana newspaper
men. while people were living dead all
over the hall, she is reported To have
said the man who gave the cry wore a
Citizens Alliance button. When press
ed for an absolute declaration she
said he wore q white hutton. hut thai
the Alliance was responsible for the
catastrophe
TO add 10 tie horror, Ia all is
phases, the Socialist publication. Tyo-
mics Of Hancock. circulated an extra
containing charges that the Citizens
Alliance was responsible. \ sentence
N its STORY is as follows "From all
we have seen. we learn that At was
put up Job by the Citizens Alliance.
No Deliberate Call of Fire"
Prosecuting Attorney Lucas last
evening issued the following official
statement regarding his investiga-
tions:
In view of the many connicting
that have been made with
regard Ia the origin and cause of the
Italian hall disaster | wish to state
To the public at this time that | have
interviewed a great number
Of witnesses who claim To have been
in the hall al the time the trouble
started ana others who came Ia the
scene Of the disaster within half
minute or 50 afterward The result
Of my investigation is that no person
entered the hall and cried
Fire for the purpose of causing a
panic
"Thc person or persons who did cry
Fire In the hall. on the evidence
gathered So far had some ground for
believing that there was fire in the
hail. one of the occupants of the fiat
IN the rear Of the Italian hall made an
affidavit To Ia" effect that she and her
servants hs' both seen little boy
carried down The rear fire escape with
the top of his cap on fire and shoulder
and chest covered with ashes.
~ statement appeared in the Tyo-
mics, a Finnish socialist paper printed
in Hancock, this morning to the of-
feet that the loss of "A great number of
lives was due To the hlockadng of the
main entrance door by the deputies
| will say that there was absolutely no
evidence to substantiate this state
ment. the deputies having come there
Il or 20 minutes after the panic start
ed ! also find no evidence bearing
out the statement that "a member of
the Citizens Alliance went into the
hail and cried Fire
From "a sworn statement of Charles
Myers, the manager of the tea store
the Italian han, find that
he ran out of his store within a half
after he heard the cOmmotion
upstairs and he found the main en-
trance congestcd and men, women and
piled upon one another while
attempting to come down the stair
way. all wedged in one solid mass He
and two or three others were trying To
cXtricato those that were in the front
of the jam and found it impossible. He
then went to the rear of the building
to the fire escape and then assisted
those in the hall i'm trying to get the
crowd back from the head of the stair
way. Mr.. Myers says that there were
no deputies ont in front of the build
ing when he first came out aud he
heard no fire alarm until he got into
the hall when within a short time the
fremen put up their ladders ana
climbed into the hall through the vim
dOws.
II assure the public that a thorough
investigation of this matter is being
made and the blame will be placed
where it belongs. 1 will do everything
in my power To see that the matter Is