The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1913-12-25
DEAD PILED IN HEAPS
Fifty-eight Children Among
the Dead at Christmas
Celebration.
NO TRACE OF A BLAZE
Candles Were Not Lighted Re.
cause Victims Were Too
Poor to Buy Any.

CALUMET, Mich, Dec. IA fool VINO
ran up the stairs shouting Fire" Is re-
sponsible for the death of seventy -one per.
sons who were attending Christmas Eve
entertainment for the children of tho
striking copper miners OF Calumet in tho
Italian Hall tonight. Fifty-eight Of the
dead are children.
There was no fire. Not a candle was
lighted on the three Christmas trees in ;a-
nall for there were no candle. tho
strikers couldn't afford them. Bu, when
the man came rushing in from the e;
with his wild cry there ensued one 1t
those strange pancs such as en1e1 ~
many lives in the Iroquois Theatre n
Chicago.
Men and women fought each other IN
get down the narrow stairways into IN.
street They clambered over one anoth'
and crushed those beneath them--crusned
many more children than groWnups be-
cause it was mainly chiidren's party
and because the little chaps had 10
chance they couldn't go fast enough.
they we're borne down, suffocatcd, tram
pied to death. And over their bodies aui
the bodies OF their parents, heaped and
choking the exit space. swarmed hun reds
Of others. crawling. clawing, fighting their
way, climbing over the dead and 80 ,s-
Gaping
Nobody can say exactly who the man
was who did this thing. The Christmas
exercises had just ended and the miners
and their families were departing wit
their scant treasures from the dark trees
when the man ran in from the street ami
screamed his false warning. Some p,I-
sons say he was an Austrian miner who
had celebrated the holiday too freely.
Rush Followed the Out"ry.
The rush instantly followed his crv
The exit doors were opened ther" were
no locked doors TO add 10 the TRACED
The stairs were unencumHrcd III ANY
sort of order everybody in the hnil could
have got out safely in NeN !,W
moments.
But what happened is this each man
and woman caught up tho nearest 'hlld
and tried TO reach the stars ti,st "
many children were in the hail una,-
tended. they were left to escape AS best
they might,
They scurried among their elders. add
ing their cries to the confusion, until ou
the stairs they were senCcd under IT,,
weight Of the deadly blockade Most
of those who died had been smothcred
many OF the bodies were unmarried
Passersby threw open the outer door.
of the building at the foot of the stairs
and when the worst of the crush WA
over did what they could TO rescue those
who we're caught in the press. But bodies
were packed so tightly that they could not
be pulled out. Finally tiremen and
deputy sherlfs climbed ladders and
smashed into the hall through second
story windows. Tugging at the mass
from the tops OF the stairs they managed
TO save a number OF persons who had
been caught in the tangle.
The deputies shouted There is no fre'"
and grabbing those who had no, yet
reached the stairs. yanked them bach
into the hall and so saved other lives
II was all over in Ave minutes or s."
but Il was two hours before the last body
had been carried to the sidewalk and Ia
beside the curb. In the street parents
who had lost their children ran frantic
ally from end to end OF the row OF bodies
In that row there were, at first count,
FIVE men. thirteen women. twenty -one
boys and thirty seven girls. Most OF the
children were less than IL years old;
many were less than b
search for Dead Children.
The scene in front Of Italian Hall was
unparalleled in Michigan. Parents who
recognized their children in that row on
the sidewalk snatchad up the bodies and
could not be restrained from bearing them
home at once Others were taken to the
Red Jacket Town Hall, where tempo
rary morgue was established. Several
thousand strikers and their women folks,
TO which this catas trophe comes as =
climax of five months idlencss. hammered
at the doors and walls OF Red Jacket
Town Hall and more deputies had 10 be
cahed to keep them back.
Here and there in the crowd child
who had escaped death In Italian Hall IN
| ,nsxplicable ways ran to and fro, Look
Ing for its parents. Several children
who were thought to be dead were found
In this crowd about the Morsuc and
carried home for Il celebration combun-
mo christmas and than SpiNl,u