Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1914-01-06
72 KILLED IN PANIC |
MANS CRY AT CHRISTMAS cElE-
BRATIoN CAUSES MAE, RUSH
AT CALUMET, MICH.
STEPS BLOCKED BY BODIES
Men, Women and Children Are Vic
Tins Of Fisnd's Act--Hundreds
Rush Down Marrow Stairway TRY.
Ing to Escape from Flames"

Calumet, Mich. Dec. 27.-Seventy.
two persons-men, women and chill
dren. some babes in s.rms-were
trampled and suffocated to death here
in mad panic to escape from what
they thought was burning building
What they really ned from was an
insane mans cry OF FIRE."
. When he let out his fatefui cry sew
eral hundred persons were gathered
round great Christmas tree ar
ranged for the starving children OF
the striking miners. 1t was me first
touch of JOY they have known in
months.
A moment later human avalanche
was pouring madly down a narrow
flight OF stairs-the only egress from
the building to the street.
In 1--WE minutes 1t was all ovar. The
stairway was packed and damned to
the ceiling with dea3 bodies. Seven
ty-two were taken to undertaking
rooms.
The bodies of five men, 13 women,
81 boys and 3S girls lie in temper
airy morgue established in the town
hall.
Detectives are seeking the scatter
brained-or, perhaps, worse-person
whose shout started the rush to death.
The miners, already desperate from
months of fruitless struggle for better
conditions and higher wages, are NUT
tering threats against the Calumet &
Hecla properties Many think the cry
of alarm was uttered by some one
agent or employee, perhaps-not in
sympathy with the strike.
Investigation later showed there
wasn't vestige of fire in the build
ing-nothing a blaze could have start
ed from. There wasn't even candle
on the Christmas tree--the people
who gave the celebration were too
poor to buy candles. For that reason
they gave the celebration in the day
time
There is some dispute among those
who saw the man whose act is re.
sponsible for the LOGS of SO many lives
as to whether he was in the hall dur
ing the exercises. Two women who
We're near the door when the rush
started, but pressed back against the
wall and escaped being caught in the
maelstrom of death, say the first cry
came from the stairway.
FIRE." shouted the man. "Fire!"
The crowd turned toward the stairs,
but they saw no fire nor anyone yell
ing Fire"
The next moment he appeared in
the doorway, while all the crowd
gazed at him spell-bound.
Fire." he screamed
A low murmur ran through the
crowd and ii shifted uneasily.
Fire.! Fire!" he repeated. He
waved his arms and dashed down the
stairway. with death in his wake.
The next moment the crowd swept
to the top Of the stairs and began its
maddened fight to reach the street.
Women with babes in their arms
were hurled over the stairway on top
of their own and their neighbcrs' chill
dren. The frenzied shouts and
screams of the living mingled with
the gasps and groans of the dying in
horrible tumult.
Many of the frantic men and wom-
Ell fought &c get to the windows, 40
feet from@the ground. Some did. Half
a dozen bodies, all of adults, crushed
beyond recognition were picked up
beneath the windows. But The few
in the hall who kept their heads final
ly stopped the rush for the windows,
and when rescue parties arrived
those left alive in the hall were ex-
hausted from their efforts.
Men rushed to open the doors. They
did not then know the extent of the
horror and for some time tried to
press the doors inward. This was i'm
possible. Finally axes were brought
and the doors were chopped off their
hinges.
Then the rescuers encountered their
read trouble. The bodies were piled
to the ceiling and it was impossible
to extricate them. The efforts from
below finally were abandoned and it
was necessary to begin at the top
of the stairs and work downward
through the mass.
Houghton citizens pledged $1,000
for the relief of the relatives of the
panic victims and appointed a COM
mittee to receive other contributions,
which are expected to be large.