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Hellraisers Journal – Sunday December 28, 1913
Calumet, Michigan – Men, Women and Children Perish in Midst of Christmas Joy
From the Michigan Miners’ Bulletin of December 28, 1913:
In the midst of Christmas good cheer and happiness twenty eight little girls, twenty four little boys, fifteen women and five men were swirled into the cruel jaws of death in less than five minutes at the Italian hall, Calumet, on Christmas eve. The striking miners of Calumet had prepared Christmas exercises and the distribution of presents for the little ones and at the appointed time the hall was filled with the happy little tots accompanied by their parents. The Christmas tree gaily decorated and loaded with presets stood upon the stage of the hall. The program was started by Mrs. Annie Clemenc who was making a talk to the children telling them that old Santa had not forgotten them just because their fathers had been denied work, and that they were all to be made happy by receiving many nice presents, candies, fruits and nuts.
The little ones had crowded near the stage their little faces beaming with delight when a fiend in the shape of a man sneaked up the stairway leading to the hall, opened the door and waving his arm cried “fire, fire,” then quickly making his way to the street where he disappeared in the gathering darkness. At the cry of fire the great throng arose as one and made a dash for the front exit of the hall. The way was made for the children first and they filled the stairway so full and crowded from the rear so fast that some of the children were swept off their feet. These little bodies acted a stumbling blocks for those who followed and within a few seconds the stairway was a mass of bleeding crushed, dead and dying humanity. The crowd from above kept crowding into the stairway until it was completely filled with bodies.
As soon as the cry of fire had been sounded the city fire alarm was bellowing its harrowing warning and the firemen upon arriving at the scene quickly placed ladders to the front windows of the building and ascended to the hall where they stopped any more from crowding into the stairway upon the dead bodies of their comrades. Within a few minutes the hall had been emptied and the work of removing the dead taken up. The bodies were so tightly wedged into the hallway that they could not be released below and had to be taken from above and carried back into the hall. The bodies were taken to a temporary morgue in the city hall where after identification they were sorrowfully removed to their homes.
The scene was one beggaring description and those who witnessed it will never have it effaced from their minds as long as they live. While the front hallway was being crowded and jammed full of men, women and children others were seeking escape at a fire exit in the rear of the hall, many getting out in this manner. Others jumped from windows and in nearly every instance were severely injured, one little boy who jumped had both legs broken.
One little girl who was jammed in the hallway in a dying condition begged one of the rescuers to save her. She grasped his hand, kissed it, then her little head dropped upon her breast and she was dead. One man whose name was not learned got in the hallway and tried to prevent the frenzied crowd from crowding down the stairs upon those below. He placed his arms across the hall way and checked them momentarily but the force behind became too great and he was swept into the vortex of death, his dead body being taken out a few minutes later. Holding high above her head her little child, a woman and her husband were carried into the mass of humanity trying to get out of the hall. This man and his wife were swept to their death but the child miraculously escaped.
The fiend who caused this terrible disaster made his escape and is still at large. From persons who stood near the door it is learned that he was rather stockily built, a little under medium height, and wore his hat well pulled down over his countenance. Upon the lapel of his coat he wore a Citizens Alliance button, is a statement made by several who got a good view of him. How anyone with reasoning power could have deliberately committed the act is beyond comprehension.
President Moyer of the Federation who was in Hancock at the time of the accident hurried to Calumet and assured those afflicted that their wants would be attended to by the organization at whose head he stands. The funerals of the victims will be held at Calumet this afternoon and will be attended by thousands of sorrowing friends and companions of those who, while in life, stood valiantly by their side in the great fight for justice which still holds within it grasp the entire district. The funerals will be held under the auspices of organized Labor, and no funds other than those donated by such organizations will be accepted. Organized labor has made this request and the wishes will be respected in this matter…..
[Emphasis and paragraph breaks added.]
Hancock, Michigan – Sheriff Cruse has staff of Työmies arrested for “inciting to riot.”
Sheriff Cruse has found himself a justice of the peace willing to issue 20 warrants for the arrests of the the staff of Työmies. These warrants charge the reporters and editors of the Michigan Copper Country’s Finnish Socialist newspaper with inciting to riot by means of the publication of the headline and the article which accused the Citizens’ Alliance of murder in the deaths at the Italian Hall.
Four men were arrested at the newspaper’s office yesterday, and more arrests are likely to follow. For now, Työmies is out of business; its voice has been effectively silenced. We will note that, if Työmies was attempting to incite a riot, they made a poor job of it for no riot, nor even talk of a riot, resulted from the publication of the “MURHATTU” (murder) issue.
Meanwhile, no arrests have been made in the beating, shooting, kidnapping, and forced deportation of Moyer and Tanner. The Sheriff claims that no such crime took place, and that, in fact, Moyer skipped out on his hotel bill. President Moyer and Organizer Tanner have made their way to Chicago where Moyer was taken to a hospital and is receiving treatment for the gunshot wound he suffered at the hands of the Citizens’ Alliance mob.
Funerals are taking place at six Calumet churches this morning. The front of the churches are filled with small caskets, so many that little caskets had to be sent in from near-by towns. After the services, there will be one united march to the cemetery. Thousands have come to Calumet by special trains to take part in the funeral march.
From the Duluth Labor World of December 27, 1913
-Michigan Copper Miners Need Assistance:
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SOURCES & IMAGES
Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege ed, Ab Chp III
https://www.iww.org/history/library/MotherJones/autobiography/3
Miners’ Bulletin
“Published by authority of
Western Federation of Miners
to tell the truth regarding
the strike of copper miners.”
-of Dec 28, 1913
Death’s Door
The Truth Behind Michigan’s Largest Mass Murder
-by Steve Lehto
MI, 2006
The Calumet News
(Calumet, Michigan)
-Dec 27, 1913
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86086633/1913-12-27/ed-1/seq-1/
The Labor World
(Duluth, Minnesota)
-Dec 27, 1913
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn78000395/1913-12-27/ed-1/
See also:
Hellraisers Journal: Moyer Shot, Beaten, Threatened with Lynching
and Deported from Michigan by Citizens Alliance
Hellraisers Journal: From Työmies of Hancock, Michigan:“MURHATTU!
lakkoliasten lasten joloujuhlasta tehtün julma kapitalismen uhriteurastus”
Dec 29, 1913, Calumet News p3: re more arrests of Työmies staff.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86086633/1913-12-29/ed-1/seq-3/
Feb 1914, International Socialist Review p454-6 (8-10 of 68)
-re Tyomies Arrests
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/isr/v14n08-feb-1914-ISR-gog-ocr.pdf
Dec 27, 1913, Duluth Labor World p1+3
“False Fire Alarm Costs Many Lives”
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn78000395/1913-12-27/ed-1/
Tag: Italian Hall Massacre
https://weneverforget.org/tag/italian-hall-massacre/
Tag: Tyomies
https://weneverforget.org/tag/tyomies/
Tag: Michigan Copper Country Strike of 1913-1914
https://weneverforget.org/tag/michigan-copper-country-strike-of-1913-1914/
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