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Hellraisers Journal – Thursday March 12, 1914
Calumet, Michigan – House Committee Hears Testimony on Italian Hall Disaster
From The Indianapolis Sunday Star of March 8, 1914:
SWEAR STRANGER STIRRED UP PANIC
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Calumet Witnesses Repeat Charges That
Man Wearing Alliance Button Started
Christmas Eve Death Rush.
———-STORIES OF WITNESSES VARY
———-Prosecutor Conducts Inquiry to Determine
Truth of Story That Children Died
as Result of Premeditated Plot.———- 
CALUMET, Mich., March 7.-Persons who testified before the coroner’s inquest last January that a man wearing a “Citizens’ Alliance” button started the Christmas eve panic, here in Italian Hall today, repeated their assertions before Representatives Taylor of Arkansas and Casey of Pennsylvania, congressional investigators.
Description of the man varied as greatly as it did before the coroner’s jury, which body disregarded this line of testimony in reaching an open verdict.
O. N. Hilton was present to represent the Western Federation of Miners, but he was not allowed to question the witnesses as the full committee at Houghton had agreed that Anthony Lucas, prosecutor of Houghton County, and the committee members should do all the questioning.
Wore Button on Coat. Mrs. Josephine Leskela [Leskella] testified that she was near the middle of the hall when a man who stood alongside her yelled “fire, fire” and then started for the door. She said he was a large man with a long overcoat and that he wore the button of the Citizens’ Alliance on his coat.John Burogr, 18 years old [John Burcar, age 13], said the cry of “fire” was given by a short stout man.
“He wore a long overcoat with the fur collar turned up and had a Citizens’ Alliance button on his breast pocket,” said this witness.
Could Not See Lettering. Mrs. Mary Koskolos [Koskela] said a large stout man cried “fire, rush,” and the panic started. She said he wore a button, but she could not distinguish the lettering on it.Mrs. Elisha Lesh [Elin Lesh] heard a male voice cry “fire” twice in English, and then its Slavonic equivalent, “watra.”
Mrs. Anna Lustig, who lost a little boy in the rush, was positive that the man who cried “fire” wore the insignia of the Citizens’ Alliance.
Another 12-year-old boy, Frank Shaltz [Schaltz], said he heard a man, wearing a “white button, with a red inscription,” cry “fire.” He said the man had a dark mustache and he recognized him as one he had seen on the street several weeks before, carrying a club.
This One Saw Two Men. Eric Ericcson [Erick Erickson] testified that he heard some one behind him yell “fire.” He turned to see who had uttered the cry and saw two well-dressed men moving toward the door. Both wore Citizens’ Alliance buttons, he said. He could not swear that either of these men raised the cry.Charles Olsen said he was standing on a chair when he heard a cry of “fire” in English, and no other language. He saw the man, he said, and he described him as being 5 feet 8 inches in height and wearing a dark gray overcoat and gray cap. The witness thought the button the man wore on his coat was the badge of the Citizens’ Alliance, although he was not close enough to say positively.
Paul Jakkola said he was standing in the vestibule when a man wearing the alliance button came up the stairway and shouted “fire” twice. Witness said he was a good-sized man, wearing a coat with a corduroy collar and a fur cap pulled over his forehead. He had a dark mustache.
[Photograph and emphasis added.]
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