Take a trip with me in nineteen thirteen
To Calumet, Michigan, in the copper country.
I'll take you to a place called Italian Hall
Where the miners are having their big Christmas ball.
-1913 Massacre by Woody Guthrie
On Absolute Michigan we try and keep a positive and upbeat attitude, so it may seem out of character to feature the Italian Hall Massacre. It's one of the darkest stories from Michigan's past. In the heart of a bitter mine strike (detailed on Michigan in Pictures) 500 of the striking miners of Calumet - men, women and children - gathered for a Christmas Eve celebration on the 2nd floor of Calumet's Italian Hall. Someone (nobody may ever know who) yelled "Fire!" and in the ensuing panic, 74 people lost their lives ... most were children.
The video below is part of the 1913 Massacre Film Project. You can view their other videos including one of Arlo Guthrie performing his father Woody's Guthrie's song, 1913 Massacre and also learn much more about their efforts and offer financial assistance if you are so inclined. I do very much recommend that you watch this interview with survivors of the tragedy. It's heartbreaking, but profoundly moving.
8 Comments
Yeah, back then the miners were always having "holiday" parties. They would never want to offend anyone by mentioning "Christmas."
You're so PC you project your biases back a century.
Like or Dislike:
1 
1
I said Christmas Eve party and it seemed redundant to use "Christmas" again. Upon re-reading I see that it was redundant to have even that so I edited.
Thanks for pointing this out - would be nice if you shared a little of that good old-fashioned Christmas cheer in your comments.
Like or Dislike:
0 
1
Wow. This post really seems to draw the sourpusses.
Amazing when it's such a powerful and moving video.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
Thanks for spanking the author on PC GM.
Point 2- Why is this event called a "massacre?" Other than 426 Adults stampeding THEIR OWN CHILDREN to death ... Wait-- I guess that is a massacre. If I did that to my own children, maybe I would try to blame somebody else too.
Even if there WAS a fire-- first thing they should have done to a man was %%#^$&& SAVE!!lol(hello?) their children first anyway. But there wasn't even a real fire? And they trampled their own kids. WTF over?
Like or Dislike:
0 
2
I think it's called a massacre because the door was intentional blocked and people were led to believe there was a fire. It's important to remember that 100 years ago, fires were much more deadly and feared than they are today.
I agree that it's an awful thing that they didn't calmly act to save their kids, but that's the problem with crowds.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Spectacle,
May I suggest reading a couple of good books covering both The Italian Hall disaster and the strike of 1913? It would go a long way in educating you on the subject. Steve Lehto's "Death's Door" is a good place to start, as it covers the events leading up to and including Italian Hall. There are also many other good books by regional authors such as Lankton, the Monette Series, Kaunonen etc.
A visit to Copper World in Calumet will satisfy all of your needs.
farlane,
There is no evidence at all to support that the doors were blocked in any way. Quite the contrary,
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
Michigan Historical Marker program has pretty exacting standards for scholarship. Here's the text from the Michigan Historical Marker at the site of Italian Hall:
It would be great if you would summarize or link to the information that you have that isn't included above. This story has always held a dark fascination for me as I cannot comprehend the depth of depravity that would cause a man or woman to shout "Fire!" in a room full of families and children.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
farlane,
The State of Michigan has been solicited by a prominent author and historian to correct the sign to eliminate the phrase "... doors that opened inward." I have examined the evidence that said author has collected which he claims proves without a doubt that the doors in fact opened outward. That evidence is reasonably compelling.
Please keep a few things in mind.
There is evidence that several people initially made it down the stairs, out the front doors and out into the street.
The controversy of the doors is not mentioned once in the coroner's inquest.
The Iroquois Theater fire of 1903 resulted in sweeping new building codes where doors were concerned. In that disaster, the doors indeed opened inward, preventing masses from getting out. The Italian Hall was built in 1908, after such building codes were instituted.
The story of the Italian Hall doors opening the wrong way is purported to have appeared for the first time in a book authored by C. Harry Benedict, entitled Red Metal: The Calumet & Hecla Story (1952). Before that time, there had never been any stories or reports of the doors opening inward.
There is no mention of the doors opening inward, either in the english language press such as The Calumet News or The Daily Mining Gazette, or Tyomies, the finnish language paper.
And finally, the Woody Guthrie song "1913 Massacre", long leaned upon as support for the doors theory, is rife with historical inaccuracies.
There is also other evidence I have both examined and accumulated in addition to those mentioned above.
In closing, I will say this. In as much as I believe there is far more evidence to support the notion that the doors opened outward, I confess that I have also found additional evidence which, regardless of how hard I try to dismiss it, keeps the doors opened inward theory alive, even if on a respirator.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Post a Comment