Italian Hall disaster

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The Italian Hall disaster (sometimes referred to as the 1913 massacre) refers to the tragedy in which seventy-three men, women and children were crushed to death on December 24, 1913 in Calumet, Michigan.

The C&H Company was formed from the consolidation of both Calumet and Hecla companies in 1871.The major focus of this company was the mining of copper. One of the longest and most disastrous strikes took place in this company. The major cause for the strike was the replacement of the two man drill by the one man drill. The drilling of copper was usually done by hand where one person was holding the drill and the other two were strikers. The type of drill used was changed as a result of the cost cutting program. Other causes of the strike included working hours and the amount of wages paid to each worker. The amount of wages paid to each worker was based on the inch of penetration into the mines. Miners were usually paid 2.75$ (USD) a day for ten hours of work but a select few earned $4. Work days were usually 12 hours long; boys 12 years of age were employed deep in mines to carry drill rods to the drilling teams who were found 600ft deep in the mine shafts.The strike went on for about 5 months and around the Christmas season; the union was preparing for a Christmas feast for striking workers and their families. ^[1]

On Christmas Eve many of the striking miners and their families had gathered for a Christmas party. According to some estimates, there were over five hundred people in all. The party was being held in the second floor of the town's Italian Hall. A steep stairway was the only way to the second floor.

The tragedy occurred when someone yelled "Fire". People panicked and rushed for the stairs. In the ensuing melee seventy-three people (including fifty-nine children) were killed. When the dust settled it was found that there had been no fire. To date it has not been established who had cried "Fire" and why. It has often been suggested, however, that like the famous Woody Guthrie song, "Fire" was called out by the anti-union company management as a prank. The ongoing controversy regarding whether the doors at the bottom of the stairs opened outward or inward should have been resolved immediately after the tragedy. Some photos of the doors suggest a double set of doors. The outer doors openened outward. The inner set of doors opened inward. The inward opening doors would have trapped the panic stricken people on the stairway. There was also a fire escape leading from the upper floor but the people rushed to the stairs because that was the way they entered.

After the first wave of grief had passed following the tragedy, it looked as if there was bitterness against the company but particularly against an organization known as Citizens Alliance. This group was against the union and the strike. Knowing quite well in what poor situation the strikers were in, the alliance set out to help the families. The alliance offered money to the union and told them to spend it as the will, but they didn’t accept it. The alliance was further accused by Charles Moyer, the president of the Western Federation of Miners, that they were responsible for the catastrophe and that they set a man to yell the word “fire”.^[2]

The Italian Hall has since been demolished, and only the archway remains in the original plot of land. A sign explaining the event and some memorials also mark the place.

The event was immortalized by Woody Guthrie in a song of the same name.

A book was published in 2006 that detailed the events leading up to the tragedy, and described the author's belief that the most probable culprit was mine management. See: "Death's Door: The Truth Behind Michigan's Largest Mass Murder," from Momentum Books LLC.