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Introduction
The Italian Hall Disaster occured in Calumet, Michigan on Christmas Eve, 1913 during the strikes at the copper mines. During a Christmas party held in the upstairs of the Italian Hall someone falsely shouted fire. The party goers, mostly children, rushed down the stairs in an attempt to get out of the building. The doors at the base of the stairs were closed. In the rush to leave the building, 73 people were crushed and died of suffocation.
The person who yelled "fire" was never identified. The Italian Hall was torn down In 1984. The doorway was left standing with a plaque in remembrance of this tragedy.
Woody Guthrie, an American Folk singer, wrote a song about the Italian Hall Disaster called 1913 Massacre.
The list of people killed in the Italian Hall Disaster was published in the book Tinsel & Tears by Peggy Germain in 1984.