TRAMPLED TO DEATH.

Mataura Ensign, 26 December 1913, Page 5

TRAMPLED TO DEATH.

THE MICHIGAN DISASTER. PANIC-STRICKEN CHILDREN. ■ T EI.ECTBIC TELEGRAPH OOfIBIGHT. PEE UNITE* 9BKSS ASSOCIATION. Received December 26, 9.50 a.m. NEW YORK, Dec. 25. In regard to the tragedy at Calumet, Michigan, where, while hundreds of miners who are on strike, with their wives and children, were attending a Christmas tree entertainment, a man shouted "Fire!" and a panic occurred, for hours frantic women ran about the street calling to their children. There were 700 persons in the hall, threefourths being children whose parents had not accompanied them. Fathers and others in scores ran into the building and became violent when they were unable to learn their children's fate. About 100 escaped down a fire escape, but the others were too panic-stricken to use it. Many deaths were due to suffocation. A woman who tried to save three struggling children was trampled to death, and a man was similarly killed. The man who called "Fire!" is believed to have been drunk and_ that he did not know what he was doing.