Welcome to you missed in history class, the production of I hurt radios. How stuff works hello and welcomes the pod cast, I'm Tracy. Well, then, I'm Holly, for I have been listening to our show for a long time. You might have noticed the uncanny number of just terrible tragedies we covered, but have happened right around Christmas. There is the Iroquois Theatre Fire and the Richmond Theatre Fire and the Christmas tree ship that thinking like Lake Michigan and the disappearance of the or children after their family home caught fire. We would probably see a similar pattern of tragedies if we picked just any random date and looked at the stuff from right around it. But the proximity to major holidays for all of these always just makes

seem particularly sad. There are so many others of these that we ve never talked about on the show. But while I was looking through our listener suggestion list to try to figure out what I wanted to talk about next, one in particular struck me. It is the italian hall disaster, which was suggested by listener mark long enough ago, at this point that it's in the upper third of the list, which means it was a long time ago. This disaster happened in MID again on December twenty fourth, nineteen, thirteen and a town- that's now known as Calumet, but was called red jacket at the time for some reason, all of those prior to did you use that I was off a minute ago. Are all episodes that I researched. So when I found When I told Holly I didn't know if I had the stomach for another Christmas tragedy, but even if I tried to move on to other topics, I just couldn't stop thinking about this one. So I decided to go ahead and do it just not to have episode. Come out

right around the anniversary of what actually happened, which this year is roughly at the same time as both Christmas and Hanukkah he's just keep Piccolo a tracy. I now alive over here, like you'll goat, these Helen disaster happened during a strike in Michigan copper country, which lasted from the summer of nineteen. Thirteen to the early spring of nineteen fourteen and for country is on Michigan Upper Peninsula. That's the northernmost part of the state, particularly concentrated on the key went up. Peninsula native people knew that there were, copper in the area long before this, but people of Europeans learned about it in eighteen. Forty that discovery kind of in quotation marks is often credit two Samuel O nap or someone who worked for him in eighteen, forty, seven, they found pits. The native people had excavated for copper, possibly going all the way back to the pre historic mound building peoples who lived in the area. These aims

pits became the sight of many of Michigan First underground copper mines, as Michigan Copper mining industry grew. It had a lot of the same issues as other mining industries and other parts of the world. The industry, Braided. On a system of paternalism, copper country was remote Oh mining companies built entire towns to try to attract and retain workers. If you worked in a cup, for it was very likely that your home, your children school the hospital, the stores and everything else was and by the mine Although the mine companies usually framed. This is a mark of their generosity and care towards their workers, who is also a way to keep people in line. If you got in trouble at work, the mind could restrict the services and facilities that you could access in your off hours. If you got fired the mind,

Vicky from your home and if you were killed on the job, it was entirely possible that your family would be evicted immediately so that your home could be used by a replacement. Mining in general was also very dangerous, and copper mining was particularly so on average every week someone died in Michigan, copper mines and at least ten other people were seriously injured. Every year, roughly one out of every two hundred copper mine workers died. Apart from these safety issues, working conditions and the mind we're just difficult. The mines had to be very deep in order to get to that. Copper and without electricity, the illumination was mostly from candles and lamps, so workers were deep under ground and almost total darkness for ten to twelve hours a day. Six days a week, pay was so very low pay usually in the jobs that mostly involved physical labour, such as tremors, who pushed loaded carts of or through the mine generally along a track in it.

Into being low. The pay for these jobs was often unfair. Tremors were paid by the pound for how much material they moved, but most of the mines did not have scales so they're pay basically boil down to a managers best guess at how much they had hall based on legal visual assessment. This combination of factors meant that most of them, bill working underground in Michigan, copper mines were recent emigrants to the United States and they came from several parts of Europe, including England, Finland, Germany, Ireland, ITALY, Poland, Croatia and Slovenia, coworkers often too speak the same language and job assignments were made by ethnicity, with some ethnicities disproportionately getting the least prestigious jobs, for example, cornish emigrants, often but Managers with Germans and Scandinavians also holding more prestigious jobs. Meanwhile, Italians, fins and Croatians tended to work in June that were primarily manual labour that is being traverse. The diversity

the challenge when organizer started, trying to establish labour unions and copper country in the eighteen abies it was uncommon at all for workers in one mine to speak at least five or six different languages among them. The way Confederation of minors, which was established in eighteen. Ninety three proved to be particularly adept at organizing people from different ethnic groups who had different backgrounds and cultures and spoke different languages The w F am brought in organizers who could speak to all of these different groups by the nineteen teams. Membership in the western federation of minors was really growing among Michigan Copper Minor copper with high demand, thanks to things like increasing use of electric power, the growing automobile industry and other industrialization, but this increase demand was not trickling down to better pay for the workers than the mines. On top of that,

Mine managers were increasingly focused on the idea of scientific management or using scientific principles to improve workplace efficiency and reduce the need for Bert one, innovation that came out of this and was widely criticised by mine workers, was the one man drill. Before this point, the drills in copper mining required to people to operate. Workers thought that the man drill was going to cause workers to lose their jobs, because the idea was that the mining companies could cut their workforce by half, not that they could run twice as many drills get also seemed inherently less safe to go from working as a team of two people to working all by self people like if something goes wrong. There won't even be anybody around you can come and help me drill operate. Were regarded as skilled labour in the minds and before this point more often align themselves with management when there were labour disputes, but as

One man drill threaten their livelihood and safety. They started to align themselves with the people whose pay and working conditions tended to be poorer. My my Winters knew that their workers were deeply frustrated by all of this. On July, fifth, one thousand nine hundred and thirteen Charles Laughton General Manager of Quincy Mining Company said I do not think it would be hard at this time for the W Fm to call a strike with a hurrah from one. The copper country to the other, the call for staff, came not long after and we're gonna get into that after we first pause for a sponsor break, they say breakfast most important meal. The day s tells we agree. That's why european inspired breakfast features: prosciutto slice, razor, thin and fresh croissants import from France all served in racy kitchen talk about a wake up, call AC hotels, the perfectly precise hotel by the spring of nineteen. Thirteen about now

thousand Coppermine workers in Michigan had joined the Western federation of minors. Maybe union large enough to try to negotiate on these workers behalf their demands included better pay, with an increase to three lower than zero dollars and fifty cents a day for underground mine workers that was up from between a dollar fifty and two dollars. Fifty. They also wanted the work they reduced to eight hours and for the mines to stop the change over to the one man draw. The workers also wanted a formal grievance procedure and recognition of their union as their collective bargaining unit on July, fourteenth. Nineteen thirteen the western Federation of minors sent letters to Michigan, mind managers, including Calumet and Heckler General Manager, James Mc Norton, Calumet heckling, employed about twenty one hundred people and red jacket was one of its company towns. This letter outlined the W Fm demands and also stated quote: failure to answer will be taken as proof that you are not willing to have the matter settled peacefully the mind

companies naturally found this language threatening, especially since some of the W Fm previous strikes that involved violence on both sides, the mining, These are also deeply opposed to the idea of negotiating with the union at all, and their general perception was that if they made any kind of reply to this letter, that would be taken as evidence that they recognized the union as valid in some way, so neither MC not nor any of the other mine managers answered this letter. So engine Twenty third copper workers went on strike. The union reported that ten thousand men had joined the strike. While the mining companies reported that that number was more like three thousand, regardless at For a time the striking workers totally shut down mine operations both by refusing to themselves and by physically blocking non striking workers from getting into the mines immediately. Mine owners reported that the striking minors were likely to be violent and they asked for help,

governor would bridge Ferris started ordering the National Guard go to the peninsulas. Mining towns, starting it about Teddy on the morning of the twenty fourth, there is an odd parity in the accounts from the early days of the strike. Accounts from mine breeders and the National Guard report that the striking workers were arising the rest of the population and described the situation as total chaos and lawlessness, but in the first weeks of the strike there were oh fatalities on either side. The now guard were slowly recalled, starting in MID August and in the end the only national guardsmen killed in connection to his duty income country had died because he was kicked by a horse get. This is contrary to a lot of the previous episodes, based on like the late nineteenth early twentieth century, when the National Guard has

and called out like in almost every story other than this one that has led to extreme violence and many deaths among the people who, in theory, the National Guard was being sent to protect. So this is an outlier in terms of all that, meanwhile, the mind companies didn't really have of incentive to negotiate with the minors or to recognise the union. Most of the mining companies had a surplus of unsold copper and they had plenty of cash on hand, so they were in dire straits too resolved. At the same time, though, they didn't want to stop production entirely, so they hired replacement workers. They started creating newly arrived emigrants that port cities on the coast and paid for their train ticket to Michigan, which was then deducted from their pay once they started work in the mind, companies also hired several detective agencies colluding, wattle Mohune, detective agency to help break the strike they protected the replacement.

Hers and generally harassed and intimidated the strikers. Most of these and were armed and some were given formal authority by being deputized under the local sheriff so I'll. It certainly free that there were some instances of violence on the part of the striking workers. We're gonna get to some of them In just a moment, these seemed to be individual people's actions, which were not authorized by the union Meanwhile, the mining companies had partnered with detective agencies to hire and armed force of strike breakers

some of whom had been deputized by the sheriff on August fourteenth. Nineteen thirteen to striking minors were killed after at least six strike breakers opened fire on the boarding house where they lived in sea reveal Michigan. Two different minors had been walking back to the boarding house on a path that crossed over company property. Deputies had told them to turn around and they didn't because they didn't speak English and didn't understand what was being said when deputies arrived at the boarding house to arrest them for having I miss they refused to go. That is when the strike breakers opened fire through the windows. At least two other people in the house were injured but recovered. After this. This led to a coroners inquest, their required five different interpreters, because the witnesses spoke five languages, four of the strike breakers were convicted. A fifth was acquitted and a sick.

Fled before the trial was over on Labour day of nineteen thirteen Margaret physique us she was fourteen was shot in the head, while picketing after a fight broke out between strikers and strike breakers. She did recover from that. Although a deputize strike breaker was arrested, for the shooting? A grand jury declined to charge him. What that crime on December seventh nineteenth, seen three men were murdered at a boarding house in Pains, Dale Michigan, which was owned by Thomas Dally. Dolly was one of the victims. Every man boarding with Dally were working in the mines during the strike, w As a member James Huda confessed to the crime and others, also charged, but Huda refused to testify against them. This was definitely sitting in which striking minors instigated the violence in this case against men we're working in the mines, in spite of the strike. Also in December supporters of Michigan Copper Mining industry formed the citizens alike.

This was another organisation that was meant to try to break the strike to harass and intimidate the striking workers. This organization was fun, by mine management about eight thousand people joined it so either the winter holidays approached in nineteen thirteen, this situation, income, your country, was tense. Apart from the multiple instances of violence, aching minors had been out of work for about five months. They their families were mostly living on donated food and financial assistance from the union. Although that money was running out so any clemming head of the women's auxiliary of the Western Federation of minors decided to hold a Christmas party for the chill the striking minors with the hope of raising their spirits clemming, whose name you also see sometimes spelled as Clemens others. That appears in in a number of different ways. She was made of big Annie because she was more than six feet. Tall tree was the daughter of slovenian emigrants and was married to a croatian minor.

She had been extremely active in the strike up to this point, including carrying an american flag and the union's demonstrations and parades, and one of these sprayed. She was threatened by an armed deputy, and she told him quote: kill me if this flag won't protect me I'll die with it. For this party, she solicited donations with the hope that each child attending could get a small gift, like a hat or a pair of It where a piece of fruit or candy the venue for the party was the italian Hall in Red Jacket, which, as we said earlier, is now called Calumet. The Italian was a multi use. Building that belong to the italian mutual benefit society, its lower floors, the saloon and an Atlantic and Pacific T Company store and upstairs was a space that could be used as a bank

call a meeting room or theater. It was in the upstairs space. The between five hundred and seven hundred people gathered for a Christmas Party on Christmas Eve, one thousand nine hundred and thirteen during this party, somebody came into the hall and shouted fire and Clement didn't see or smell any smoke, and so she told people to stay calm and to stay at the party. Other people probably did this as well, but this cry of fire spread through the crowd people panicked and started, trying to rush through the door and down the stairs. The first few dozen people that tried to flee the Italian Hall were able to get out, but at some point someone tripped and fell in this started. A chain reaction

with other people, who were also trying to get out falling over and onto the people below the fire department was just across the street, and firefighters were on the scene almost immediately, but the crash of people at the foot of the stairs was so high and so tightly packed. They couldn't start a rescue operation from below they had to climb up a fire escape one that people in the party either hadn't known about or hadn't thought about, panic to try to escape and they had to work from above slowly. Removing people from this steep staircase that had just become completely impassable exact counts, very because of discrepancies. In record keeping, but at least seventy three people died, mostly from being crushed death or suffocating more than half of them were finnish immigrants or people of Finnish descends about sixty of those victims were children. There was no fire

and we're gonna talk about the aftermath of this tragedy after we take a little break and hear from one of our sponsors immediately after the tragedy in the Italian. How reports started to spread that this had been a deliberate act of violence against the striking minors, multiple witnesses they they saw. The person who fall. Sleep, shouted fire and that it wasn't a minor but with somebody wearing a citizen's alliance, but not his coat early report. Placed what Almah hone strike breaker Edward, mainly in the stairwell after the incident, would Almah hone sources. But he had gone into the stairwell to try to help, but he was never questioned and he does peered from Calumet, not long after some deathbed Confessions were also reported in the nineteen eighty and ninety nine these, but they were second and third hand. None of wherever verified. That is,

master immediately became national news, including a front page worry and the New York Times on Christmas day, but newspapers in Michigan carried distinctly different accounts, depending on whether they supported the striking workers are the mine management. For example, a finnish american Socialist newspaper called to Emilius or worker, published a bilingual finish in English shit on Christmas day and that included reports that a man with a citizen's alliance badge and his hat pulled down head yelled fire. A headline in this paper on the twenty sixth translated eighty three murdered. Some of the newspaper staff were arrested on December, twenty seventh of nineteen thirteen for quote causing our riot because of these claims. The newspaper was shut down at least temporarily, and it eventually moved its headquarters to another state. Meanwhile, but Calumet NEWS reported on how the citizens, alliance and security guards from Calumet and Heckler were part of the rescue

Bob mentioning all the miners who were also part of its papers also report the W Fm President Charlie lawyer was financially benefiting from the strike in some way with absent Lee no evidence for that claim Moyer to be we had a chequered past. He had served time in pay, then in Illinois after another man's confession, implicated him in a string of crimes including a home invasion and a department store burglary, he was also created in December nineteen o five bombing that killed former Governor Frank Student Burg of Idaho. Although that case was dismissed after the other accused men were all acquitted. People also questioned his leadership and the copper country strike. He had authorized that, even though the people at the W Fm headquarters were opposed to it, but after the Italian Hall Incident lawyer avoided placing blame on any particular person. Instead,

He began sending numerous telegrams calling for an investigation, saying that there was enough about the tragedy that was suspicious, that it warranted and extra look. The local sheriff and several people from mine management and the Citizens Alliance told Moyer to stop writing these telegrams and to issue a statement that would absolve the citizens alliance of any blame. Moyer refused and his account the sheriff said something to him along the lines of that. I can't protect you anymore later that night, several men attacked Moyer and he was shot in the back with a pistol discharged as he was being beaten with it. The men dragged him too. Portage Lake Bridge with a bullet still lodged in his back and threatened to throw him off of it, and then they took him to the train depot and put him on a train bound for Chicago threatening to kill him. If he ever returned, no one was ever pay. Accounted for any of this on Christmas day, finnish photographer

John William Nora, took pictures of the italian hall which continue to be a primary source of information. But what the scene was like in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, the coroner held health Ebay inquest, but didn't rule on a cause of death for the people who had died in the incident during the invest. Nation witnesses were required to hear an answer, questions and English, regardless of what language they actually spoke and questioning seemed more oriented towards clearing the citizens alliance of suspicion than uncovering the truth of what actually happens again The jury that had been convened to investigate strike crimes also issued no indictments in the disaster or in the air, on lawyer, although in it I did my lawyer for his organizing on behalf of the miners congressional hearings into the disaster. Didn't go anywhere, as was the case with so many other mass tragedies that we ve talked about on the show before Calumet was not prepared to cope with a disaster of this scale. There

is it a morgue large enough to help manage all the bodies there were enough coffins, especially child sized coffins, help had to be brought in from surrounding communities to try to manage it. All most of the funerals took place in December, twenty Eightth with all churches involved coordinating to allow a massive funeral procession through town that procession drew about twenty thousand spectators, Minors had dug into the frozen ground for mass graves for most of the victims, with twenty two buried in a catholic cemetery and forty four in a protestant cemetery, the rest of the victims were bare. In family plots. Although mind management and the citizens Alliance raised money for a victim's fund lawyer and the W. If they refuse to take it, they said they did not want money. They wanted justice. More you're also said that the union would bear its own dead. Although this strike didn't actually end until April of nineteen fourteen, it was more as over after this here.

Before it was offering people five dollars a day to work on his automotive assembly lines for work that was far less dangerous than in the copper mines. So a lot People move to Detroit to work there. We actually have several epoch John Henry Ford in our archive for folks who would like to know more about the new on all of that after the Western Federation of minors voted to cut aid to the striking workers in the spring of nineteen fourteen. Those who hadn't already left for other industries voted to go back to work got a small pay increase in an eight hour working day, but otherwise none of their demands were met. This disaster, was also part of the end of the Western Federation of minors union lost more than half of its membership between one thousand nine hundred and thirteen and one thousand nine hundred and sixteen and the Michigan strike depleted its treasury almost entirely in nineteen? Sixteen the union reformed as the International Union of Mine Mill and smelter workers, that union was actually part of our,

on the Bisbee deportation apart for the calls for justice that went on and third in the immediate aftermath of this tragedy, the people of Calumet seems a mostly wants a move on. There was no coverage of the disasters, one year anniversary and local newspapers, and it wasn't something that seem to be widely discussed that started. Change after Ella Reeves blur known as mother bluer published her autobiography. We are many and nineteen forty she had been. The organizers that was involved in the strike and her book included an account of the disaster that account inspired Woody Guthrie to write his song, one thousand nine hundred and thirteen massacre about the incident. He put out that song in nineteen wine, because the investigation into the disaster was handled so sloppily. It is still not clear exactly what happened in some of the details. It had become widely remembered, are not actually supported by the evidence in some account.

Including Woody Guthrie Song, Lyrics supporters of the mine bosses physically stop people from leaving the hall or they laugh children Phelan, died, one. Why, we held piece of misinformation is, at the doors out of the hall, opened the wrong way, something that was really true in some of the other disasters that we have discussed. But that was not the case in the italian hall. There are actually photographs that show the doors opening outward, it seems very likely that the person who shouted fire was opposed to the strike and the strike workers and wanted to ruin the party, but some people go so far as to conclude that their intent wasn't just to harass them minors and their families and to spoil their good time, but that was intended to create a fatal stampede on purpose because there was never a thorough invest nation. It's a really hard to say that conclusively big clubbing, eventually move to Chicago re married and had a daughter, her descendants did not

about her work is a labour organizer or the italian hall disaster when they were asked about it in more recent years. She has since been in into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame and labours. International Hall of Fame, miss against copper mines, went into decline. They started closing in the nineteen sixty use with the last closing down and ninety ninety five, a law passed in two thousand and four allowed mining to resume in the state, though, and Eagle Mine was the first one to open under this new law in twenty fourteen, some people point to the italian hall disaster. As the beginning, the downward trend in the industry that lead to its temporary total shut down, but there was really a lot more to it than that Michigan. Deep underground mines were expensive and dangerous to operate and in the nineteen teams and beyond. They were facing increasing competition from the minds in the west in the southwest, which were a lot cheaper to operate. Italian hall was placed on the national register of historic places in nineteen eighty, but then it was later removed.

Was torn down in nineteen. Eighty four, with its sandstone entry arch, remain is a memorial for you There's that archway had a sign that Red quote: Michigan Historic site Italian hall on December twenty. Fourth, nineteen, thirteen, area. Copper minors had been on strike for five months. The minors were fighting better pay shortened, work days, safer in conditions and union recognition that day being a yuletide party for the striking minors and their families. Some one, yet fire, although there was no fire. Seventy three persons died while attempting to escape down a stairwell that had doors opened inward overhead of those who died were children between the ages of six and ten, the perpetrator This tragedy was never identified. The strike ended in April nineteen fourteen that When was edited to remove the reference to the inward opening doors in twenty thirteen in twenty twelve at Michigan Technological University, professor and students, were part of an archaeological study at the side of the italian hall.

This included ground penetrating rate our work to determine the buildings original boundaries, the radar itself actually on loan from the queue and obey indian community Tribal Historic Preservation Office than it was run by the offices, archaeologists to also donated his time. On Christmas Eve, twenty eighty. A granite monument was dedicated at the sight of the disaster, and it lists the names of the victims. The site is part of the when on national historical park, and today the Calumet Rotary Club puts luminaries at the sight each Christmas Eve. There is one for each victim for folksy what more detail on all of this Steve later his written books about it, and there are some talks and articles by him in the show doubts for this episode on our webs

I have a couple of pieces of listener, mail that are overall on a lighter note, because they're about television, their shorts, I'm going to be both of them are the first one is about television, but it's also about a disaster. It is. This is from Tatum Tatum, says: hi there long time listener, my first time writing- and I just thought your listeners- might want to know that the Netflix Series, the crown featured the Abbe Van Mining disaster in a recent episodes season, three episode. Three. If, as watching the episode, I started to realize that I knew you were there story was going due to having heard your episode from November of twenty seventeen. So if any of your listeners would like to see what the disaster may have looked like as it took place, I would recommend to checking that out. So thank you, Tatum for that. Tatum went on to say some kind things about us, but I dont know that every single person needs to hear all of that. Yes, we talked about that disaster,

in November of twenty seventeen like that email says that's a little nearer than we typically due for Saturday classics, but if folks watched the crown and thought I didn't know anything about this disaster, that is something we could find in our archive and then the other quick email about television is ispra. Emily Emily says I just want to try to quick. Thank you for your episode, Matthew Hopkins, because it combines two of my favorite things. Your pants passed and the book good omens by NEO Game in and Terry Project. If you're not familiar, there's a character, any names Shad well, who is a seemingly self appointed which finder sergeant. I was delighted to know that his asking at least to characterise how many nipples have you got was spired by their real life, weirdness lashed terribleness of Hopkins thanks again for hours of entertainment, Emily. Thank you Emily. For this note, I love the book good omens. It's been so long since I've read it that as

the many books, the details on a lot of it are very fuzzy, so I only got caught up on watching the good omen serious that came out recently after we had recorded that the third- and I would like all you know that guy I forgot here then the boy I forgot. Two. I am it's been a long time since I visited that when yeah yeah currently having the same experience watching his dark materials, which is the book theories that I love. But it's been owe more than a decade since I read it probably I could be. That could be too but big of a number. It's been years since I read it so eyes and watch it get em like says how the book was. I don't remember anyway, that's some historically oriented television now his dark materials the other ones, provokes to check out if they would like. We are add history, pod, half that I heart radio dot com. If you would like to send us an email about this or any other episode, that is the new email address. If you have not noticed- and we are also

Oliver Social Media, MR history at Rio, find our facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Instagram and you can come to your website, must, in history dot com for the show notes, broadly episodes that HOLLAND. I have worked on together in a circle archive of every episode ever and you can subscribe to our show unable pod casting. I hurt radio and anywhere you get your broadcast stuffy, Mr District last. The production of Iheart radios. How stuff works, for my part, have radio visit thy heart, radio, Appleton guests or wherever you listen to your favorite, shows.