Wherefore weep I then?
—Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
Public opinion is a fickle thing. It is, after all, the holiday season, and people rarely like to think about dead children for long. Journalists from out of town begin to leave, although a film crew will stay until the funeral to get footage for news reels to be shown between Lillian Gish’s new Western, An Indian’s Loyalty, and a feature film called The Last Days of Pompeii.
Mostly, however, the news moves on. No one who lives beyond the Copper Country takes any notice when a local jury of sorts is organized to inquire into the Christmas Eve events.
It will not be an inquest, for the coroner has written the cause of death for all seventy-three certificates: “Killed in a jam caused by a false cry of ‘Fire!’ by someone at present unknown, during a children’s gathering at the Italian Hall.” Nevertheless, attorney Anthony Lucas gathers a panel of respectable citizens. Nine men, all members of the Citizens’ Alliance, will hear testimony. The inquiry will focus on the rumor that a man wearing a Citizens’ Alliance button caused the panic by raising a false alarm about a fire. This, after all, is the element of the event that is still in question.
Charles Miller is called upon first, and his testimony is adamant. He was on the stage, above the crowd, facing the top of the stairway to street level. He gives a description of the man who started the panic: dark hair, a dark coat, a white Citizens’ Alliance button. His testimony is corroborated by seven other eyewitnesses, despite close questioning by panel members and Mr. Lucas himself.
As the day goes on, however, the certainty of the first eight is countered by the doubts of sixty-one others, as attorney Lucas expected would be the case. The hall was crowded. Only a few people were near the doorway at the top of the stairs; fewer still were facing that door when the false alarm was said to have been raised. Many who attended the event admit under questioning that they were not in a position to see the exit door when the panic began; neither did they see a man with a white Citizens’ Alliance button on his coat.
At the end of the grueling but gratifying day-long inquiry, Lucas is able to issue a brief, definitive statement to the few remaining reporters.
I have personally interviewed a great number of witnesses who claim to have been in the hall at the time the trouble started. The result of my investigation is that there is no proof that any person deliberately entered the hall and cried “Fire” for the purpose of causing a panic. I assure the public that a thorough investigation of this matter has been made and the blame must be laid at the feet of those who placed children in danger by overcrowding a party room without adequate supervision. The excitement and rowdiness of the children themselves contributed to the tragedy.