an anti-union ally of mine management called out "fire" to disrupt the party. There were several investigations into the disaster. In the coroner's inquest, witnesses who did not speak English were forced to answer questions in English. Most witnesses were not asked follow-up questions. It appears that many persons called to testify had not seen what happened. After three days, the coroner issued a ruling that did not give a cause of death. Early in 1914, a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives came to the copper country to investigate the strike and took sworn testimony from witnesses for a full day on March 7, 1914. Twenty witnesses testified under oath and were offered interpreters. Eight witnesses swore that the man who first raised the cry of "fire" was wearing a button on his coat for Citizens' Alliance, an organization that opposed trade unions and strikes. A common story regarding the tragedy states that the doors at the bottom of the Italian Hall's stairs opened inward. According to the story, when the fleeing partygoers reached the bottom of the stairs, they pressed up against the doors, preventing them from opening and causing many people to be crushed. However, all photos of the doors suggest a double set of doors with both sets opening outward. Steve Lehto's book Death's Door: The Truth Behind Michigan's Largest Mass Murder pointed out that the doors were not mentioned as a contributing factor at the December 1913 coroner's inquest, the 1914 subcommittee hearing, or in any of the newspaper stories of the time. That book also included blueprints of the Italian Hall drawn by an architect, showing the locations and configurations of the doors, the staircase, and the landings. In her book Mine Towns, Alison K. Hoagland alleges there were two sets of doors opening onto a vestibule, and that the outer doors opened outward; and there may have been a set of inner bifold doors. In support of this, Hoagland notes that a "newspaper article at the time of its dedication mentioned safety features such as 'the ample main stairway', two fire escapes, and 'All doors open outward.'" She notes that the club had previously been cited—for the predecessor building—for having doors that opened inward. Further, she opines that the foreshortened stereopticon photo was "impossible" and misleading; and further notes that, according to the "pro-company" Daily Mining Gazette, they opened out. Aftermath After