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January 2002, Week 3

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From:
Donald Larsson <[log in to unmask]>
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Date:
Tue, 15 Jan 2002 16:13:36 -0600
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Marlyn Robinson wonders:

> The line from the most famous first amendment case in history stated that a
> man is not protected from "Falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a
> panic".  However, the reverse seems to have actually occurred and was
> widely enough known that Justice Holmes' words were inspired by it.  Does
> anyone know of a source (or an actual event) of fire in a movie theater in
> which a large number of people were killed pre-1919?


I don't know if there's any connection at all, but the Iroquois Theater
fire of 1903 might be relevant. There's a graphic description of the
event at:

http://www.inficad.com/~ksup/iroquois.html

A number of commenters (including such legal scholars as Alan
Dershowitz) have found Holmes' statement to be inappropriate since he
was comparing the action of a false alarm that creates a threat to life
and safety to the activities of pacifists who opposed American
participation in World War I.

Don Larsson

-----------------------------------------------------------
Donald F. Larsson, English Department, AH 230
Minnesota State University
Mankato, MN  56001

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