Paul Mastic
(Also known as Stephen Mashiewicz)
Buried in Saint Patrick Cemetery
From Pittsburgh Gazette Times -- August 27, 1911 TWENTY-EIGHT PERSONS DEAD IN CANONSBURG THEATER PANIC
It is believed now that the cries of fire came from Paul Mastick and Frank Byereski, two boys who were in the gallery and who later were found among the other dead at the bottom of the stairway. Several person who were in the gallery partly identified in the two dead boys the ones who had uttered the cries.
From The Daily Notes – August 29, 1911 PRINCIPALS PRAISE THE DEAD CHILDREN
Two of the dead pupils attended the Third ward school. They were Paul Mastic and Monzella Robinson although the Robinson girl had quit school some time before the close of last term.
From The Daily Notes -- August 29, 1911 FUNERAL OF MOST OF THE VICTIMS TUESDAY
Paul Mastik, alias Steven Mouciowicz, aged about 10 years, was buried from St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic church this afternoon at 3 o’clock. The pastor, the Rev. Father Thomas Zacharski, will have charge of the service.
From The Daily Notes – August 29, 1911 SHOCKED BY LIGHTNING
Monday afternoon as the funeral of Paul Mastic had reached the Catholic cemetery the rain came down in torrents. After leaving the cemetery the storm increased and when near the residence of Harry Shepard a foreigner who was on foot took shelter under a tree. The tree was struck by a bolt of lightening, and the man was knocked down. A carriage stopped and the occupants ran to his assistance, but he was uninjured, and was able to go to his home. The driver of the carriage said the bolt looked like a huge ball of fire.
From The New York Times -- August 30, 1911 PALLBEARERS FALL AT LIGHTNING STROKE
The six pallbearers who were conveying the coffin of little Stephen Mastwicz, ticket seller for the moving picture show that occupied the house when the fire panic came, were knocked to the ground when lightning struck and felled a tree near them. John Hodie, one of their number, a brother-in-law of the deceased, was unconscious for some time and is badly injured. The others were hurt also, but they picked up the little white coffin and continued the solemn procession to the grave, where a hundred fellow pupils of the child, together with his family, stood in the rain while the body was committed to the earth.
The Washington Observer -- August 28, 1911 LOWERING CLOUDS HOVER NEAR STRICKEN TOWN
A second tragedy was almost enacted yesterday at the Catholic cemetery at the burial of Steven Mouciowicz. As the body was being lowered into the grave a severe electric storm was precipitated. A tree in the cemetery close by was struck and several members of the funeral party were partially stunned, two persons being knocked down. None was seriously hurt.