The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1902-09-25
OVER A HUNDRED ARE DEAD!
Horror Follows Stampede in Baptist
Convention at Birmingham.

The department came quickly and the
arrival of the wagons served to scat
ter the crowd, which mad gathered
around the front of the church. A
squad of police was also hastened to
the church. and with the firemen final
~ succeeded in relieving the negroes
from their pinioned position in the en-
trance The dead bodies were quick
ly moved and the crowd inside, find
ing an outlet, came pouring out.
Scores Of them lost their footing and
rolled down the long steps to the pave
ment, sustaining broken limbs and in
ternal injuries.
A Sickening Sight.
In an hour the church had been
practically cleared and the sight
which greeted the eyes of those who
had come to aid the injured was sick
ening. Down the aisles and along the
outside of the pews the bead bodies Of
men and women were strewed and the
cries of the manned and cripple was
heartrending. In few minutes the
work of removing the bodies was be
gun and the walls of the relatives OF
the dead who had waited on the out
side could be heard for several blocks.
The Shiloh church is located just in
the edge of the South Highlands, the
fashionable residence section OF the
city, and all the physicians living In
that part of town went to the assist
ance of the injured. AS many OF the
suffering as could be moved by
the ambulances were taken to Eosplt'
ais and the rest were laid out on the
ground, and there the physicians at
tended to them. At least fifteen OF
those brought out injured died before
they could be moved from the ground.
During the stampede many promi-
nent negro leaders were, on the stage
and were unwilling witnesses to the
frightful catastrophe None Of those
in the choir or In the pulpit were in
jured in the least For few minutes
they attempted to restore order, but
seeing their efforts were futile, waited
until the struggling crowd had ad'
vanced far enough for them to pick
up the dead and injured.
Most of the dead are women, and
the physicians say in many cases they
tainted and died from srffocation. A
remarkable feature of the calamity Is
that no blood was seen on any OF the
victims. They were either crushed or
died from suffocation.
Washington Explains Disaster.
Prof. Booker T. Washington, when
seen shortly after the accident said:
81 had just finished delivering my
lecture on Industry aud the singing
had commenced, when some woman
back of me was. heard to scream.
Some member OF the choir yelled
quiet which the gallery understood
to be fire. This was repeated and
started the stampede.
Il found on investigation that Bir-
mingham man had stepped on the toes
O. a delegate from Baltimore named
Balou.
"Ballou resented it and made a mo.
ton as if to draw a gun. This caused
the woman to scream.
There was little excitement in the
center and front Of the church. The
rear of the church was congested and
some Of the men tried to walk out on
the heads of the crowd. At the time
of the alarm there were probably g.
600 people in the church and fully that
number without. The crowd on the
sidewalk surged in and this in a meas
sure accounted for the large loss OF
life.
"The majority Of those killed were
smothered to death, very few having
broken bones.
when / saw that a stampede was
imminent started the choir singing
and part Of the audience Joined them.
| remained until the excitement had
subsided for fully thirty minutes. One
good sister, whose name did not learn,
caught me firmly by the waist and
held me throughout the excitement
saying Keep still
$50 far as is known. about ten dele
gates were among those killed, two
from Texas and two from New Or.
leans being among that number"