Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1902-09-25
THE DEATH LIST
MAY REACH 115
Appalling Result Of The Panic at the
Negro Convention at Birmingham,
Alabama, Friday Night.
IDENTIFICATION WORK is SLOW
Booker Washington Speaking
at the Time.
Terrible Scenes at National Gathering of
Coiored Baptists at Birmingham, Ala
bama, Friday Evening-Two Thousand
Present When the Stampede Began.


Present When the stampede Began.
Birmingham, Ala, Sept. 20, in an
awful crush Of humanity caused by q
stampede in Shiloh Colored Baptist
Church, ut the corner Of avenue g and
Eighteenth street, this city. last night,
Go persons were killed and as many
more severely injured.
The disaster occurred at o O'Clock,
just as Booker I. Washington had con-
cluded an address to the national con
yention Of colored Baptists, whion was
in session there. For three hours the
scenes around the church were terrible.
Dead bodies were strewn in every di-
rectIon and the ambulance service Of
the city was unable to move them.
The injured were attended TO first.
Meanwhile dozens of dead nodies were
arranged In rows on the ground outside
the church, awaiting removal to under
taking establishments, while more than
a score were laid out on benches inside.
Shiloh Church is the largest house
of worship for negroes In Birmingham.
The pastor says there were at least
1000 persons in the ediice when tho
stampede began. Instructions had been
issued to allow no one else to enter
after the building had been filled, but
the negroes forced their way inside the
church.
They were standing in. every aisle,
when cry Of Flight! Fight was
mistaken for fire and deadly scram-
BILE began to get out. The entrance to
the church was packed and the negroes
we're trampled to death in their struggle
to escape.
Booker Washington had just con-
cluded his address when John Billou,
negro lawyer from Baltimore, en-
gagged in dispute with the choir leader
concerning an unoccupied seat. 1t Is
said blow was struck. Someone in
the choir cried: Flight! Mistaking
the word fight for g fire, the congre-
CATION rose en- masse and started for
the door.
One of the ministers quickly mounted
the rostrum and admonished the people
to keep quiet. He repeated the word
"quiet" several times and motioned to
his hearers to be seated.
The excited congregation mistook the
word quiet for second alarm of fire
and again rushed for the door. Men
and women crawled over benches and
fought their way into the aisles. Those
who had fallen were trampled upon
like cattle.
The ministers tried again to stop the
stampede, but no power on earth could
stay the struggling, fighting mass of
humanity. The screams Of the women
and children added to the horrors of
the scene. Through mere fright many
persons tainted and as they fell to the
floor were crushed to death.
The level of the floor of the church
is about 15 feet from the ground, and
long steps lead to the. sidewalk from
torium. Brick walls extend on each
side of these steps for six or seven feet,
and this proved death trap.
Negroes who had reached the top Of
the steps we're pushed violently forward,
and many fell. Before they could move,
others fell upon them. In a few
moments persons were piled upon upon
each other to a height of 10 feet, where
they struggled vainly to extricate them
selves.
This wall of struggling humanity
blocked the entrance and the weight Of
/, 900 persons in the body Of the church
was pushed against it. More than 20
persons, lying on the steps underneath
the heap of bodies, died from suffoca-
tion.
Two white men who were in the rear
of tho church when the rush began cs-
capped. Realizing the seriousness Of the
situation, they rushed to corner near
by and turned in fire alarm. The fire
department answered quickly, and the
arrival of the wagons served TO scatter
the crowd which had gathered around
the front of the church.
A squad Of police was hastened to the
church and, with the firemen, finally
succeeded in relieving the negroes from
their pinioned positions in the en-
trance. The dead bodies were then
moved and the crowd finding an outlet
poured out. Scores of them still lost
their footing in the haste and rolled
down the long steps to the pavement,
suffering broken limbs and internal
injuries va
In an hour the church had been prac-
tically cleared. Tho sight which greeted
those who ha' 90 70 to aid the Injured
was sickeninl ,own the aisles and
along the outside of the pews the dead
bodies of men and women we're strewn.
The MANNED and crippled uttered
heartrending cries. The walls of the
relatives of the dead who had waited on
the outside could be heard for several
blocks.
Shiloh Church, in which the conven-
tion was held, is Just on the edge Of
South Highlands, tho fashionable resi-
dence section of this city. All the
living in that part of Bir-
went to the aid of the in
jured.
As many of the suffering negroes as
could be moved by ambulanoes were
taken to hospitals and the rest were
laid out on the ground. There the
attended them. AT least Is
Of those brought out injured died be-
fore they could be moved from the
ground.
During the stampede Booker T.
and several other we'll
known negro leaders were on the stage
and were forced to witness the fright
full catastrophe.
None of those in the choir or in the
pulpit was injured in the least For a
few minutes they attempted to restore
order, but, seeing that their efforts
were futile, they waited until the
struggling crowd had advanced far
enough for them to pick up the dead
and injured
Most of the dead are women. Tho
physicians say that in many cases they