Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-09-20
Stampede Unstoppnblc.


stampede. but no power on earth could
stay the struggling. fighting mass of hui
rnanitV.
The screams of women and children
added to the horror of the scene and
through mere fright many persons faint
ed. and as they fell to the floor were
crushed to death
The level of the floor is about fifteen
feet from the ground, and long steps lead
to the sidewalk from the lobby just out
side the main auditorium. Brick walls
extend on each side of these steps for six
or seven feet. and this proved a veritahle
dcath-trap. Negroes who had reached the
top Of the steps were pushed violently
forward and many fell Before they
could move others fell upon them. ana
in a few moments persons were piled
upon each other to a height of ten feet
This wall Of struggling humanity block
ed the entrance. and the weight of 1000
persons was pushed against it. More
than twenty persons lying or the steps
underneath the heap Of bodies died from
suffocation.
White Men Turn in Alarm.
Two white men who were in the rear
of the church when the rush began es-
capped and, realizing the seriousness of
the situa ton. rushed to a corner near
by and turned in fire alarm. The de-
partment answered quickly, and the ar
rival 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 sue
ceeded in relieving the negroes from their
pinioned position in the entrance.
The dead bodies were quickly moved,
and the crowd inside, finding an outlet
came pouring out. Scores of them lost
their footing and rolled down the long
steps to the pavement. sustaining broken
limbs and internal injuries. In an hour
the church had been practically cleared.
and the sight which greeted those who
had come to the aid Of the injured was
sickening. Down the aisles and along the
outside of the pews the dead bodies of
kmen and women We're Strewn and the
! cries of the manned and crippled We're
Seartrending. In few minutes the work
| # removing the bodies was begun, and
! tie walls of the relatives of the dead, who
| had waited on the outside, could be heard
| fos several blocks.
eIl City Physicians on H.,ni.
Tie Shiloh church is located Just in the
edgeNof South Highlands, the fashion
! able residence section of this city, and
all tle physicians in that part of the
| town vent to the assistance of the in
| jured.
/ could BID moved by the anhulances We're
! taken to hospitals, and the rest were
| laid out 9n the ground, and there the
| physicians attended them AT least fifteen
| of those hAought out injured died before
| they could se moved from the ground.
During the stampede, Booker t. Wash
/ ingtnn and saeral other prominent negro
leaders were tn the stage. and We're un-
willing witnesses of the frightful catas-
| trophe. None u those in the choir or in
| the pulpit wereinjured in the least. For
a few minutes hey attempted to restore
order. but seeingitheir efforts We're futile.
waited until tho struggling crowd had
advanced far enoish for them to pick up
/ the dead and Injured.
| Nose of the deal are women, and the
| physicians say THAI in many cases they
i tainted and died frAn suffocation. A re-
rnarkable feature ofsthe calamity is that
no blood was seen OF any of the victims.
/ They were either c,Ashed or died from
suffocation.