The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-09-21

Booker 7. Washington Had Just Con-
cluded an Address When Negro
Lawyer From Baltimore and the
Choir Leader Engaged in an Alterca-
ton Over an Unoccupied Seat and
it is Said Blow Followed The
Fearful Stampede Immediately En-
sued
(By the Associated Press)
Birmingham, Ala. Sept. BIN an aw-
full crush of humanity caused by STAN
pede in the Shiloh Colored Baptist church,
Avenue G and Eighteenth street tonight.
seventy eight persons were killed and as
many more seriously injured.
The disaster occurred at nine o'clock
cluded his address to the National Con-
vention of Negro Baptists, and for three
hours the scenes around the church were
indescribable. Dead bodies were strewn
service of the city was utterly unable to
move them until after one o'clock a. m.
The injured were first attended to and
dozens of dead bodies were arranged in
rows on the ground outside the house OF
worship awaiting removal to the various
undertaking establishments, while more
than score were laid out on the benches
inside.
of xvnr
shin for negroes in Birmingham, and the
pastor says there were at least 1000
persons in the edlfice when the stampede
began. Instructions have been issued to
allow no one else to enter after the build
ing had been filled. but the negroes forced
their way inside the church and were
standing in every aisle. The entrance
was literally packed
THE PANIC BEGINS.
Just as Booker Washington concluded
his address Judge Dillou, negro lawyer
from Baltimore, engaged in an alterca-
ton with the choir leader concerning an
unoccupied seat. and it is said blow
was struck. Some one in the choir cried,
''They are fighting" Mistaking the word
lighting" for fire" the congregation
rose en- masse and started for the doors.
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 secuted.
Again the excited congregation mistook
the word "quiet' for a second alarm of
fire. and rushed for the door. Men and
women erawled over benches, fought
their way into the aisles and those who
had fallen weres trampled upon like
cattle.
The ministers tried again to stop the
stampede, but no power on earth could
stay the struggling, fighting mass of hui
manity.
The screams of women and children
added to the horror of the scene, and the
more frightened persons tainted, and as
they fell to the floor they 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
veritable death 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
and in a few minutes persons were piled
anon each other to a height of ten feet.
This wall of struggling humanity block
ed the entrance and the weight of 1900
persons was pushed against it. More
than twenty persons lying on the steps
underneath the heap of bodies, died from
suffocation
Two white men. who were in the rear
of the church when the rush began, es-
capped and realizing the seriousness OF
the situation rushed to corner nearby
and turned in a fire alarm. The depart
ment arrived quickly, and the arrival OF
the wagons served to scatter the crowd
which had gathered around the front OF
the church.
SQUAD of police was FASTENED to the
church and with the fremen finally sue
ceeded in relieving the negroes from their
rinioned position in the entrance.
HEART RENDING SCENE.
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 bro
ken 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 men and women. were strewn
and the cries of the manned and Grip
MED were heart-rending. In few min
rites the work of removing the bodies
was begun 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
th. edge of the South Highlands, the
fashionable residence section of this city
ond I'll the physicians living in that
rort of town went to the assistance O.
the injured.
AS many OF the suffering negroes as