The Savannah morning news., 1902-09-20

Birmingham, Ala. Sept 19-Seventy-
eight known to be dead, and eighty in
tured. the majority perhaps fatally is
9he result of panic which occurred in
the Shiloh negro Baptist Church here
tonight during the evening session of
the Negro National Baptist Convention.
Fifteen hundred delegates were
crowded into the church, which had
only a seating capacity of four hun
dred, when the audience was thrown
into a stampede by a conflict between
two of the delegates in the rear of the
church. The cries of fight which fol-
lower were mistaken by the audience
for an alarm of fire" and in the wild
effort to escape, rs persons were crush
ed to death and eighty more received
injuries, some of which may prove ia
tall The list of dead and injured in
Guided only negroes in attendance.
Owing to the number of visiting dele
gates, the Identification of the dead and
injured has been difficult.
Birmingham, Ala, Sept. 19.-In an
awful crush of humanity caused by
stampede in the Shiloh Negro Baptist
Church, Avenue G and Eighteenth
street, tonight, seventy-eight persons
were killed and as many more seri-
ously injured.
The disaster occurred at o'clock,
just as Booker T. Washington had
concluded his address to the National
Convention of Negro Baptists, and for
three hours the scenes around the
church were indescribable. Dead bod
les were strewn in every direction, and
the ambulance service of the city was
utterly incapacitated to move them
until after / o'clock, a. m. The in
jured were first attended to and doz-
ems 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 a score were laid out
on the benches inside.
The church is the largest house of
worship for negroes in Birmingham,
and the pastor says there were at least
1000 persons in the edifice when the
stampede began.
Instructions had been issued to al
low no one else to enter after the
building had been filed, but the ne
groes forced their way inside the
church and were standing in every
aisle, the entrance was literally pack
ed.
The Starting Point.
Just as Booker Washington conclud-
ed his address Judge Billou, a negro
lawyer from Baltimore, engaged in an
alteration with the choir leader con-
corning an unoccupied seat. and it is
said a blow was struck. Someone in
the choir cried, They're fighting!"
Mistaking the world fighting" for
FIRE" the congregation rose en- masse
and started for the door. One of the
ministers quickly mounted the ros-
trum and admonished the people to
keep quiet. He repeated the word,
quiet several times, and motioned TO
his hearers to be seated.
Again the excited congregation mis-
took the word quiet" for second
alarm of fire and rushed for the door.
NACA anu WOMEN CTdWleQ OfCl UChShOH'
fought their way into the aisles, and
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 women and children
added to the horror of the scene, and
through mere fright many tainted. and
as they fell to the floor. were crushed
TO death.
The level of the floor is about fifteen
teet from the ground and long steps
lead to the sidewalk from the lobby
Just outside the main auditorium.
Brick walls extend on each side Of
these steps for six or seven feet and
mis- proved a veritable death trap.
"egroes who had reached the top OF
me steps were pushed violently for
ward. and many fell, Before they
could move others fell upon them, and
10 few moments persons were piled
phon each other 20 a hight OF ten
feet.
~ y stFnEEitna Mass,
This wall ~ struggling humanity
Nlel keG the entrance and the weight
s htlsen hundred persons was pushed