The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1902-09-23
lBy the Assoeiated pressl

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
| just as Booker T. Washington had con-
| cluded his address TO the National Con
| yention OF Negro Baptists, and for three
hours the scenes around the church were
| ndescribabIe Dead bodies were strewn
| IN every direction and the ambulance
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 arranged in
| rows on the ground outside the house or
| worship awaiting removal TO the various
| undertaking establishments while more
| than score We're laid out on the benches
| inside.
| The church is the largest house OF wor-
| ship for negroes in Birmingham. and the
pastor says there We're at least 2000
| 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 Booker Washington concluded
his address Judge Dillou, negro lawyer
| from Baltimore engaged in an alterca-
| tion with the choir leader concerning an
| unoccupied seat, and it is said a blow
| was struck Some one in the choir cried
| They fighting" Mistaking the word
| iph noy'' fro no
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 motioncd to
his hearers to be seauted.
Again the excited congregation mstook
| the word quiet" for a second alarm of
fire. and rushed for the door Men and
women crawled over benches, 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 hu-
| manity.
The screams of women and children
added to the horror of the scene, and the
more frightened persons tainted, and as
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
vertable 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
| upon each other to a height of ten feet
This wall of struggling humanity block
ed the entrance and the weight of 300
) persons was pushed against it, More
than twenty persons lying on the steps
underneath the heap OF bodies died from
| SuffOcatiCn.
Il Two white men. who were in the rear
of the church when the rush began, cs-
capped and realizing the seriousness of
the situation rushed to corner nearby
and turned in q 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 firemen finally sue
ceeded in relieving the negroes from thcil
| llhloHtu DcSlIlOn IN the entrance.
A HEART-RENDING SCENE.
! The dead bodies We're 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 pcWs the dead
bodies CT men and women were strcwh
: and the cries Of the manned and Grip
pied were heart -rending In few min
utes the work of removing the bodies
? was begun and the walls OF the relatives
of the dead who had waited or 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 this city,
' and all the physicians living in that
! part Of town went to the assistance Of
1 the injured.
AS many of the suffering negroes a.
: could be moved by the ambulancls We're
? taken TO hospitals and the rest were LAID
out the ground and thcre the physi-
; clans attended them. Al least fifteen q
> those brought out injured, died before
they could be moved from the ground
2 During the stampede Booker r. Wash
; ington and several other prominent ne
gro leaders were on the stage AM We're
unwilling witnesses to the frghtlul "a
2 tastrophe None of those in the choir
or in the pulpit were injured in the least.
Z For a few minutes they attempted 10
restore order but seeing their efforts
: were futile waited until the struggling
t crowd had advanced far enough for them
to pick uD the dead and injured.
d Most Of the dead are women and tho
o physicians say in many cases they faint
ed and died from suffocatiOn. A remark