The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1902-09-27
AN AWFUL STAMPEDE
OyER ONE HUNDRED NEGROES
KILLED IN A PANIC At
BIRMINGHAM, ALA.

KILLED IN A PANIC At
BIRMINGHAM, ALA.
FrishtfuI Rush Follows a Mistaken
Cry Of "Fire" and Hundreds Are
Trampled Under Foot-Disaster Oc.
Cured at the National Baptist Con.
vention and the Edifice Was Filled
10 the Doors.
Birmingham. Ala, Sept. 22-It is
now estimated that lis persons, al!
colored, perished in the disaster here
caused by panic in the Shiloh negro
Baptist church, where the national
convention of negro Baptists is being
held. OF this number fully 100 were
killed during the panic and the others
have since died of injuries received.
AT least 100 others were seriously
hurt and number of them may die.
Investigation shows that no white
tSoliS WHY NlAlOu III IAO poAAS. a
number of white visitors were in the
church at the time and several of them
were hurt in the wild scramble but
none will die. Policeman Elledge, who
was standing at the exit endeavoring
to quiet the mad throng, was caught
between the moving multitude and the
wall in the narrow passageWay leading
Il TO ctotr ,.11 oil hi
clothing was torn from his body. His
legs were also mashed, but he will re.
cover. His efforts to quiet the crowd
were utterly futile and not until the
FIRE department and large number Of
officers arrived on the scene was any
thing like order restored. Then it was
found that practically everybody had
est the speakers stand seemed to
| quickly realize that there was no fire
and no occasion for panic and the
speaker and the leaders passed outside
| through door at the rear OF the pull.
pit where they addressed the wild
mob OF struggling humanity in an earn.
! est effort to restore order. Booker T.
Washington was among the numb er
| An examination of the bodies of the
victims shows that very many of them
died of suffocaton, the cong estion OF
humanity in the vestibule and passage
way where the crush occurred being so
great.
Cause Of the Catastrophe.
The church is the largest house OF
worship for negroes in Birmingham
and the pastor says there were at least
1900 persons in the edifice when the
stampede began.
Just as Booker T. Washington con-
cluded his address Judge Billou, a ne
gro lawyer from Baltimore, engaged
in an alteration with the choir lead
Ell concerning an unoccupied seat and,
| it is said, blow was struck. Some
one in the choir cried fight"
Mistaking the word fight" for fire, "
| the congregation rose en- masse and
started for the door. One of the min
| listers quickly mounted the rostrum
and admonished the people to keep
quiet. He repeated the word quiet
several times and motioned to his hear
ers to be seated. But the excited con.
gregation mistook the word quiet
for fire" and renewed the struggle to
reach the door.
| Men and women crawled over
benches and fought their way into the
aisles and those who had fallen were
trampled under foot. The ministers
tried again and again to stop the
stampede, but no power on earth, ap.
parently, 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 persons tainted, and
as they fell to the floor were crushed
to death.
The level of the floor is about fif-
teen feet from the ground, and long
steps lead to the sidewalk from the
lobby just outside the main audito.
rum. Brick walls extend on each side
of these steps for six or seven feet,
and this proved veritable death trap
Many Crushed to Death.
Negroes who had reached the top of
the steps were pushed violently for.
ward and many fell. Before they
could move others fell upon them and
in fifteen minutes persons were piled
upon one another to height of ten
feet. This wall of living beings
blocked the entire entrance, and the
weight of 1,500 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 a corner
nearby and turned in fire alarm.
The department came 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 also fastened to
the church and with the firemen re.
leased the negroes from their pinione.l
positions in the entrance. The dead
We're quickly removed and the crowd
inside, finding an outlet, came pouring
out. Scores of them lost their foot.
ing and rolled down the long steps to
the pavement, sustaining broken limbs
and internal injuries.
In an hour the church had been
cleared and the sight which greeted
the eyes of those who had come to aid
the injured was sickening. Down the
aisles and along the outside of the
pews the dead bodies of men and wo.
men were strewn, and the cries of the
MANNED and crippled were heartrend.
ing. In a few minutes the work of
rescue was begun and in short time
scores of dead and injured were taken
| ont