Adams County news. [volume] (Ritzville, Wash.) 1898-1906, 1902-09-24
N2 KILLED IN A PANIC
IN A NEGRO BAPTIST CHURCH.
Birmingham, Alabama Scene of an
Auful Calamity-Some One Hollered
Fire and Then Stampede Was on
People Ten Feet Deep Booker Wash
iugton Had Finished His Address.

Birmingham, Ala, Sept 23.-In an
awful crush of humanity, caused by
stampede i'll the Shiloh negro Baptist
church at Avenue q and Eighteenth
street | l2 persons We're killed and as
many seriously injured. The catastru-
phe occurred at 3 O'Clock, just rs
Booker Il, Washington had concluded
his address to the national convention of
Baptists, and for three huors the scenes
around the church We're indescribable.
Dead bodies were strcwn around i'll
every direction, and the ambulance
service of the city was utterly unable
to remove them until after o'clock.
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 We're laid out
on the benches inside.
The church is the largest one for
negroes in Birmingham, and the pastor
says there We're at least two thousand
persons in the edifice when the stam-
pede begun. Instructions had been is
sued to allow no more to enter but the
negroes forced their way inside the
building and We're standing in very
aisle. Even the entrance to the church
was literally packed. just AS Booker
II. Washington conc uded his address,
Judge Billou, negro leader from Bal
timore engaged in an alteration with
the choir leader concerning an unoc-
cupied seat, and it is said, blow was
struck. Someone in the choir cried,
They re fighting
Mistaking the word lighting" for
fire, the congregation rose en- masse
and started for the door. 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 seated. Again the ex-
cited congregation mistook the word
quiet" for fire" and renewed the
struggle for the door.
Men and women crawled over the
benches and fought their way into the
aisles, and those who had fallen sswere
trampled on like cattle. The miniter
tried again and again to stop the stam-
pede 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
through mere fright many persons
faited and as they fell to the floor theyn
were crushed to death.
The level of the floor is about 8 feet
from the ground and long steps lead
to the sidewalk form the lobby Just out
side the main auditorium.
Brick walls extend no each side OF
the steps for six or seven feet ,and these
proved 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 Is min
utes persons were piled to height of
ten feet This wall Of struggling hum
anity blocked the entrance, and the
weight of 1900 persons was pushed
against it. More than 20 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 near
by and turned in n fire alarm. The de-
partment 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 was also hastened
the church, and with the firemen fin
ally succeeded in releasing the negroes
from their position in the entrance.
The dead bodies were quickly re-
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, sustain
ing broken limbs and internal injuries.
In an hour the church had been prac
tically 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
women were strewn, and the cries of
the manned and crippled were heart
rending. In few minutes the work
Of removing the bodies was begun.
The Shiloh church is located Just on
the edge Of the Souht Highlands, the
fashionable residence section of the
city, and all the physicians living in
that part Of the town went to the assis-
tance of the Injured. As many Of the
suffering negroes as could be moved
by the ambulances were taken 10 the