The Canton times., 1902-09-26
Stampede In the Shiloh Negro Dap
tist Church at Birming-
ham, Ala.
THE DEATH LIST SIMPLY APPALLING.
Seventy-E Eight Persons. Attending tne
tional Convention of Negro Baptists'
Dead and as Many More Injured
describabIe Scenes Around the Church
Dead Everywhere.

awful crush of humanity caused by
stampede in the Shiloh Negro Baptist
church at Avenue G and Eighteenth
street, Friday night, between 70 ana
so person were killed and as many
jured.
The catastrophe occurred at nine
o'clock, just as Booker I. Washington
had concluded his address to the ma
tional convention of Baptists, and for
three hours the scenes around the
church were indescribable.
The church is the largest house OF
worship for negroes in Birmingham,
/ and the pastor says there were az
least two thousand persons in the edl-
fee when the stampede began
| sThey Are Fighting"
Just as Booker T. Washington con-
cluded his address Judge Billou, ne
gro lawyer from Baltimore, engaged
in an alteration with the choir lead
er concerning an unoccupied seat, and
it is said blow was struck. Some
one in the choir cried They're fight
ing"
Mistaking the word 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 mistook the
word "quiet" for fire and renewed
the struggle to the door. The men
and women crawled over benches,
fought their way into the aisles, and
those who had fallen were trampled
upon like cattle.
A Struggling Mass of Humanity.
The ministers tried again and again
to stop the stampede, but no power
on earth could stay the struggling,
fighting mass of humanity. The
screams of women and children add
ed to the horror of the scene, and
through mere fright many persons
tainted and as they fell to the t1oor
were crushed to death.
| blocked the Entrance.
Negroes who had reached the top
of the steps we're pushed violently
forward and many fell. Before they
could move others fell upon them,
and in Is minutes persons were piled
| upon each other to height of ten
| feet. This wall of struggling human
ity blocked 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 sutfocation.
Two white men, who were in the rear
of the church when the rush began
escaped, and realizing the seriousness
of the situation, rushed to 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 was also FASTENED to
the church and with the firemen final
ly succeeded in releasing the negroes
from their pinioned positions in the
entrance.
Il The Sight Was sickening.
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
sustaining broken limbs and interna
injuries.
In an hour the church had beer
practically cleared, and sights which
greeted the eyes of these who hat
} come to aid the injured was sicken
ing. Down the al les and along tn
outside of the pews the dead bodie
the cries of the MANNED and cripple'
were heartrending. In few minute
the work of removing the bodies wa
begun.
Most of the Dead Are Women.
Most of the dead are women, an
the physicians say in many case
they tainted and died from suffocs
. ton. remarkable feature of tn
calamity is that no blood was see
on any of the victims. They wer
, either crushed or died frcm suffocs
. tion.
Mayor w. NJ. Drennen said: "Mos
: of those killed are strangers, bu
their bodies will be cared for unit
!, identified and claimed by relatives"
1
e Heard Mr.. Bryan Speak.
{ Cairo. Ill, Sept. e0.-Fully te
: thousand people heard Hon. Willial