The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-07-14
THE TENT BLOWN OVER
THE CHRISTIAN ENDEAvoRERS
 THROWN INTO PANIC.
Eight Thousand Persons Were Under the Canvas at the Time, and Q Score Receive Slight
 Injuries.

4uJuI1SS.
 Denver, Colo, July ls.-The big tent Endeavor. in which the Christian Endeav- or Convention has been held for the last four days, was blown over this afternoon while more than 5000 persons were under the canvass, and nearly score of men and women were slightly injured Mrs. Jessie M. Thornburgh of Denver was the most severely hurt. Her nose was gashed and her scalp received several cuts.
 A. M. Ramsey of Chicago quickly sprang on chair and called to the people to hold up the canvass and poles This allowed air to circulate and prevented suffoca- ton. As 1t was, many women tainted and were extricated from the folds of the canvass with much difficulty.
 Mrs. winifred Sleep of Denver. who was in charge of St. Marks Hospital tent, seeing the catastrophe at the big tent, telephoned to the electric company to shut off the current. This prevented any damage from the live wires that had fallen with the tent poles.
 AS soon as most of the imprisoned delegates had been extricated from the folds of the tent, they congregated in the open air and held an impromptu praise service.
 The session was fin full progress in the tent. A sudden squall lifted up the big canvas as if it were a balloon. and the immense stretch of cloth bellied like sail in a gale. The guy ropes and the main poles were pulled from their places and the gust of wind momentarily ceasing. the tent roof collapsed.
 As the tent was in ascent many of the worshippers became panic-stricken. The screams sent up by hundreds of women was hushed by the fall of the canvas But before the collapse ended MT. Ramsey had had little time to spring on chair and to call on the men to hold up the can vas and to catch the poles as they fell. Hundreds of men sprang to their feet almost before MT. Ramsey called and those who were not tripped by the entan- gling canvas caught the poles. More than thousand persons, who had sat near the walls of the tent, escaped the coils and immediately formed themselves into a rescue corps. Those who had fainted and those who suffered from injuries were quickly removed to the hospital tent. The more seriously injured:
 Mrs. Thornburgh, Denver. wound in forehead, serious.
 Alleid Muruoch' OehFeF' WouAu III Aoie- head.
 J. c. Peters. Alamosa, Colo. scalp wound.
 Miss Mary Ellis, Denver. bruised.
 Miss Powers. Trenton, Neb., knee in- jured.
 Mrs. I. N. Johnson. Denver. bruised and tainted.
 K. c. Paterson, Allamosa, Colo. head cut by electric lamp.
 o~d latf oV hoc cl by large pole. The twenty-flrst biennial international Christian Endeavor Convention came to d close tonight with rallies in many of the places where meetings have been held during the past five days. The conven- ton was one of the most successful ever held both as regards attendance and as to the results obtained. The accident late this afternoon in the large tent in which several people were hurt is generally de- plored but congratulations are heard that the casualty list is no larger The final meeting of the convention which was to have been held in this tent was aban- doned praise meetings being held in va- rious parts of the city.
 At the Central Presbyterian Church banners made by Christian Endeavorers in Oriental countries were presented to State unions which were able to show as large as 10 per cent increase in member ship during the last year. The first prize went to the Nevada Union. Other State Unions that received banners were Ohio, Louisiana, Alabama, Oklahoma, Indian Territory, Indiana, Georgia, West Vir- ginia and New Mexico.
 Rev. E. Chivers of New York led the discussion on "Our Brother in Black at the session of the home mission study class during the afternoon. He drew from negro preachers and professors present tha dpnfa that rOl0rpd nraa rh- CT in the South was an educated man. The missionary schools, he thought, were the best means by which the colored preachers and teachers could properly be trained.
 The recent lynching of negroes was touched on and Mir. Chivers got all the colored people present to agree with him that all the outrages committed by the victims of mob violence were of the most fiendish sort and called for the severest punishment.
 But" said the speaker. there should not be one punishment for a black man and another for white one for similar crimes"
 Celia Armstrong of the Garfield Boule- yard Presbyterian Church of Cricago, whose special work Is among negroes, said she had heard the superintendent of a packing company in Chicago say that the negro was the probable solution of the labor problem and that unless the labor unions became more rational in their de- mands the black man would secure their positions.
 Joseph W. Folk of St. Louis was to have given an address on How Shall We Purify Municipal Politics?' at the after noon session in tent EndeaVor but he was unable to be present and Rev. Ira Land rith of Nashville, Tenn, spoke on the question.