The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-12-07
BURNED AT WEDDING
FLOOR OF NEGRO HOUSE COL LAPSED DURING CEREMONY.
An oil Lamp Overturned and Exploded and Crowd of Negroes Were Ter TOT Stricken--Three Persons
 Horribly Injured.

During the marriage ceremony of a negro couple in the front room or g. little frame house at 4 Maggie Street about 9 o'clock last night when the room was crowded with negroes, g. floor joisti supporting the floor broke In two. threw the assembled guests into a heap in the center of the room. oversetting a lamp in the hands of one of the women which exploded and ignited her clothing and in the. fire which followed burned her terribly about the face and body.
 Nit Barlow, the burned woman was holding her baby in one arm and the lamp in the other. When the force Of the falling floor came upon her she was thrown with the rest to the floor and the lamp hit the floor with an ex- plosive crash. Flames from the burning oil leaped into the air and en- veloped the body of the screaming wo- man.
 wild stampede followed the vision of the fire and men, women and chill dren were trampled under foot by the frightened crowd of negroes. Those of the crowd. more cool-headed and courageous than the rest. dragged the helpless woman into the street and lit- orally tore her clothes from her body in their efforts to extinguish the fire which spread over her prostrate form and curled. sizzling Into her hair.
 The woman, wild with frenzy had stood by her child to the last, how ever and, through the whole wild scene, she clasped her babe tightly to her breast. The child was burned frightfuliy about the face and body.
 The mother and child were taken to their home just across the street from the scene of the accident and were put to bed while friends did all in their power to make them easy while await ing the arrival of a physician. Both may recover from the burns although it is highly probable that neither will survive.
 Tunie Perry. q negress, was also burned severely about the legs and will be confined to her bed for some time although her injuries are regard ed as painful more than danGa'ous.
 Just as the woman who was seated on the stool before the organ in a corner of the room touched the keys of the instrument and played the first bars of the wedding march, the ush- CTS made room for the couple to enter the densely crowded room by gently pushing the negroes back. Tho in- creased weight on the section of the floor caused the .LreaH strained joist to break and the entire crowd was
 
 in one mass in the sunken center of the floor. The organ with the woman on the stool in front of 1t went sliding down the inclined floor but luckily, 1t retained It's balance and did not topple over on the helpless pile of struggling humanity.
 When the flames burst out amid the screams of women and the curses and groans of men. wild scramble to get out of the place occurred Women and men jumped and fell through the windows and damned themselves into the door places in their frantic efforts to reach safety. In the course of a few moments that seemed like hours to the imprisoned negroes. the room was cleared of the crowd. Then 1t was found that the only fire was that which burned about the clothes of the women, Nit Barlow and Tunie Perry.
 The fire did practically no damage in the room. After the spilled oil had burned Itself out the flickering rem nants of the blaze were smothered by helpers and when the firemen who had been summoned to the scene by Patrol men Swearingen turning in the alarm from a nearby box, reached the house, there was no work for them to do.
 Patrolfnan Swearingen was standing short distance from the house when he heard the crash and explosion and