The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-04-27
AS If BY MIRACLE
NEGROES ESCAPED
CROWDED STAND COLLAPSED
AND TWO HUNDRED or MORE
SPECTATORS FELL TO GROUND.

Willie Jones Had Ribs BrOken-Oth-
ers Escaped Injury and Were
CInmOrinE to Get Money Back
When Police Arrived - Flimsy
Structure Had Been Erected just
East of Ball Park-When Crash
Came 5000 Spectators Held Their
Breath for Moment.
With a crash that sent a thrill
through the 5000 or more spectators
who had assembled in the Bolton
Street Park to witness the opening
game between Charleston and Savan-
nah, a fiimsy stand heavily loaded with
negroes collapsed yesterday afternoon.
Although in the neighborhoOd of 200
negroes fell.with the stand none We're
seriously injured. and only one man
required the attention of a physician,
Willie Jones' living in Gwinnett lane.
between Burroughs and Cuyler streets,
had a rib broken.
While those in the ball park shud-
dered for a moment they were forced
to laugh the next instant at the sight
of the falling negroes. The crowds in the
park experienced the shock when the
timbers parted, but as the occupants
of the stand tumbled the spectators
were unable to refrain from laughing.
Escape Was Miraculous.
It was fully expected that there
would be a dozen or more broken
necks, scores of broken bones and in
D. No
one would have believed at the time
that the collapsing of the stand was
not attended by loss of life. The stand
went down in a heap and the occupants
fell in every conceivable fashion.
Because of the high fence surround
ing the park the spectators we're I'M
able 10 tell just what happened when
the negroes struck the ground, and m
the absence of positive proof of the
number OF killed and wounded they
laughed For there was a ludicrous
side TO the accident. The manner IN
which the negroes disappeared from
view was highly amusing and tended
to make those whose attention had
been attracted by the crash forget the
serious side Of the accident.
Grabbed at Thin Air.
Cutching frantically at the falling
tlmbers. and at each other, the occu- |
pants of the stand plunged downward. |
Some of them fen side ways some |
head first and others feet downward. !
The last man going down was the one |
who was really responsible for the |
shouts that went up from the crowd. |
He grabbed madly at thin air and used |
his legs as well as his hands in an eff |
fort to find something 10 break his |
fall. lie landed on the heads and bodies |
of those who had gone before him.
But if the actual falling of the |
stand was funny the scene that |
was enacted Immediately afterwards, |
on the outside. is difficult to describe. |
The stand had hardly struck the
ground before the superintendent OF
police and some of his men at the
park were on the outside. They fully
expected that the services of physi-
Clans ambulances, undeTtakers and the
coroner would be required. and did not
delay in getting to the scene.
wanted Their Money Back.
Jones was the only man stretched |
out, and none Of those who had been |
sitting on the stand had a wound that |
produced blood. one or two claimed to |
have slight wounds in the head. and |
several were rubbing their shns. but |
Jones was the only man who had real |
ly been injured. The other negroes |
were exercised because they had paid |
cents TO see the game, and were |
making strenuous efforts to get their |
money back That was the situation |
when the police reached the yard into |
which the stand had fallen.
Negroes in adjoining stands were not |
at all nervous. and continued to watch |
the game without even knowing If any |
of those on the stand that collapsed |
had been seriously injured. An inves- |
tigation by the superintendent of po- |
lice developed the fact that all of the |
stands outside of the park were fiimsy |
and apt to collapse, with loss of life, !
at any minute.
stands Were All Cleared.
After a conference with Mayor Ny |
ers, who was in the park, the super |
intendent had Detective Nose Davis |
and several Of the uniformed men clear |
the other stands.
A howl went up from those who |
had paid to occupy the stands but |
the police took no part in the settling |
OF the claims against those who had |
erected the stands. These stands will |
all probably be ordered pulled down by |
the building inspector to-day. In cases |
where no permits were issued for the |
building OF the stands the owners may |
be docketed.
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