Milford chronicle., 1906-01-26
EIGHTEEN KILLED
IN CHURCH PANIC
CrV of Fire Caused Wild Rush in
ColOred Baptist Church.
AWFUL JAM IN THE STAIRWAY

and injuries to nearly two-score of
others in St. Paurs Baptist church,
on the west side of Eighth street, near
Cirard avenue. The terrible rush to
! gain the street was of brief duration,
md that more were not killed in the
stampede was probably due to the fact
that the church was not crowded. At
the time the disaster occurred not
more than 800 persons were on the
second floor of the building, which,
with the gallery, was capable of ae-
commodating 600 to 700. The fire was
a triAing one, and was extinguished
before the fremen arrived. The smell
of smoke added to the panic, and de
snite the heroic work of Rev. E. w.
Johnson. the pastor of the church.
who tried in vain to allay the fears Of
the frightened worshippers, the terror
stricken people made desperate rush
to leave the church, only to be choked
M on the narrow stairway. Those IN
the rear leaped over the prostrate
forms of those who fell, and when the
rush was over Is lay dead on the first
floor and stairs of the building. Death
in nearly every case was due to sui:
location or trampling.
Woman shrieked Fire.
The disaster occurred while col
lection was being taken up. The pas
tor had lust concluded his sermon,
the text of which was: why sit we
here until we die?" Following the col
lection there was to have been bap
tism of a man and wife. AS the pastor
was arranging the pulpit preparatory
to beginning the baptismal service, a
woman in one of the front rows of the
left side of the altar gave a loud shrek
of fire. Instantly all those about her
were on their feet looking for the
blaze. There were no flames in sight
but those near the pulpit smelled
smoke and started down the aisle
toward the pulpit Then followed
half dozen cries of fire, and the whole
. congregation instantly became panic
' stricken. The pastor by this time
realized the seriousness of the situa
tion and in a loud voice. which only
added to the combustion, called to the
terror-stricken people to be seated. Nc
one listened, and despite his frantic
appeal a rush started that meant death
to many that were in it.
Awful Jam On Stairway.
When the rush started, those in the
rear of the church did not fully real
ize what was wrong, and were slow to
move. The frantic shrieking of the
women and children became louder and
more general. and many were knocked
down in the two aisles of the church
Then came the terrible rush down the
stairways. For some unknown reason
everybody tried to get down the LETT
side of the building, comparatively few
ATTEMPTING to leave by the right stair
wav One eye witness says that per-
haps a dozen persons got safely down
the stairs. when several people tripped
and fell and caused the narrow way
to become jammed. Several men on
the first floor attempted to hold the
people back, but were knocked down,
and then the human stream came tum-
bling down. The weaker ones fell, only
to be trampled upon and crushed by
those coming from behind.
The horrible shrieks sent up by the
prostrate persons added to the confu-
sion. and by this time even the cooler
ones in the rear of the fighting mass
of men. women and children became
terror stricken. Strong men, in fear
that the building was falling, leaped
over the heads of women and children,
and fought only for their own safety
A The terrific crush in the bend Of the
stairs became so great that the balus-
trade, which was only frail, wooden
affair. gave way. There was a terrible
crash as half a hundred persons were
precipitated to the floor, a distance Of
about 10 or II feet This heightened
the intensity of the panic, and the
rush became one awful jam.
The pastor of the church, a man Of
powerful physique and strong voice,
continued to appeal to the crowd in
the rear to stop their rush, but none
would hear. over the PROSTATE forms
the crowd went. crushing the life out
of those who were unable to extricate
themselves. In the confusion some of
the worshippers thought of the narrow
door on the right side of the pulpit and
made a quick exit that way, which
action on their part probably saved
the lives Of a number of those who
had been caught in the crush.
Terrible Sight On Stairway.
When those who came down the
front stairs had left the building ter
rible sight presented itself to the res
cuers The first floor and the stairway
to the bend were covered three deep
with the dead and dying. On the
street hundreds were shrieking for
help and looking for their missing
loved ones.
The ringing of the fire bells. the
clang of the ambulance gongs, the al
most total darkness and the thick fog
added to the grewsomeness of the
scene, and caused utter confusion for
a time. Order was soon brought about,