Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1906-02-01
I8 PERISH IN PANIC

10 PERISH LIN PANlC
WILD STAMPEDE IN coLoRED
CHURCH IN PHILADELPHIA.
Weaker Ones Trampled to Death in
Marrow stairway-Nearly Two Score
Injured-BIaze Was Trifing One
and Was Quickly Extinguished.
Philadelphia, Jan. = A wild panic
following a loud shrek of fire"
brought death to eighteen colored per-
sons and injuries to nearly two score
of others in st. Paul's Baptist church
on the west side of Eighth street, be-
tween Poplar street and Girard ave-
nue.. The terrible rush to gain the
street was OF brief duration, and that
more were not killed in the stampede
vas 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 accommodate
ing 600 to 700. The IRE was triaing
one and was eXtinguished before the
firemen arrived. The smell OF smoke
added to the panic and despite the
heroic work OF the Rev. e. w. john
son, the pastor of the church, who
tried in vain to allay the fears of the
frightened worshipers, the terror
stricken people made desperate rush
to leave the church, only to be
choled up on the narrow stairway.
Those in the rear leaped over the
PROSTATE forms of those who fell, and
when the rush was over eighteen lay
dead on the first floor and stairs of
the building. Death in nearly every
case was due to suffocation or tramp.
ling.
Following is a list Of the identified
dead: Sarah Ruling, Mrs. Lawrence,
Mrs. Patton, Ruth Framer, John Ber-
ry, Anna Alexander, Mamie Mckinney,
Susie Holmes, Mrs. Mary Weblock,
Charles Gardiner, Mamie Mccall, Aboz
Slaughter, Catherine Sewel, Ruth
Trainer.
The disaster occurred while a col
lection was being taken up. The
pastor had just concluded his SER
mon, the text of which was why Sit
We Here Until We Die?"
When the rush started those in the
rear of the church did not fully realize
| 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 I'M
known reason everybody tried to get
down the left side of the building,
I comparatively few attempting to leave
| by the right stairway. One eye-wit-
ness says that perhaps dozen per-
sons got safely down the stairs when
| several people tripped and fell and
caused the narrow way to become
damned. Several men on the first
| floor attempted to hold the people
back, but We're knocked down and
|
| 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 pros
trate persons added to the confusion,
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 chill
dren and fought only for their own
| safety.
The terrific crush in the bend of
tie stairs became so great that the
| balustrade, which was only a frail
wooden affair, gave way. There was
q terrible crash as half q hundred per-
sons were precipitated to the floor a
distance o. about twelve feet This
heightened the intensity of the panic
and the rush became an awful jam.
The pastor of the church continued to
appeal to the crowd in the rear to
stop their rush, but none would heed.
Over the PROSTATE forms the crowd
went, crushing the lives out of those
who were unable to extricate them
selves.
When those who came down the
front stairs had left the building a
terrible sight presented itself to the
rescuers. The first floor and the
stairway were covered three deep with
dead and dying. On the street hun
dreds were shrieking for help and
looking for their missing loved ones.