trampling, Natchez, MS — 209

lornajarrettblanchard April 23, 1940

— 212 AP. “212…Burned to Death at Natchez…” Gulfport-Biloxi Daily Herald. 4-24-1940, p1.

— 209 Blanchard. (We consider the MS Dept. of Archives & History 209 figure authoritative.)

— 209 Kuk, M. L. “A Nightclub, A Fire…And a Generation Vanishes.” Firehouse, 10-27-2010.

— 209 MS Dept. Archives & History. Rhythm Night Club (road marker).[1] MS Blues Travelers.

— 209 Visit Natchez 300 –1716-2016 —. “Rhythm Night Club Fire.” Circa 2016.

— 209 Wikipedia. “Rhythm Club fire.” 9-10-2017 edit.[2]

— 207 MS State Rating Bureau. “The Natchez Dance Hall Holocaust.” NFPA Quarterly, 34/1, 70.

— 207 NFPA. Deadliest public assembly and nightclub fires (website). Feb 2013 update.[3]

— 207 NFPA Quarterly. “Fires in Which There Was Loss of Life.” V. 34, No. 1, July 1940, 90.

— 207 National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996.

— 207 NFPA. U.S. Unintentional Fire Death Rates by State. December 2008, p. 22.

— 207 National Fire Sprinkler Association. F.Y.I. 1999, p. 6.

–>200 Barlay, Stephen. Fire: An International Report. 1973, p. 26.

— 200 Hattiesburg American, MS. “Natchez Needs Grave Diggers.” 4-216-1940, p. 9.

— 198 AP. “Survivors Tell of Fight at Natchez Fire.” Delta Democrat-Times, MS, 4-25-1940, 1.

— 198 New York Times. “The Century’s Worst Fires.” 3-26-1990.

Narrative Information

Mississippi State Rating Bureau: “The utter disregard for ordinary fire preventive measures in a dance hall in Natchez, Mississippi, changed what was to be a gala, rhythm evening on Tuesday, April 23 last, into a grim catastrophe that wiped out the lives of 207… The hazards disregarded included (1) the use of highly combustible material for decorating purposes, (2) inadequate exits and (3) the overcrowding of places of assembly.

“In the 1850’s Natchez was a flourishing cotton growing center of 18,500. Now, it is a very quiet and very old river town of 16,000. Sixty per cent of its population is negro. Lately, Natchez has become famous for its antebellum homes, which thousands of tourists visit each year. More recently, the town has become famous for the dance hall tragedy which occurred there on the evening of April 23.

“On that evening, Walter Barnes, a Vicksburg, Mississippi, negro, was bringing his Chicago swing band to the Rhythm Club in Natchez for a one-night stand. Tickets were selling for fifty cents apiece and the cream of the Natchez negro population was turning out to pay its respects to a successful negro from the home state. Some came to mingle with society, listen to the music and depart early. Most came to dance and depart late. The ticket-taker in the lobby of the building took in 577 paid admissions, and 150 passes. Also in the dance hall were 14 members of the orchestra and five attendants, bringing the total to 746. At eleven P.M. probably a small number had departed.

“Then with almost lightning speed, the dance hall became a blazing inferno. So swiftly did the flames spread that the merrymakers were caught entirely unawares. At 11:15 the fire department received a first alarm by telephone. Shortly thereafter, the fire was brought under control and extinguished. It was believed that all occupants of the building had escaped until members of the fire department went inside the smouldering ruins. There, victims by the score were piled one on top of the other, their clothing burned, their bodies charred. With but a few exceptions, all were dead. Many of those who showed some spark of life died en route to the hospital.

Construction of the Building

“The building had served two purposes before it was converted into a dance hall by the members of the Rhythm Club. At one time it had been a garage; previous to that it is said that it had also been a church. The building was 38 feet wide and 120 feet long.

“There were 24 window openings in the building, of which two in the game room (front right) were iron barred. A third window in the game room had ordinary glass, while all other window openings in the building were covered over by shutters to obstruct the view of the curious and to make the hall usable in the winter time, All of the shutters opened to the inside and were about four feet above the floor level. Some of the shutters were held secure by sliding latches. The majority of them were nailed shut. Very few of those trapped were able to make an escape through the window openings.

“The sides of the building were constructed of two by four wooden studs covered with corrugated metal. Inside, one-inch ship-lap lined the building for a distance of five feet above the floor. The lining prevented those trapped from breaking through the side walls. The corrugated metal construction turned the building into an oven when the fire began to spread.

“There were two entrances, but each was located in the front and one was padlocked from the outside. To all intents and purposes, then, there was but one exit available to those trapped in the building when the fire broke out. Although the single available door opened to the inside, it is not believed that this increased the loss of life, for there was no accumulation of bodies in the lobby. Without a doubt, however, the door did act as a check valve for those who were trying to get out.

“The single door opened into a narrow entrance way about six feet deep, at the end of which were a pair of double swinging doors, which also opened to the inside and into a lobby. The lobby was a room about 24 by 27 feet. The dance floor itself was reached from the lobby through a single door mounted on a flimsy partition and which opened to the outside. The hazard created by the doors which opened. into the lobby can readily be seen.

“The dance floor gave the impression of a long cave. The entire ceiling was covered with gray Spanish moss supported by wires strung in both directions. The moss was everywhere from six inches to a foot in thickness and was intended to conceal the roof space. The draped moss added to the cave-like atmosphere of the dance floor, for it was stalactite-like in appearance. Not unlike stalactites, it was estimated that the moss had hung in the building for two or three years as decorative material. It was tinder dry…..

Progress of the Fire.

“….Although the cause of the fire could not be definitely established, it was believed that a lighted cigarette or match somehow found its way into the moss decorations. Someone was heard saying, “Now you did it. You set the place on fire.” For a moment, there was nothing. Then, a blinding sheet of flame near the hamburger stand.

“Panic seized…[those] standing about on the dance floor as the blaze spread toward them. As the moss began to burn, it fell to the floor and formed a wall of fire between those in the rear of the hall and the single exit. Many tried to reach the exit through the burning moss. Their clothes were ignited immediately. Their cries of horror and pain probably stopped others from doing likewise.

“Meanwhile, the falling moss extended its wall of flame from the front to the rear of the dance hall. The merrymakers found themselves being driven to the rear wall of the building where, ultimately, they were to be either suffocated or trampled to death. Few were able to beat through the nailed shutters of the windows with chairs. Those who did escape in such a manner received horrifying burns, and most did not-live. The majority of those trapped at the rear end of the building were either suffocated or baked by the superheated temperature of the corrugated iron.

“Once the fire department had arrived, it was a comparatively simple matter to stop the blaze. No part of the building burned completely nor did any part of the building collapse. In order to remove the seared remains of those 198…trapped and cremated, it was necessary to tear away a portion of the sheet iron at the rear of the building. Of the few who were still found alive, nine died from the shock which they had undergone. Many of the victims were comparatively young — sixteen and seventeen years of age….” (MS State Rating Bureau. “The Natchez Dance Hall Holocaust.” NFPA Quarterly, Vol. 34, No. 1, July 1940, pp. 70-75.)

Kuk: “….The attendees that evening were a cross section of Natchez’s black community. On average, their ages ranged from 15 to 25. Almost every black family in Natchez had at least one family member or friend at the Rhythm Night Club that night to listen to Barnes’ orchestra. A severe negative impact on Natchez’s youthful black generation was in the making….

“Druetter [William], who later became chief of department, was at the front of the structure during the firefight. The well-placed hose stream at the front entrance knocked down the fire in about 10 minutes or less, he estimated. Druetter, in his recall of the event several years later, remarked that “the fire was a seething mass of flames, making it impossible for anyone to enter or exit the front of the building.” No one came out of the building on their own while the volunteers worked their hoseline….

“Several firefighters, none with smoke masks, tried to make their way into the still-burning club to pull anyone they could see to safety. One came crawling back out and told his teammates that he could not pull anyone out, as he felt that he had run into a huge pile of bodies. His report was soon to be found correct. When the flames died and the smoke cleared, a gruesome scene unfolded….

“Throughout the night, the firemen, several medical authorities and many civilian helpers worked tirelessly to find any signs of life inside the night club. As floodlights were brought in from the fire engines to light the interior, the scene that greeted emergency workers was too much to bear at times. Bodies were piled on top of each other, many collapsed under the shuttered windows, and all were frozen in time as various stages of human survival could display. One young woman tried to hide in the refrigerator, hoping that neither flame nor smoke would be her doom, but her luck ran out….

“Although most of the dead died from a combination of smoke inhalation and oxygen-deficient atmospheres, there were also a number of bodies severely burnt and could not be identified. They were to share a mass grave.

“The popular bandleader, Walter Barnes, did what he could until the end came for him and most of his musicians. He continued to have the band play their music while he spoke calmly over the microphone, hoping to get the crowd into some style of orderly manner for exit purposes. Unfortunately, the power of the fire overtook his courageous efforts. What he and his band members did is respectfully remembered and has become part of their legend. When his funeral took place in Chicago, an estimated 15,000 mourners attended. A mute reminder of the musicians’ loss was parked on the adjacent street. Barnes’ decorated tour bus sat in a cold, silent and resolute testament that his last gig had been performed….

“The investigation of the fire proved a repeat of findings that fire officials were all too familiar with. Overcapacity with an improper number of exits headed the list. What openings did exist were not designed to open to the outside. Flammable decorations, in particular the Spanish moss, hung everywhere. No first-aid firefighting equipment was available.

“What grew out of this affected fire protection and prevention efforts on a large scale throughout Natchez. The posted Building Occupant Capacity sign was to be a permanent fixture in places of public assembly. The development of “panic bar” hardware was perfected. And the impetus for a fully paid fire department for Natchez was started. The city was to create a career force with a full-time chief and fire inspector. They were to be jointly responsible for seeing that the city adopt and enforce solid fire prevention codes and ordinances….” (Kuk, Michael L. “A Nightclub, A Fire…And a Generation Vanishes.” Firehouse, 10-27-2010.)

NFPA: “April 23, 1940, Natchez, Miss. Two hundred and seven negroes lost their lives when fire swept through a dance hall. Because there was but one exit and all windows were boarded up, only a few of the dancers were able to escape from the building. All but nine of the victims were trapped in the building; nine died subsequently from burns and smoke.” (NFPA Quarterly. “Fires in Which There Was Loss of Life.” Vol. 34, No. 1, July 1940, p.90.)

Newspaper

April 24: “Natchez, April 24–(AP)–The death list today mounted to the staggering toll of 212 in a Spanish-moss fed fire which swept through the Rhythm Night Club last night stampeding 300 negro dancers into a holocaust…Of the survivors eight remained in the hospital in critical condition….An attaché of Charity hospital declared that 30 or 40 of the victims were brought to the institution for treatment and that about 15 of them died en route. Eleven victims died in the hospital after being treated….

“The origin of the fire was undetermined but one theory advanced by a witness was that it started from the careless lighting of a cigarette by a girl dancer coming out of the women’s rest room near the front of the building. Ernest Wright, elevator operator for the Eola hotel who went to get his wife at the dance just after he left his job…said he saw two girls come out of the women’s room and heard one of the say to the other: ‘Now you did it. You set the place on fire.’

“The building was entirely closed in with corrugated iron and constructed with two-by-fours with the old moss hanging from chicken wire fastened like a net on cross rafters about eight feet above the floor. Windows had been boarded up, one witness said, to prevent persons from ‘peeping in’ or slipping in free….

“Walter Audrey, 35, the bar tender, said he escaped by breaking out the boards and glass panes in one window near the orchestra and helped a number of others out before the window got choked with humanity and the crowd jammed into a pile of burned human flesh in the corner.

“The coroner said bodies were ‘piled up like cordwood.’….‘From my examination, it appeared that most of the people died of suffocation. A majority of the victims were about 15 or 16 years old. There were about as many men as women victims.’….

“Smith [coroner?] declared that 10 of the 12 members of the Walter Barnes’ orchestra of Chicago, which played last night, perished….

“Most of the dead were found piled up near the orchestra stand, away from the one exit.

“The place was known as the Rhythm Night Club and sponsored regular dances at which ‘big-name’ bands played. It is located on St. Catherine street, in the negro section but only a few blocks from the Natchez commercial area….” (AP. “212 Negroes Burned to Death at Natchez Dance.” Gulfport-Biloxi Daily Herald, MS. 4-24-1940, p. 1.)

April 25: “Natchez, Miss., April 25 (AP)–Pop bottles, fists, clawing hands and the crash of heavy shoulders into yielding bodies — were all used by the doomed in the rhythm night club fire which took 198…lives….

“When the 15 minute blaze was extinguished in the place which had become a roasting oven encased in iron, burned and lacerated dead and dying were found with cloths torn and piled upon one another, broken bottles on the floor and women’s clothes scattered everywhere….” (AP. “Survivors Tell of Fight at Natchez Fire.” Delta Democrat-Times, Greenville, MS, 4-25-1940, 1)

April 26: “Natchez, Miss., April 26.–Bewildered undertakers sought help today in recruiting grave diggers as they continued embalming bodies of 200…who were killed in the Rhythm Night club fire Tuesday night….

“Mayor Byrne said he was seeking approval of a WPA[4] project to secure workers to dig graves for the victims, who were trapped in the one-exit dance hall when Spanish moss, used as a decoration, caught fire.” (Hattiesburg American, MS. “Natchez Needs Grave Diggers.” 4-26-1940, p. 9.)

Sources

Associated Press. “212 Negroes Burned to Death at Natchez Dance.” Gulfport-Biloxi Daily Herald, MS. 4-24-1940, p. 1. Accessed 9-28-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/biloxi-daily-herald-apr-24-1940-p-1/?tag

Associated Press. “Survivors Tell of Fight at Natchez Fire.” Delta Democrat-Times, Greenville, MS, 4-25-1940, p. 1. Accessed 9-28-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/greenville-delta-democrat-times-apr-25-1940-p-1/?tag

Barlay, Stephen. Fire: An International Report. Brattleboro, VT: Stephen Greene Press, 1973.

Kuk, Michael L. “A Nightclub, A Fire…And a Generation Vanishes.” Firehouse, 10-27-2010. Accessed 9-28-2017 at: http://www.firehouse.com/article/10465797/a-nightclub-a-fireand-a-generation-vanishes

Mississippi Department of Archives & History. Rhythm Night Club – Natchez, Mississippi (website). Accessed 9-28-2017 at: http://www.mississippibluestravellers.com/rhythm-night-club-natchez-mississippi/

Mississippi State Rating Bureau. “The Natchez Dance Hall Holocaust.” Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association, Vol. 34, No. 1, July 1940, pp. 70-75.

National Fire Protection Association. Deadliest public assembly and nightclub fires (website). Feb 2013 update. Accessed 9-28-2017 at: http://www.nfpa.org/public-education/by-topic/property-type-and-vehicles/nightclubs-assembly-occupancies/deadliest-public-assembly-and-nightclub-fires

National Fire Protection Association. “Fires in Which There Was Loss of Life. Second Quarter, 1940.” Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association, Vol. 34, No. 1, July 1940, p.90-91.

National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996. Accessed 2010 at: http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=1352&itemID=30955&URL=Research%20&%20Reports/Fire%20statistics/Key%20dates%20in%20fire%20history&cookie%5Ftest=1

National Fire Protection Association (John Hall, Jr.). U.S. Unintentional Fire Death Rates by State. Quincy, MA: NFPA, 31 pages, December 2008.

National Fire Sprinkler Association, Inc. F.Y.I. – Fire Sprinkler Facts. Patterson, NY: NFSA, November 1999, 8 pages. Accessed at: http://www.firemarshals.org/data/File/docs/College%20Dorm/Administrators/F1%20-%20FIRE%20SPRINKLER%20FACTS.pdf

New York Times. “The Century’s Worst Fires.” 3-26-1990. Accessed 9-28-2017 at: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE2D9113CF935A15750C0A966958260&n=Top%2FReference%2FTimes%20Topics%2FSubjects%2FF%2FFires%20and%20Firefighters

USA Today. “A Look at Notable Deadly Nightclub Fires,” 1-28-2013. Accessed 9-28-2017 at: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/01/27/brazil-nightclub-fire/1867777/

Visit Natchez 300 –1716-2016 —. “Rhythm Night Club Fire.” Circa 2016. Accessed 9-28-2017 at: http://visitnatchez.org/music/rhythm-night-club-fire/

Wikipedia. “Rhythm Club fire.” 9-10-2017 edit. Accessed 9-28-2017 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhythm_Club_fire#cite_note-nfpa-1

[1] Shows photograph of “Rhythm Night Club” marker sign located on St. Catherine Street near Dr. Martin Luther King Ave., in Natchez, put up by the MS Dept. of Archives and History, which reads: “On April 23, 1940, 209 African Americans died in a fire at the Rhythm Club, located at this site. An overflow crowd, which included civil and cultural leaders, had come to hear the Walter Barnes Orchestra of Chicago. Considered among America’s most deadly fires, the tragedy affected the entire Natchez community.”

[2] Cites USA Today. “A Look at Notable Deadly Nightclub Fires,” 1-28-2013; a sidebar notes 209 deaths.

[3] No. 4 after Iroquois Theater, Chicago 12-30-1903 (602); Cocoanut Grove, Boston 11-28-1942 (492); Conway’s Theater, Brooklyn 12-5-1876 (285).

[4] Work Projects Administration.