Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-27

coming, is alleged to be altogether beyon'
| question, since 1t was observed by hun
dreds of eye-witnesses many of whom hac
no part in the proceedings of the rioters
but were present simply as spectators. i,
OF the large number of collins examined
four were found to contain bodies not ye
dead-eholera patients, in fact, who In thu
haste of the moment had been prematurelJ
buried. The people, Mortified at the dis
covery, first set to work to resuscitate thu
pseudo corpses, and having done this BY
taking the lime from their mouths ant
feeding them with milk and stimulants
conducted them to their homes. One O
the buried men was Tartar, who, though
not of the orthodox Greek faith, devoutly
made the sign of the cross as soon as he wa!
rescued, declaring that the doctors woult
never catch him agsin.
Rage Against the Doctors.
The mob left the cholera cemetery with
its wild rage against doctors and sanitary
measures increased tenfold. For several
hours it surged through the streets, beating
or killing everyone who could be suspected
of belonging to the hated profession. When
the enraged people reached hospital they
would enter it and carry all the patients
out into the steppe for Safety" then, re-
turning to the buildings, they would confis-
cate all the disinfecting material that could
be found and scatter it to the four winds;
all the lime preparations were in this way
distributed over the steppe. In one part of
the city the mob fired and burned to the
ground the enormous brick building which
the authorities had converted into q hospi-
tai, at the same time breaking up the am
bulance wagons and making bonfres of the
debris.
The police who tried to dissuade the
rioters were received with volleys of stones
and dirt or beaten with clubs The rioting
was witnessed by the Governor and the
Cossacks, but nothing was done at this
stage of the proceedings to suppress the
| mob.
Why the military did not use their rifles
is not known. 1t is claimed on the one
hand that the Governor, who is a humane
man, did not care to give the order to fire,
for fear that hundreds of law-abiding peo-
pie. present only as spectators, would be in
volved in the slaughter; on the other hand,
it is stated that the soldiers were without
cartridges. How utterly the rioters had
their own way is shown by the fact that,
while the brick hospital was burning, fire
engine company, which had driven up to
put out the flames, were prevented from
using their hose, and had to stand idly by
anu watch the building burn to the ground.
Having destroyed the brick hospital, the
mob went about burning police stations and
beating police captains wherever these could
be found. An attempt was finally made to
set fire to the remaining hospitals in the
city. but the lateness of the hour and the
activity of the soldiers dissuaded the peo-
pie from further rioting for that evening.
Fatigued with their work the rioters sep
arated to their homes, shouting as they did
so that on the morrow they would kill all
the doctors, and burn their houses to the
ground. A panic reigned throughout the
city, and the wakeful population spent the
night In terror.
Day had no sooner dawned on the Fourth
of July than the mob again gathered, this
time more numerous and formidable than
ever. The first act of their reawakered
frenzy was to smash and utterly destroy
some free tea rooms which philanthropic
persons had established and were conduct
ing in the interest of workingmen, the
rioters declaring that the tea supplied in
these rooms had been poisoned by the doc
tors By this time the city seemed to be
wholly surrendered to the mob, for the
stores were closed and barricaded, and the
police, to save their lives, were going about
in plain clothes and saying nothing. En-
boldened by their success of the previous
day, the rioters proceeded to the Governors
house, and there called on the official head
of the province to come out and explain to
the people who it was that had ordered
cholera patients to be buried alive. Mingled
with these demands were cries that the
doctors should be handed over to the riot
ers, and that money and bread should be
given to the people to enable those who
wished to leave the city. Threats to smash
the official building to pieces were freely
used,
No Quarter Given to the Mob.
The Governors house is large brick
building of three stories, the basement of
which is occupied by shops On the one
side it stands on Moscow street, and on the
other faces a large open square in the center
of which is statue of Alexander IL
These approaches to the building were
quickly filled with an excited, gesticulating
mob, whose deafening cries rendered any
attempt to parley with them impossible. It
was here that the Governor determined to
make his stand. The man who had been
forced to remain inactive while hospitals
were being burned, doctors murdered and
policemen beaten, now found himself able
to draw the line at the smashing of his
official residence.
At the first signs of the attack he had in
troduced a detachment of Cossacks into the
building, and the precaut1on was not taken
u moment too soon. With wild s'hurrahp
the mob began to lombard the structure
with boulders and paving stones taken from
the street. But its first volley was its last
From the upper windows of the two sides of |
the building the soldiers fired down upon
the closely packed crowd, and at once the |
cries of the dead and dying filled the air,
among the killed being many of the rioters |
and a number of incautious spectators at |
tracted to the place out of curiosity. Most |
of the crowd now dispersed, and from the |
thinned ranks of the rioters, who had re- |
fused to believe that the Cossacks would |
fire on them, arose the cry: "Shoot on! It's |
better for us to die at once than to be buried |
alIvep'
Not Doctor to Be Found.
The soldiers fired two more volleys with
blank cartridges to intimidate the mob, and
then removed the dead and wounded to the |
Kremlin nearby. At l o'clock in the day.
Moscow street, with its brain-bespattered |
and blood-smeared pavements, had been
cleared of the crowd. and order had also
been restored in the adjacent thoroughfarex
Patrols of Cossacks were at once established
in the principal streets, and the city is now
under the most rigorous martial law. At the
last writing military reinforcements were
hourly expected from Saratoff
- The disturbance thus apparently quelled
by the action of the Governor has, for the
time being, ruined the important business y
interests of Astrakhan. 1t effect on the
sanitary measures taken to prevent the
spread of cholera and on the general health
Of the population is still more serious
"All the apothecary stores," writes
resident, 'tare closed, and there is not a
L. = L. IL