The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-08-22
ALIVE IN THEIR GRAVES.
Terrible Story From the Scene of
the Cholera Riots in Russia.
From The Boston Hernld

A Terrible Story From the Scene of
the Cholera Riots in Russia.
From the Boston Herald.
Private advices just received In Boston
from the city of Astrakhan, Russia, tell the
story Of a popular outbreak that scarcely
finds parallel in modern history since the
plague riots Of the middle ages The first
news Of the disturbance came about the be-
| ginning OF the present month ia the form
of a telegram published in the Herald,
stating that number of workmen fleeing
| from the cholera had been killed In riot
due to the attempt of the military to hold
| them to the performance of their contracts
Sail later intelligence ascribed the disturb
ance to a revolt on the part of the ignorant
populace against the measures taken to pre-
vent the spread OF the plague.
| The detailed account just received, while
| 1t pictures the ignorance, the superstitious
| Authorizations and the murderous Violence
| of the mob in the most lurid colors, repre-
| sents the outbreak as having been precipi-
tAUed Ia the first instancs by the discovery
that the sanitary authorities, in their over
zeal TO stamp out the dread disease, had
bad been putting cholera patients into their
| collins alive.
At the time the sanitary regulations were
| issued cholera patients we're being conveyed
| to hospitals at the rate of about ten a day.
/ ~ vas OlAdAuous among utuoE tuluks, buhb
| corpses should be wrapped in sheets covered
with quicklime, put quickly into collins,
nailed up, and then, without religious cere-
| monies Of any kind, conveyed directly to a
| special cholera cemetery in the steppe, and
! there inferred. Soon after the cholera
broke out the drivers Of teams who used to
| convey corpses to the cemetery began to
talk about noises which they had heard in
| the collins. and il was soon rumored about
| the town that the doctors were burying peo-
pie alive.
The excitement eliminated on July 8. IL
was Sunday, and special morning prayers
| against cholera had been offered up at the
cathedral At about IL O'Clock in the day
some officers OF the sanitary corps were en-
gagged, in the poorer part of tine oity, remov-
| ing some women who had been attacked
| with cholera. The men had ambulance
| wagons with them, and the removals we're
effected by means Of long poles, each
armed at the end with a hook.
| AS the women had to be lifted into
the wagons by their clothing, some of them
| got frightened and camored 80 loudly
that a crowd Of people came to their assist
| ance. The sanitary officials, together with
the few police accompanying them, were
| severely beaten by the populace. In its rage
the mob threw one of the ambulance wagons
into the adjacent canal. aud having made
| bonfire of tue other, deliberately killed an
assistant physician who had tried to do his
duty
Meanwhile a similar scene was being en-
acted in Selena the commercial quarter OF
the city, where the crowd not only mall
treated the police, but, installing passer
! by for a doctor. beat him to death.
At o'clock in the afternoon a mob OF
| from 20 900 TO &c, 900 people proceeded to the
| cholera hospital in the Yangurchsff district
and there began to break the windows with
stones Having secured an entrance, they
| severely beat the doctors whom they found
inside. The mob killed several feldsheres
before they left the building. and, misLak-
ing Feldsher PopoH for a doctor, threw
him alive on a bonfire. where he was
quickly burned to a cinder. During the at
tack on the hospital the governor OF the
province of Astrakhan, who has his official
| residence in the city OF Astrakhan, came
upon the scene, accompanied by the local
authorities and a body Of Cossacks. but the
military were as powerless TO check the riot
as were the appeals for order made by the
governor himself. The people were wild
with rage, and did just as they liked.
FROM the ruinei hospital the rioters pro-
ceeded to the cholera cemetery, aud there
began to draw cotfins from the earth and
open them. Here a discovery was made
which, whatever explanation OF 1t be forth
coming, is alleged u be altogether beyond
question, since it was observed by hundreds
of eyewituesses, many OF whom had no part
! III Luo IIOCooulukb Va bLo AACbpA7t b0b VoAp
present simply as spectators or the large
number of cohins examined four were
found to contain bodies not yet dead-chol-
era patients. in fact, who in the haste of
the moment had been prematurely
buried The people, mortified at the
discovery, first set to work to resuscitate
the pseudo oorpses. aud, having done this by
taking the lime from their mouths and feed
ing them with milk and stimulants con-
Quoted them to their homes. One Of the
buried men was Tartar who, though not
of the orthodox Greek faith, devoutly made
the sign of the cross as soon as he was res
cued, declaring that the doctors would
never catch him again.
The mob left tue cholera cemetery with
! its wild rage against doctors and sanitary
measures increased tenfold. For several
hours it surged through the streets. beating
or killing every one who could be sus-
peoted of belonging to the hated pro-
fesslon. When the eDraged people reached
hospital they would enter it AID
| carry al the patients out into the steppe
| for safety; then, returning to the build
| ings, they would conhsoate all the disinfect-
| ing material that could be found and scat
ter II to the four winds; all the lime prep
| arations were 10 this way distributed over
| the steDpe. In one part OF the city the mob
fired aud burned to the ground the enor-
NOUS brick building which the authorities
/ had converted into a hospital, at the same
time breaking up the ambulance wagons
and making bonfires Of the debris.
| The police who tried to dissuade the riot
ers were received with volleys Of stones and
dirt or beaten vita clubs. The rioting was
witnessed by the governor aud the Cos
sacks, bu5 nothing was done at this stage If
the proceedings to suppress the mob. Why
the military did not use their rifles Is not
known. II 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 people, pres
emit only as spectators, would be involved In
the slaughter; on the other hand 1t 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 drivsn up 70 put out the flames,
were prevented from using their hose, and