The Coconino weekly sun., 1896-06-04
THOUSANDS KILLED.
An Awful Calamity at a Russian
 Festival
Hungry Peasants Rush for the Tables and Trample Thousaods to Death-seneca, Mo-, Receives Deadly storm Vis-
 itattOu--Many Drowned.
Cala mIty at a Russian Feast.

itation-AIany Drowned.
 Calamity at Russian Feast. Moscow, June IA terrible panic, resulting from the great crush of people at the popular feast here Satur- day in honor of the coronation of the czar, caused the trampling to death of thousands of people. In anticipation of the grand holiday and popular ban. quet on the Hodynshy plain, tens of thousands of people began trooping toward the Pctrovsky palace. in front of which the plain is situated, during the earliest hours Saturday. It was at first arranged to accommodate 400, ,OOO people, but in view of the immense crowds assembled in and about the city at the coronation fete, extra tables and benches were hastily erected and every effort was made to provide seating room and hearty meal for 5OO,OO0 people. By dawn the mass of peasants about the tables was really enormous, and they were all despera .ely hungry, soma of them having lasted, by choice or necessity, for nearly 24 hours. The police did everything possible to keep back tho crowd, but suddenly the masses, con. trolled by some ineXplicable impulse, or impatient to get at the food, pressed forward, swept everything before them, and overturned tables and benches as if made of grass, trampling hundreds under foot and crushing the life out of a great number of people. The police barracks, to which the bodies of the dead were taken by the authorities. are besieged with persons beseeching for news of friends and relatives. The scenes at the barracks where the process of identification is going on are terrible in the extreme. It is said the fatalities will amount to between 2,0OO and 5000, but it is im- possible as yet to learn exactly the extent of the disaster. An official statement yesterday placed the num- Der of dead recovered at 1. 33G and the seriously or fatally injured at 2sG But, in contrast with this official state- ment, there were i,2s2 corpses lying at the cemetery. besides the many dead and dying that are known to have been removed from the ill-fated field by friends.
 Cloudburst at Seneca. Mo.
 NEosHo, Mo, June 1.-Two cloud- bursts occurred in this county nt an early hour Saturday morning, one at this place and one at Seneca. Sylves- ter Wood was drowned at Neosho by the overturning of a boat while being taken from the flooded district.
 Eighteen persons are missing at Sem eca and it is certain that all have been drowned. Fifteen bodies have already been found. The lost are as follows: II. Andreas, wife and three children; Carl Schmidt, wife and five children; Mrs Henry Robinson and one child; little Willie Dobbler and Archie Will Hams; wife of Rev Harry White. Rev. Harry White occupied rooms over the Dispatch office with his wife. The building was entirely swept away and Rev. White and his wife with it. Mr. White was found in a drift, bruised and insensiole. but at last accounts was improving and will probably re. cover. Thc dead body of his wife was found Saturday afternoon.
 The condition of Seneca is pitiable. It is town of l.2O0 inhabitants, l6 miles west of here, and is situated in a valley. The water extended from bluff to bluff and was from four to six feet deep in every business house Many buildings were washed away. The NJ. E. church (south) was carried several hlocks.
 The Frisco railroad has two bridges out near Dayton and Seneca. and much track washed away. The Kansas City, Pittsburg & Gulf has washouts north of Neosho.
 LATEST REPORT FROM SENECA.
 SENECA, Mo-, June l.-The scenes in and about the district of Senecas aw- ful flood disaster present picture of desolation. Cherokee avenue. Seneca's principal business street, is divided in two sections by the loss of the splendid iron bridge which spanned Lost creek. Hundreds of citizens are viewing the ruins. while searching parties are con- stantly beating either side of the stream in search of missing citizens, who are evidently drowned. Of those thought to have been drowned l4 have been taken from the water.
 Every merchant on Cherokee avenue. which embraces fully nihe-tenths of the business interests of the town, has suffered more or less direct loss to stock The loss and damage to stock in stores alone is fully S30,OOO. while the total loss, including the inundated residence district and loss of buildings, brings the total above $50, ,OOO at a very conservative estimate. No accurate conception of the loss to private resi-. dences can be given, but probably 100 homes were inundated with four to six feet of water, resulting in losses of from $250 to $500 each. Two of these, the homes of Messrs Andreas and Schmidt. were carried down the stream and every member of the families drowned A number of families have lost all and are destitute. Many families alonp the course of the stream lost their crops. The merchants themselves hay- ing met with serious loss are in no con. a<,-