Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1896-06-04
Moscow in Mourning

The brilliant coronation OF the Gar II
| Moscow, last week, had the saddest o
| sequels, and Moscow is now IN mourning
/ for thousands of dead, the result of one
| Of the strangest calamities that has eve
happened. The number of killed is plac
| ed at 500, the injured at 200. Fully
| 2. 600 mutilated and unidentified deaC
| were buried in trenches.
| Various versions as to the origin of the
| stampede and crush OF the plain are cur
| rent. but the account to which the mos:
| credence is attached IS that the wagons
| laden with the 500, ,oC0 souvenirs which
were to be distributed among the people
| were proceeding to the khodijnskoje
| plain. followed by a multitude of eager
| peasants. when the attendants, with a
| view to pleasing the people, threw NUN
Der of the souvenirs among the crowd.
There was a wild scramble toward the
point where they feI,- and the news
| spread like wildfre up and down the
| throngs of expectant peasants, that the
distribution had commenced. This re-
suited in head-long, pellmell rush for
the booths where the distribution OF SOU
venirs was to have been made later. The
arrangements which it was intended to
make to keep the crowds III order during
the distribution had not been completed
at that early hour, ard the force on hand
was powerless to stem the tide of the
crush of humanity.
What added greatly to the gravity OF
the disaster, was the circumstance that
those booths were surrounded by bitches.
The fore most persons in the oncoming
crowd fell PROSTATE in these bitches. 9th
ers stumbled over their bodies and met
the same fate. And SO the horror grew.
The pressure was so great upon the
sides of the booths from the struggles OF
the masses of mad humanity, that they
gave way and hundreds of people were
forced into them through the broken
walls, One mounted gendarme near the
booths was literally crushed to death. to-
gether with his rearing and plunging
horse.
There were no English people nor Amer
leans among the VICTIMS. Many of those
who came for the coronation had already
left the city and, in any event, tourists
attended the fete only in the afternoon.
Very few of the victims, it is announced,
belong to the well to do classes. Nearly
all are moujiks or peasants, and large
proportion of the dead are women and
children.
The Gar and Czarina after attending
the requiem mass i'll the chapel of the
Kremlin, paid a visit to the injured sur
vivors in the hospitals, passing from cot
to cot, and addressing words OF sympathy
and comfort. Both the imperial paiI
were deeply affected by the scenes of suf-
fering they witnessed.
A judicial INJURY has been opened into
the causes of the disaster, and an effort
will be made to fix the responsibility.
The scene at the celebration of divine
service at the cemetery was most impress
sive, some 5o,c-o persons being present.
The majority Cf those were seeking miss
ing relatives in tie mortuary chambers,
and their grief and despair was indescri-
bable. As fast as a body was Unidentified.
a sacred icon iinage) was placed upon
the breast. Those bodies which were
claimed by relatives or friends were in
tered in the church yards of the COM
munes to which they belong. The uni
Identified dead were buried in a common
grave.
Only about half the bodies recovered
were identified and the majority of these
are men, though there are many children
and several old people, 50 years old
Most Of the private graves of the victims
have been marked with wooden crosses,
placed there by relatives, and inscribed
with texts of Scripture. The people also
strewed twigs among the graves.
The clothes of the victims were heaped
in huge pile i'll one corner OF the ceme-
terry, and in this the people ruinaged all
day long seeking the slightest trace that
would afford a clue 10 the fate of those
missing. The bedraggled, torn, blood
stained heap of confused tatteTs, thrown
all together, afford little material for
indertification, even if it had been sys-
tematically sorted out and the appear
ance of the pieces preserved. But after
being pulled over a few times by the
crowd of searchers, there was no semb-
lance to the original appearance of the
garments left. The survivors have the
vaguest possible idea OF what happened
TO them or how they escaped. They
only remember terrible struggle i'll the
iortex of conflicting human muscular
energy. Many of them ascribe their es-
cape to a direct miracle. It is touching
to witness how these poor, ignorant
people help to console each other, TO
dress the dead and to care for the chill
dren.