The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-06-01

eOLne one. Ine clOtnlng naQ Deen TORN TO
shreds and the bodies were in semi-uude
condition. The assertion is repeated to-
day that the police were not on the scene
in sufficiently large mum bers at an early
hour to handle the crowd. 1t is fact that
there were only a comparatively few of
them present at 6 o'clock in the morning,
at which time the disaster occurred. There
were then about thousand attendants
engaged in distributing the gifts OF the
Gar to the importunate mob, and to them
the calamity is indirectly attributable.
When the thousands of persons in the
lear began to press forward on those in
front and the latter were crushed against
the barriers the shrieks and groans of the
dying caused the attendants to become
stricken with terror, dreading what actu-
ally occurred-the breaking down of the
barriers by the enormous human pressure
upon them. In fear of their lives they
threw thousands of the memorial cups,
filled with mead, beer, etc., at the strug-
Cling mass of humanity in attempts to
drive them back. This led to wild
scramble IN the crowd. The immense
quantity of liquids thus thrown formed
sort of pond IN front of the long line of
booths and rendered the ground slippery
and treacherous making a foothold very
precarious. A great number of persons
who might have otherwise escaped thus
fell to the ground, where the life was soon
crushed out of them by the howling,
frenzied mob.
In some parts of the plain the ground
looks as though it had been newly pIowed.
This is where 1t was torn up by the heavy
wooden shoes of the peasants in their wild
excl tement.
So great has been the rush of visitors at
the hospitals to-day in search of missing
relatives and friends that the work of the
doc tors and physicians was seriously in
terrupted. This afternoon, therefore, the
authorities gave orders for the transfer of
the unclaimed bodies to the Vongan.
koffsky cemetery, where they will be in
tered if not identified within a few days.
The feeling of the Moujiks was very
bitter against the authorities, whom they
hold had not taken sufficient precautions,
to guard against an affair such as occurred.
After the disaster the large force of mill
tary and police had the greatest difficulty
in restoring even a sem blance of order.
The Cars promise to help the bereaved
families, coupled with the published ex-
pressions of his intense grief and deep
sympathy, has allayed the bitter feeling
and the people are warmly grateful to him
for his action.
AS stated in yesterdays dispatches his
Majesty has ordered that the sum of 1000
roubles be paid to each family that has
lost member through the catastrophe.
In addition the state will pay the expense
OF burying the dead, while the physicians
at the hospitals and elsewhere have been
instructed TO spare nothing to alleviate
the sufferings of the inj ared.
Although the official report places the
number of dead at 113s, it is highly prob.
able that the exact number of victims will
never be known. The vice-Mayor reckons
that 1886 persons were killed and 286 seri-
ously, perhaps fatally, injured. The Of
fetal accounts, however, do not include
any dead and injured who were removed
by friends. 1t would not be surprising if the
number of deaths was largely in excess of
the official figures.
Thirty bodies were found to-day in an
old disnsed well in the middle of the plain.
The well had been covered with planks
which had collapsed when the crowd
passed over them. Some OF the victims
had in their hands the memorial cups
which had been presented at the booths
before the rush began. Among the bodies
in the well were two living persons who
have been made insane by the horror of
the position. Their rawlings when rescued
were terrible to hear.
Great efforts were made throughout the
4 10 oIo ,Ia;r
it was still Uttered with fragments of
clothing and human hair. In some places
where the crush was greatest the ground
was soaked with the blood Of those whose
lives had been trodden out. Large crowds
of people, many of them attracted by
morbid curiosity, were lowering about the
plain all day. The foreign correspondents
were afforded every facility for learning the
details OF the calamity.
The representative of the United Press,
who with the single exception of cor
respondent of a New York newspaper, is
the only representative of the American
press here, went away to-day to the
Vogankoffsky Cemetery, where great
number OF the dead had been transferred
from the hospitals and the plain. Many
OF the injured were also taken to this GEM
etery, the hospitals being so crowded that
it was impossible to find accommodations
for them. The scene was sad one.
The cemetery occupies space of about
eight acres, and all the paths were guarded
by armed soldiers. The ground was
thickly covered by the living and the dead
Physicians who were present were busiIy
engaged in setting broken bones, sewing
up and dressing gaping wounds and other
wise attending to the wants of the injured.
So great was the demand for medical and
surgical assistance that physicians and
were requisitioned from other
cities and towns.