The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-06-01

Khodijnskoje Plain yesterday is constant
" gaining in proportions as the investiga-
lions by the authorities continue.
These are made under difficulties. as the
recovery of the victims was conducted
by hundreds OF volunteers. and many were
carried away before they were enumerat-
ed Many additional deaths of the injured
who were carried away are occurring.
which are only added 10 enumeration after
some time.
1t is said now the fatalities will amount
TO between
TWO AND THREE THOU SAND,
but it is impossible as yet to learn ex-
actly the extent of the disaster. An Off
cial statement this morning places the
number OF dead recovered at 1885, and
the seriously or fatally injured at 2S5.
But in contrast with this official state
ment, there are 1,2S2 corpSeS lying this
afternoon at The cemetery, besides the
many dead and dying that are known TO
have been removed from the Inflated
Held by friends.
Last evening, after receiving deputa-
lions, the car and czarina attended and
danced at the brilliant bail at the French
embassy. Preparations had been made
on a most elaborate scale for this ball,
and it is asserted that $4,000 was expended
on the supper alone, rare viands and
delicious fruits and Vegetables being
brought from the most distant chimes to
add to the delights OF the feast, while
France furnished the costliest and most
elegant fabrics and furniture to set off
the
BEAUTIES OF THE PALACE.
where the embassy is lodged The czarina
was not informed yesterday of the dis
aster. owing TO her delicate condition
While the dance in the French embassy
contr ued amid all the accomplishments
of luxury and gaiety, diseonsolate friends
and relatives wandered over the desolate
plain among the dead, the suffering and
the dying. looking, often in vain, for their
missing.
Today a requiem mass was said in a
chapel of the Kremlin, which the car and
czarina and all the members of the i'm
perial family attended. The city is filed
today with grief-stricken crowds. It is
a striking evidence of the vast multitude
who took part in yesterdays fetes that
there were large numbers who were
totally unaware of the number Of lives
that had been crushed out among them,
and who proceeded with their merry-mak-
ing throughout the day without having
graSped the fearful proportions of the
disaster Up to late hour at night
people refused to believe there could have
been so many lives lost. But today thou
sands of persons are crowding to the
Khodijnskoje plain,
ASKING FOR FRIENDS AND RELA-
TIVES
The work of identification is most diff
cult, both on account of the large number
of victims and the trampled, torn and
mutilated condition of many Of the
corpses, some of which are crushed quite
beyond the possibility of recognition and
almost beyond semblance to humanity.
The majority of the killed were peasants
from outlying places, though the clothing
of some indicated that they We're persons
of wealth and distinction. The bodies of a
number Ct women clad in silks and fine
linen were among those found: The
6trangeneSs Of the surroundings to many
SURVIVORS who are seeking for missing ones
adds much to the confusion and difficulty
of Identification.
All day yesterday the full force of police
and firemen worked among the dead. pull
ing bodies from heaps of the killed and
inJu Cd and ranging them the ground .
which was covered for hundreds of yards
with groups of ten and twenty
BEGRIMMED AND DISFIGURED
corpses, among which the agonized friends
of the missing wandered in painful ef- !
fort to identify them The injured who
were mixed with the dead suffered terri /
bly, from their injuries.
The work of carrying the bodies to the
cemetery where it is Intended to inter 7
those who fail of identification continued
all night and day. This morning the
forces at work on the plain discovered the
mouth of disused well in the middle of [
the held, the plank covering of which had
given away in the mad rush of Yesterday
morning In the well there were thirty
oooles ana wedged in among them and
held down by their weight was found two .
men, alive and evidently uninjured phv-
sIcally. But the terror and the hideolls
surroundings Of the night had proved too
great strain on their minds and they
were raVlng maniacS. There are many
INCIDENTS OF SPECIAL PATHOS.
one case being that of party of fiftv-
l ls. nuDle peasants who had come to-
Eether from single village for the mer-
fy-naklng at the cars feast OF this
party hfty-three were killed.
VARIOUS versions as to the origin of the
stampede ana crush are current, but the
account to which the most credence is at
tached is that the wagon laden with tbe
5tJ.OoO souvenirs which were 10 be dis
tr1buted among the people were proceed
ing TO the Khodijnskoje plain, followed
py multitude Of eager peasants when
the people, threw a number Of the soll
venirs among the crowd There was
Wild scramble towards the point where
Jhey fell, ana the news spread like wild
ire up ana down the throngs Of eXpeetant
that the distribution had com
This resulted in a headlonp
peli-rslall rush for the booths. where the
distribution of souvenirs was TO have
been made later. The arrangements
winch it was intended TO make TO keen
the crowd in order during the distribution
not being completed at that early hour,
and the force on hand was
FoWERLESS TO STEM THE TIDE
CT the crush of humanity What added +.
greatly 20 the disaster was the fact that {
these booths were surrounded by bitches :
Ihe FOREMOST person in the incoming
crowds feii Prostrate in these bitches and
the people following them speedily tram
pla1 them TO death. Others stumbled over
nat G yr1n m And