The herald., 1896-06-01
THE CORONATION HORROR
Proves Even More Dreadful
Than First Reported
THE OFFICIAL ESTIMATES
Place the Number Of Dead at Two
Thousand
There 10 Reason to Believe That nany nors
Wofo Kl1Ied-ScenAs 0f Terror and
THE OFFICIAL ESTIMATES
There 10 Reason to Believe That nany nors
Were KiiIed-scenes Of Terror and
Of Hcr0ism
Associated Press Special Wire.

Associated Press Special Wire.
MOSCOW. May 31.-The disaster on
the khodijnskOje plain yesterday is con-
stantly gaining in proportion as the in
vestigation by the authorities contin-
ues. These are made under difficulties,
as the recovery of the victims was con-
Quoted by hundreds Of volunteers and
many were carried away before they
were enumerated. Many additional
deaths of the injured who were carried
away are occurring, which are only
added to the enumeration after some
time.
1t is said now the fatalities will amount
to between two and three thousand but
1t Is impossible as yet to learn exactly the
extent Of the disaster. An official state
dead recovered at 1886 and the seriously
or fatally injured at 286. But, in contrast
with this official statement, there are
1889 corpses lying this afternoon at the
cemetery, besides the many dead and
dying that are known to have been re-
moved from the Inflated field by friends.
Last evening, after receiving deputa-
tions. the czar and czarina attended the
danced at the brilliant ball at the French
embassy. Preparations had been made
on a most elaborate scale for this ball,
and 1t is asserted that $4,000 was ex-
pended on the supper alone. rare viands
and delicious fruits and vegetables being
brought from the most distant climes
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 en-
bassy was lodged. The czarina was not
informed yesterday Of the disaster, ow-
ing to her delicate condition. While the
dance in the French embassy continued
amid all the accompaniments of lux
ury and gaiety. disconsolate 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 czar
and czarina and all the members of the
imperial family, attended. The city is
filed today with grief-stricken crowds.
1t Is striking evidence of the vast null
titude which 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 mer-
ry-making throughout the day without
having grasped the fearful proportions
of the disaster. Up to a late hour at
night people refused to believe there
today thousands of persons are crowding
to the Khodijnskoje plain. asking for
friepds and relatives.
All day yesterday the full force of
police and firemen worked among the
dead, pulling bodies from the heaps of
killed and injured and ranging them on
the ground, which was covered for hun
dreds of yards with groups of dirty and
begrimed and dishgured corpses, among
which the agonized friends of the miss
ing wandered in painful effort to iden-
tify them. The injured who were mixed
with the dead suffered terribly from
their injuries.
The work of carrying the bodies to the
l<S 3r,tA Io1 % tt,fn
those who fail of identification, contin-
ued all night and day. This morning the
forces at work on the plain discovered
the mouth of a disused we'll in the mid
die of the field, the plank covering of
which had given away in the mad rush
of Yesterday morning. In the well there
were thirty dead bodies and wedged In
among them and held down by their
weight were found two men alive and
evidently uninjured physically. But the
night had proved too great a strain
on their minds and they were raving
maniacs.
There are many incidents Of special
pathos, one case being that of party
OF fifty-five humble peasants who had
come together from a single village for
the merrymaking at the czars feast. OF
this party three were killed.
Various versions as to the origin OF
the stampede and crush are current but
is attached Is that the wagons laden
with the 100000 souvenirs which were to
be distributed among the people were
proceeding to the plain. followed by a
multitude Of eager peasants, when the
attendants, with view to pleasing the
people threw number Of the souvenirs
among the crowd. There was a wild
scramble toward the point where they
fell and the news spread like wildfre
up and down the throngs of expectant
peasants that the distribution had COM
menced. This resulted In a headlong,
pell-mell rush for the booths where the
distribution Of souvenirs was to have
been made later. The arrangements
which 1t was intended to make to keep
the crowd during the distribution had
not been completed at that early hour.
and the force on hand was powerless to
stem the tide of the crush of humanity
What added greatly to the disaster
was the fact that these booths were sur
rounded by bitches. The foremost per-
sons in the incoming crowds fell pros
trate in these bitches and the people
followed them speedily and trampled
them to death. Others stumbled over
their bodies and met the same fate. And
80 the horror grew. The pressure was so
great upon the sides of the booths from
the struggles of the mass of mad hui
manity that they gave way and hun
dreds Of people were forced into them
through the broken walls. One mount
ed gendarme near the booths was liter
ally crushed to death, together with his
rearing and plunging horse.
There were no English nor American
people 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
afternoons.
Very few Of the victims, it is an
nounced. belong to the well to do class
es. Nearly all are moujiks or peasants,
and large proportion of the dead are
women and children
The czar and czarina today, after at
Vending the requiem mass in the chapel
or the Kremlin, paid visit to the in
yured survivors in the hospital passing
from cot to cot and addressing words
of sympathy and comfort. Both of the
Imperial pair We're deeply affected by
messed.
judicial INJURY has been opened in
90 the causes of the disaster, and an eff
bility.
The bishop of Peterborough preached
k1n E,,rrI If<,l.-