The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1896-06-05
REVIEW OF THE WEEK.
OLD WORLD.
CRUSHED BY A VAST CROWD,
Fearful Fatalities at the Russian Gar
Carailul iAn=neal Nunller Over 4 M

Fearful Fatalities nj the Russian Cars
COrOhutiOn-DeadN Number Over 100
Hundreds were tramped to death and thou
sands more were wounded in panic In Moscow
saturday on plain where n feast was prepared
for 10000 people in celebration of the ears
iO00Os people ON the plain, eating and indulging
in merrymaking. This free feast, which has al
ways been the popular feature of corona'ions,
has hitherto been the occasion of n great deal OF
on the part of hundreds of thousands of guests
OF the city, but no such gathering was ever wit.
messed on the iLodynsEy plain as tina, which as,
coming long before daylight, finally became so
dense and SO eager to obtain access to the free
food and beer and free amuscments that they
children were thrown down and trampled upon,
and many others had their lives crushed ont OF
them by the fearful pressure Of the vast crowd.
The police and military finally succeeded in
scattering the multitude so that there was no
further danger. Heaps of bodies are reported
to be lying in the booths. In some cases iden
been carried away, and numbers still remain.
All the victims were of the poorer class. Many
wild estimates were at first made as to the mum.
Der who h ,;. lost their lives i was impossible
as to the number, but Saturday evening II was
learned that the loss Of life will exceed ll00.
Some place the number of dead as high as 1000.
The feast was held in the presence Of the ear
and q distinguished company of guests who oc.
cuped seats in a large pavilion especially erect
ed and deliberately decorated for the occasion.
The great IIodynsky plain Is hanked OH one side
by the exhibition buildings and the Moscow
race course, and extends far into the country.
Besides the multitude of people, were encamped
q vast army OF soldiers. While the crush was
most intense and the curses, shreks and howls
Of pain were at their height an unknown woman
was delivered of a child On the field and the
mother and infant were trampled to death.
The car has taken most practical way of
showing his sympathy with those families who
lost member In the calamity. He has ordered
that the sum of 1000 roubles be paid to each be-
reayed family.
Various versions as TO the origin of the siam
pedc and crush are current, but the account to
which most credence Is attached is that the
wagon, laden with the SOC, 600 souvenirs which
were to he distributed among the people were
proceeding to the KhodijnskOje plain followed
by a multitude of eager peasants, when the at.
PENDANTS, with view of pleasing the people,
threw number OF the souvenirs among the
crowd. There was n wild scramble towards the
point where they fell, and the news spread like
wildirc up and down the throngs of eNpcctant
peasants that The distribution had commenced.
This resulted in u headlong, pell nell rush for
the booths, where the distribution of souvenirs
was to have been made later When thousands
of persons in the rear began 10 press forward
upon those in front and number of the latter
were crushed against the barriers the shrieks
of the injured and the groans of the dying
caused the attendants TO become stricken with
terror. In fear of their lives they threw thou
sands of memorial cups, filled with mead, beer,
etc, at the struggling mass of humanity in at
tempts TO drive them back. This led 10 wild
scramble in the crowd. The immense quantity
of liquids thus thrown formed n sort of pond IN
front of the long line of booths, and rendered
the ground slippery and treachcrous making a
foOthold very precarious great number Of
persons who might otherwise have escaped thus
fell 10 the ground, where hfe was soon crushed
out OF them by the frenZicd mob. Thirty bodies
were found in an old tiisused well in the middle
OF the p!ain. The well had been covered with
planks, which collapsed when the crowd passed
over them. Some of the victims had in their
hands, clutched with death clasp, the memorial
cups which had been presented 10 them ar the
booths before the rush began. In In? well were
two living persons who had been made insane
by the horror of their position. The bodies in
hundreds of Instances utterly unrecogniz.
able, the faces having been literally crushed
out of all semblance to humanity. \ careful
search is made of each body Tor papers to es-
tablish It's identification, and record is made of
the clothing on each corpse for the same pur.
pose.
Chinese Defeated with Great Loss.
4 dispatch TO the London Globe from Shang-
hal says that the rebels in the province of Kan
such, the most northwesteriy province of China,
have defeated the Chinese army, commanded
by Gen Tung, with great slaughter.
All OF the Johannesburg Reform Committee
prisoners, except the four who were condemned
10 death-IIammond Farrar, Phillips and
Rhodes-have been released by the Transyaal
which was imposed upon the men released has
been suspended upon their undertaking to
never again interfere in the affairs of the South
African Republic. But Hammond has been re.
leased on parole in order that he might visit his
wife, who is III at johannesburg.