The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-06-01
HEAPS OF DEAD.
streW the Plain of KhOdijn-
skOje,
The Scene of the Cars Corona
ti0n Banquet.
IN GROUPS OF TENS,
TWenties and Thirties Are the
Bodies Piled Up.
The Crowd Was Mad With Ex-
element.
On GROUPS OF TENS,

were trampled to death on the khodiJn-
skoje plain Saturday.
Among the dead were many women,
evidently Of high rank, dressed in the
finest silk AID adorned with the rich
est Jewels.
All Of the barracks and hospitals in
the vicinity are filled and private resi-
dences are being changed into morgues.
The great plain enclosed with Venetian
masts hung with bunting and bearing
shields upon which were the arms Of
all the cities and provinces Of Russia
had gayly decorated booths, open thea
ter carousals. provision stands and liz
oLor depots in the section where the
disaster occurred.
All OF these were entirely crushed out
of existence and in their place was
scene which resembled the carnage OF
q battlefield The victims were mostly
poor men. women and children ana
they We're trampled to death instead of
being shot down in cold blood
owing to the extent Of the disaster
and the fact that the plain was sur
rounded By troops rendering approach
to the scene impossible for anybody eX-
cept Russian official physicians, much
time elapsed before the full extent of
the disaster became known. The nrst
reports had 1T that only a few score
but as time wore on and the ambulan-
ces of the army were still busy trans
porting people wounded and dying to
the hospitals of the city and to tenn
porary hospitals within the military
lines. it became certain that the dis
aster was much greater than at first
supposed
As the day wore on the Russian Off
cials admitted that the deaths might
reach the hundreds Late Saturday
the terrible truth was told officially
when a bulletin was issued saying that
the government officials regretted to
be compelled to announce that an Off
cial estimate placed the number Of vic
Tins of the disaster at 1000
All the festivals have apparently been
postponed. and nobody thinks of any-
thing but commenting upon and regret
ting the calamity, which has changed
the scene of rejoicing into those ofdeep~
est sorrow
The building On all sides Of the Khod-
i5nsk05e plain, where, by the way, Ma
poleon concentrated his troops before
moving upon the city. are in many
cases being used as temporary hos
pitfalls. and the soldiers have been rem
dering great service in removing the
dead and caring for the wounded.
Further time must necessarily elapse
before the figures OF the number actual
Is killed or the number OF persons who
are victims of the disaster. but who are
only suffering from injuries, is ascer-
tanned. but there is no doubt that the
estimate of 1,13S dead cannot be far
from correct. This may be said to have
put an end to all the coronation festtvt-
ties, certainly so far as the general pub
lie is concerned.
Further details made public last
evening show that the disaster occur
red between and o'clock in che morn
ing Tt was Intended that the banquet
should not commence before noon, but
the hundreds OF thousands which had
gathered around the sheds from which
the mugs were to be presented and
food was to be distributed became so
dense that the attendants were over
powered and thrown to the ground in
the mad struggle which commenced for
food and gifts, many of these attend
ants were numbered with the dead.
The police made desperate attempts to
control the SETTLING mass of humanity,
but all their efforts We're fruitless, and
men women and children were tramp
led upon by the hundreds, the cries and
eroans of the victims being heard afar-
For a time the officials in charge of
the banquet lost their heads entirely
for the scene was so terrible that even
the strongest men turned pale The
crowds seemed to have gone mad with
rage and excitement, shouting yellln8
and Cursing as they passed onward
over a. path streWn with dead and dy-
ing human beings Eventually how
ever. some show of order was restored
by the troops and fremen who We're
hastily summoned to the scene
The latter began the work Of eNtrl-
eating the dead and injured. Ranging
them on the ground in groups of ten,
twenty or thirty AT every hundred
yards or SO and dispatching to the city
as speedily as possible i'm the military
transports, furniture vans. feed wa
CONS, etc. the injured. giving prefer
ence at drst to the women and chill
dren.
The victims are mostly peasants and
Few Of them have as yet been lQeutl-
fed The bodies lie in heaps as they
had been extricated during the after
noon their crushed. blOod-stained and
horribly distorted faces upturned in the
scorching sun. Gray-haired men and
women lie beside children and sturdy
men, all crushed as if beneath heavy
rollers, some of their heads being
trampied into a shapeless Jelly.
All day people were rushing here and
there. weeping and praying at the same
time. bemoaning the absence of friends
or relatives, seeking them or familiar
faces in the heaps of crushed humanity.
So immense was the COncourse of
people upon the KhOdijnskoje plain
that hundreds Of thousands of people
We're not aware for a long time that
the disaster had occurred. They heard
great shouting, mingled with shriezs of
sharp orders, but the majority were SO
angrossed witch the festivities In pro-
5 GTess and to come that they paid little
attention to the uproar. for there was
noise of a similar description on an
sides. caused by the excitement Of the
celebration. by the music in the omen
air theaters and by the bands draw
ing crowds to other amusements. for
ali the time these were in full progress.
II gradually became known that there
BAD been an accident but accidents