Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-06-01
THE MOSCOW PANIC.
Further Particulars Of the
Stampede, Saturday.
Officially Announced that 1888 People
Lost Their Lives in Crowd.


|
covered from the shock occasioned by
the frightful calamity. yesterday. on
the Hodynsky plain during the prog
ress Of the free feast and entertainment
| In Connection with the coronation cere-
monies.
The extent Of the disaster was not
exaggerated in the first reports. The
stampede of the great multitude was q
sight never to be forgotten for its hor-
ror After the crowd had been dis
persed by the police and military. the
street was found strewn with the dead
killed by the crush, trampled upon or
by suifocation. a great number OF
children were among the victims.
| In the wild rush the frenzied crowd
they were swept away from their pa
rents or others having charge Of them.
| Their puny strength awaited them
naught when pitted against the ire
sistible force of the surging mob. The
instant they stumbled and fell life was
| crushed out of them. This was the
case with, many adults. No human
strength could Withstand the mad
crush OF the crowd and safety could
alone be found in allowing ones self
to be carried forward and back in the
! pulsating crowd. devoting every energy
To keeping upon ones feet.
| The officials made every effort and
offered every facility for Identification
l-)f the dead. but bodies in hundreds of
! Instances are utterly unrecognizable.
| faces having been literally crushed out
| Of all semblance of humanity. A careful
| search is made of each body for papers
to establish it's identity and record
| is made of the clothing on each corpse,
for the same purpose.
! 1T was officially announced, this morn
| ing that the total number of victims
was 1l3S.
| The most of them were Moujiks, from
| the provinces. poor class of people.
| Among the number were many of the
| poverty stricken residents of Moscow
| and villages in the neighborhood of the
city. The fete was particularly for the
benefit of this class of people. The
middle class generally held aloof from
the entertainment or else visited the
plain in the capacity of spectators.
The scene in the city. last night and
today. has been a most painful one
The injured and large numbers of the
dead We're taken to the hospitals and
others charitable institutions. Far in
to the night ambulances. fire trucks
and other vehicles were engaged in
| conveying the dead and injured into
the city.
reporter of the United Press went
again to the Plain. today. and saw one
Of the effects of the mad rush. The
bitches of abandoned earthworks on the
plain had been filled to the level with
the bodies of those driven into them by
the awful pressure from behind Here
those not rushed to death We're suffo-
Gated by the dead and dying above
them
In the passages between the booths
from which free food was distributed
there We're still lying bodies of hum
dreds of dead men, women and chill
dren, women and children predominant
ing. Some of the corpses were fright
fully distorted. The clothing had been
semi-nude condition.
The assertion is repeated today. that
the police We're not on the scene in
sufilciently strong numbers at an early
hour to handle the crowd. 1t is a fact
there We're only a comparatively few
present AT six in the morning. at which
u.
then about thousand attendants en-
gagged in distributing the gifts of the
Gar to the importunate mob and to
tins the calamity is attributable
So great was the rush of visitors at
the hospitals. todayin search of mis-
sing relatives and friends that the work
of doctors and physicians was serious
~ interrupted. This afternoon. the au-
of the unclaimed bodies to the Vogan-
kohsky cemetery, where they will re-
main for time to enable them to be
Identified if possible.
The feeling of the Moujiks is very.
hitter against the authorities, whom
they held had not taken sufficient pre-
caution TO Gnard against the affair
such as occurred. AS matter of fact.
the authorities are in no wise to blame.
1t was impossible for them to foresee
that such great multitude would be
present at such an early hour but the
precautionary measures adopted would
have been sufficient had not the people
become so frenzied.
Alter the disaster the large force OF
military and police had the greatest
difficulty in restoring even a semblance
VI cfucT.
The Cars promise to help the be.
reaVed families, coupled with the pub
ilshed expression of his intense grief
ana deep sympathy allayed the bitter
feeling. and the people are warmly
grateful to him for his action. His
Majesty ordered thousand roubles be
paid to each family that has lost
member through the catastrophe In
addition. the state will pay the expenses
of burying the dead. while physicians
at the hospitals and elsewhere have
been instructed to spare nothing to al
leviate the suffering of the injured
Although the official report places the
number of dead at 1885, il is highly prob
able that the exact number of victims
will never be known.
The vice mayor reckons 1886 persons
were. killed and 2SG seriously, perhaps
fatally injured.
The official figures do not. however, in-
clude the many dead and injured re-
moved by friends
Thirty bodies were found today, in an
old disused well in the middle of the
plain. The well had been covered with
planks which had collapsed when tho
crowd passed over them.
The statement that the diaster would
bring the coronation festivities to a close
has not the slightest foundation In
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