River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1896-06-04
.fRAMPLED TO DEATH.
Horrible Disaster Occurs at Cor
Cnation Feast
Thirteen Hundred People Lose Their
Lives In a Stampede of the Popuiacs
In Moscow-Due TO Absence
of the Police

Moscow, June 1.-0ne OF the most ter
rible disasters that ever overlook the
common people of Russia, no have for
years been the butt of misfortune. hap
pened Saturday in this city, when ovos
1000 persons were killed or received in
juries from which they afterward died
in panic on Khodijnskoje plain, pre-
cipitated during festivities in honor of
the coronation of the car. The official
report places the number of dead at
1850. Most of these persons were in
stantly trampled to death, and the spec
tacle presented when the portion of
the plain on which the stampede took
place was cleared of the survivors was
sickening in the extreme. The crowd
was awaiting the signal TO dine at tables
laid out of doors and the distribution
of presents from the royal house when
the disaster occurred. The immediate
cause of it was the pitching into the
midst of The dense throng assembled
gifts, for which wild scramble was
made. HAD the police been present in
sufficient numbers the catastrophe
might have been averted.
The disaster, it is now explained, was
due mainly to the absence of the police,
who had not arrived at so early an hour
in the morning at the scene where the
festivities were scheduled to take place.
Fully 100000 persons of all grades of
society had gathered together on the
Khodijnskoje plain at the time the dis
aster occurred. Only about 1000 at
PENDANTS were in charge, and they
seemed to be unable to control the mob.
Hoping to lessen the pressure of the
assembled hundreds OF thousands. all
moving toward a common center. they
tossed the packages and presents into
the midst of the crowd. This seemingly
precipitated the panic, since scramble
to obtain possession of the gifts en-
sued and the hollow piece of ground
near the center formed a death trap for
the thousands. The police made des-
perate attempts to control the people,
but all their efforts were futile, and
men, women and children were tram
pied upon by hundreds. For a time
the officials in charge of the banquet
lost their heads entirely. The crowds
seemed to have gone mad with rage AMI
excitement, shouting, cursing and yell
ing as they pressed onward over path
strewn with dead and dying human
beings.
At the place where the disaster &C.
CURED the car had planned to give a
banquet on a mammoth scale to the
multitudes of people who had come to
Moscow to participate in the corona
ton ceremonies. To the people, es-
<~4@ 10 o1a g.
was one of the most attractive features
of the week, and the banquet grounds
on the Hoynsky plain were jammed at
early dawn. In the open air long lines
of rough tables, fianked by rougher
benches, had been erected. II was at
first arranged to accommodate 100000
people, but in view of the immense
crowds assembled in and about this city
for the coronation fetcs, extra tables
and benches were hastily erected.
Twice 100000 persons were DESTROYS of
taking part In the feast, but the au-
thorities decided that there must be q
limit to the number to be entertained,
and so the figure was fixed at 100000.
BY dawn the mass of peasants about
the tables was enormous and they were
all desperately hungry, some of them
having tasted, by choice or necessity,
for nearly "a hours. The guards did
everything possible to keep back the
crowd, but suddenly the masses, i'm
patient to get at the food, pressed for
ward, swept everything before them.
and overturned tables and benches as IL
made of grass, trampling thousands I'M
der foot and crushing the life out of a
great number of people. The oldes. and
weak naturally suffered the most.
The passage between the various
booths became a scene OF the widest
struggles. Here IL was the most were
killed. Despite the best efforts of the
cossacks and of the police, who unfor-
tunately arrived too late TO be of much
service, the crowd constantly increased.
1t was long time before the place
could be cleared enough to allow the
work of rescue to proceed. Many of the
injured were carried to the various hos
pitfalls, which were soon filed to over
flowing. Hundreds of persons who were
wounded, however, were removed to
their own homes or taken to private
residences. Most of the victims were
women and children.