The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-06-04
|ONE THOUSAND KILLED.
FRlGHTFUL RESULTS OF A
PANIC WHICH TOOK PLACE
n AT MOSCOW.
| A RALF million PEOPLE STAMPEDE.
1T WAS THE OCCASION OF THE
POPULAR FEAST, GIVEN BY
THE GEAR.
HUNGRY HORDES GOULD NOT Be CONTROLLED.
HUNGRY HORDES COULD NOT Be CONTROLLED.
The Idea of Getting Square Meal Was
Too Much for the Poverty-Stricken
Peasants-The Aged, Young and
Weak Trampled to Death by
the Surging Mass.

Moscow, May 30.-(Copyrighted, 1885,
by the Associated Press.)-A terrible
panic resulting from the great crush of
people at the popular feast here today, in
honor of the car, caused the trampling
to death of many people, including Il
woman who delivered a child during the
excitement.
In anticipation of the grand holiday
and popular banquet on the Khodijonskje
plain, tens of thousands of people began
trOoping toward the Provinsky palace
in front of which the plain is situated,
during the earliest hours this morning.
In fact, so much interest was taken in
the open air banquet that thousands
reached the ground last evening and
camped there in the immediate vicinity
in order to make sure of obtaining good
positions today. The majority of these
people came on foot, but some came in
the oldest kind of vehicles, country carts
and turnouts of the most primitive de-
scriptiOn, and others Travelled on horse
back. On the Khodijonskje plain long
lines of rough tables, thanked by rougher
benches, had been erected. In the dis
lance these lines of tables looked like
immovable regiments of soldiers or the
trenches of an extensive series of forti-
fications. 1t was at first arranged to ac-
commOdate 100000 people, but in view of
the immense crowds assembled in and
about this city for the coronation fetes,
extra benches and tables were hastily
erected and every effort was made to
provide seating room and a hearty meal
for 100000 people. Twice that number
were DESTROYS of taking part in the
feast, but the authorities decided that
there must be limit to the number to
be entertained, and so the figure was
fixed at 100000. TO feed this multitude
an army of cooks and walters was gath
cred together, the army bake houses were
taxed to their utmost capacity and 5O0,-
90 mugs, each bearing portraits of the
car and czarina, were ordered and man
ufactured for presentation to the people
taking part in the great banquet. Thous-
ands of cattle, train loads of provisions
and shiploads of liquor refreshments
the week, and this morning all were in
readiness for the gigantic meal.
In anticipation of the assembling of an
immense crowd and the possibility of dis
order, strong forces of police, detailed
for duty, were on the plain.
In addition several detachments of in
fantry and cavalry were stationed in the
vicinity in order to support the police
should such step be necessary.
By dawn today the mass of peasants
about the tables was enormous, and they
were desperately hungry, some of them
having tasted by choice or necessity for
nearly twenty-four hours. The police
had done everything possible to keep
back the crowd, but suddenly the masses,
controlled by some inexplicable impulse,
or impatient to get at the food, pressed
forward, swept everything before them
and overturned the tables and benches
as if they were made of grass, trampling
hundreds under foot and crushing the
life out of a great many people. The old
est naturally suffered the most One
poor woman, who gave birth to a child
during the excitement, was trampled to
death. The fate of the infant is not
definitely known, but it is believed to have
shared the fate of its mother. The exact
number of people killed is not ascertained
as this dispatch is sent, for the police and
military evtntually succeeded in restor-
ing order and carted away the dead and
injured, and preparations were made
to proceed with the banquet as if moth
ing had happened.
The car and czarina, who were in
formed of the disaster, were very much
distressed and sent additional physicians
to the scene to care for the injured and
issued instructions that a full report of
the tragedy is to be made in order that
the distressed families may be relieved.
As this is the first serious accident re-
4 ported since the festivities commenced,
it has attracted much attention and has
east quite gloom over the city.
The French ambassador, COmte de
Monticello, is scheduled to give ball
at the French embassy this evening, but
it is reported that this feature of the
celebration may be abandoned, although
largo nf has boon
spent upon the preparations, France be-
ing very DESTROYS of testifying to it's
friendship for Russia by making dis
play upon this occasion which would pass
into history. The decorations for the en-
bassy and ball room have cost fortune;
miles of the most valuable carpets have
been laid; fruits, flowers. fishes and birds
from all lands have been imported for the
supper and nothing has been spared to
make it one of the most striking fea-
lures of the coronation fetes.
Among the dead found on Khodijon-
skje plain were ladies evidently of high
rank, dressed in the finest silk and
adorned with the RICHEST jewels
The police barracks, to which the bod
les were taken by the authorities, are
besieged with persons beseeching for
news of friends and relatives. The
scenes at the barracks, where the process
OF identification is going on, are terrible
in the extreme. The remains of the dead
will all be conveyed during the course of
the night to the cemetery, where large
morgue is located.
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
Kohodijonskye plain at the time the dis
aster occurred. Only about thousand