The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-06-04

IL
seemed to be unable to control the mob.
Hoping to lessen the pressure of the as
sembled hundreds of thousands, all NOV
ing toward common center, they tossed
the packages and presents into the midst
of the crowd This seemingly precipi-
tated the panic, since scramble to OBJ
tain possession of the gifts ensued, and
the hollow piece of ground near the cen
ter formed a death trap for the thou
sands. The buildings on all sides of
the plain-where, by the way, Napoleon
concentrated his troops before moving
upon this city-are in many cases being
used as temporary hospitals, and the
soldiers have been rendering great serv-
ice in removing the dead and caring for
the wounded
| Further time must elapse before accu-
rate figures as to the number actually
killed and 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
official estimate of 1000 victims can not
be far from right, and this may be said
to have put an end to all coronation fes-
tivities, certainly so far as the general
public is concerned.
The disaster occurred between 5 and
9 o'clock this morning. 1t was intended
that the banquet should commence be-
fore noon, but the immense throng which
had gathered around the sheds where
the mugs were to be presented and the
| food distributed became so dense that the
attendants were overpowered and thrown
to the ground in the mad struggles which
commenced for food and gifts, many of
these attendants being numbered among
the dead. The police made desperate
attempts to control the people, but all
their efforts were futile, and men, women
and children were trampled upon by hun
dreds, the shrieks and groans of the VIC
Tins being heard afar. For the time
the officials in charge of the banquet lost
their heads entirely. The crowds
seemed to have gone mad with rage and
| excitement, shouting, cursing and yelling
| as they pressed onward over a path
strewn with dead and dying human
beings.
Eventually however, some show of
order was restored by the troops and
| firemen, who were hastily summoned to
the scene, and then the latter began the
work of eXtricating the dead and in
jured, arranging them on the ground in
groups of ten, twenty and thirty at every
hundred yards or SO, and despatching to
| the city as speedily as possible, in the
military transport wagons, furniture
vans, fort wagons, ETC.. the injured, CIV
IlS preference u WOIneu.
| The scene was most terribly heart
| rending among the relatives of the vic
| tins. The latter were mostly peasants,
and few of them have as yet been identi-
| fed. They were lying in heaps as they
had been extricated during the after
noon, their crushed blood-stained and
| terribly distorted faces turned upward in
the scOrching sun. Gray-haired women
and men lay alongside children and
sturdy men-all crushed as if beneath
heavy rollers, some of the heads being
trampled into shapeless mass.
The crowd was so great upon the plain
that hundreds of thousands were not
aware for long time that disaster had
occurred, for there were no noises caused
by the excitement that could be heard
above the music of the theatres, all the
entertainments provided for the people
being in full swing at midday, and yet
the work of gathering up hundreds of
crushed dead was in progress in another
part of the plain and the work of tend
ing many hundreds of injured people was
being carried on by a large force.
1t was not until nearly 10 o'clock to-
night that the first official statement of
the disaster was made public, some peo-
putting sudden stop to the festivities
of the plain, which might have resulted
in panic and a still more serious loss
of life. Even now the people in this
city refuse to believe that the disaster is
nearly as great as the officials declare.
| A bulletin given out about 10 o'clock
said that up to o'clock this afternoon
331 bodies had been recovered, and that
40 persons had been injured. But very
shortly afterwards, at IL o'clock, an
official notice was posted, saying that the
list of dead totalled up 1886 persons, in
Guiding those who had died from their
injuries after having been removed from
the plain.
| The car has given orders that the
sum of 1000 roubles (about $3.50 be
given to each bereaved family, and that
the victims be buried at his expense.
| Despite the disaster popular demon
stration took place this afternoon. In
spite of the gloom caused by the terri
bic accident of the morning, the multi
tudes participated heartily in the cele-
bration, the members of the imperial FAM
| lily being accorded an ovation. Later in
the day the car addressed the village
elders. He said that he hoped he would
prove as solicitous for the welfare of the
peasantry as his father and grandfather
had been anxious for their well being.