Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1896-06-05
MIG 4 AND MOURNING
MOBILES FEAsT-PEAsANTRy Wall
FOR THEIR DEAD.
People Fell Into Trenches In Their
Mad Rush and Were Ground
to Death.


Khodinjnskoje plain yesterday is con-
stantly gaining in proportions as the in
vestigations continue. Many additional
deaths of the injured who were carried
away are occurring, which are only add
ed to the enumeration after some time
1t is said now the fatalities will amount
to between 1000 and 5000 An official
statement this morning places the num-
Der of dead recovered at 1886 and the
seriously injured at 286. But in contrast
with this official statement there are
1882 corpses lying this afternoon at the
cemetery, besides the many dead and
dying that are known to have been re-
moved from the Inflated field by friends
Last evening after receiving deputa-
tions the car and czarina attended and
danced at the brilliant ball at the French
embassy. Preparations had been made
on most elaborate scale for this ball
and 1t is asserted that $4,000 was ex-
pended on the supper alone. The car
ina was not informed yesterday of the
disaster, owing to her delicate condition.
While the dance In the French embassy
was in progress, amid all the accompan-
iments of luxury and gaiety, disconsolate
friends wandered over the desolate plain
among the dead, suffering and dying,
looking often in vain for their missing.
Identification Difficult.
Today a requiem mass was said in the
chapel of the Kremlin, which the car
and czarina and all the members of the
imperial family attended. The city is
filed today with grief-stricken crowds.
1t is striking evidence of the vast null
titude who took part in yesterdays fetes,
that there were large numbers who were
totally unaware of the number of lives
that had been crushed out among them
and who proceeded with their merry
making throughout the day without hav-
ing grasped the fearful proportions of the
disaster.
The work of Identification is most diff
cult, both on account of the large num-
Der of victims and the trampled, torn
and mutilated condition of many of the
corpses. The majority of the killed were
peasants from outlying places All day
yesterday the full force of police and
firemen worked among the dead, pulling
bodies from the heaps of the killed and
injured and ranging them on the ground,
which was covered for hundreds of yards
with groups of 10 and 20 begrimed and
disfigured corpses, among which the ag-
onized friends of the missing wandered
in a painful effort to identify them. The
work of carrying the bodies to the GEM
etery, where 1t is intended to inter those
who fail of Identification, continued all
night and day. This morning the forces
at work on the plain discovered the
mouth of disused we'll in the middle Of
nall a nla IF vuh inI
had given way in the mad rush. In the
we'll there were 80 bodies, and wedged in
among them and held down by their
weight was found two men alive and evil
IDENTIFY uninjured physically. But the
terror and the hideous surroundings of
the night had proved too great a strain
on their minds and they were raving ma
MACS. There are many incidents of spe-
cial pathos, one case being that of par
ty of So humble peasants who had come
together from a single village for the
merry-making at the czar's feast. OF
this party 50 were killed.
Origin of the Stampede.
Various versions as to the origin of
the stampede and crush are current, but
the account to which the most credence
is attached is that the wagons laden with
the 100000 souvenirs which were to be
distributed among the people were pro-
ceeding to the. Khodijnskoje plain, follow
ed by multitude of eager peasants,
when the attendants, with a view to
pleasing the people, threw number of
the souvenirs among the crowd. There
was wild scramble towards the point
where they fell and the news spread
like wildf1re up and down the throngs of
expectant peasants that the distribution
had commenced. This resulted in a head
long, pell-mell rush for the booths where
the distribution of souvenirs was to have
been made later. The ARRANGEMENT by
which it was intended to keep the crowd
in order during the distribution was not
completed at that early hour, and the
force on hand was powerless to stem the
tide of the crush of humanity. What
added greatly to the disaster was the fact
that these booths were surrounded by
bitches. The foremost persons in the
incoming crowds fell PROSTATE in these
bitches, and the people following them
speedily trampled them to death. Others
stumbled over their bodies and met the
same fate. And so the horror grew.
No Americans Hurt.
There were no English people nor Amer
leans among the victims. The car and
czarina today, after attending reouIem
mass in the chapel of the Kremlin. paid
visit to the injured survivors in the
hospitals, passing from cot to cot and
addressing words of sympathy and com
fort.
judicial inquiry has been opened into
the causes of the disaster, and an effort
will be made to fix the responsibility
The scene at the celebration of divine
service at the cemetery today was mos,
impressive, some $1,000 people being rras-
eas. The majority of those were seel,ine
missing relatives in the mortuary cnar-
hers, and their grief and despair was
indescribable. AS fast as a body u,as
identified a sacred icon (mage) was
placed upon the breast Those bodias
which are claimed by relatives or friands
have been inferred in the church yards
of the communities to which thew be
long.
mountaineering Scenes.
Everywhere in the CITY are cxc;tad
groups of people discussing the disas-
Ter the significant proportions of which
'hey nave at last come to realize. The
streets present some saddening con-
trasts in the coronation decorations
very few of which have been removed
and the gaily dressed populace, who. hav-
hg escaped with their friends. continue
-heir holiday merry-making, while ey-
'ry iew yards men are carrying Collins
IA their shoulders or across their knees
droshkies. The police and a soree Of |
oldiers with fixed bayonets have han,,