Semi-weekly register. (Brookings, Brookings Co., S.D.) 1894-1898, 1896-06-03
realities by the Catastrophe
Near Moscow Increasing
Every Hour.
Iatest Estimate of Loss OF
Life Placed at Over Two
Thousand.
MANY of the Victims Trampled
Beyond Hope of lden-
tification.

MOSCOW, June 1.-The disaster on
the Khodijnskoje plain Saturday is con-
stantly gaining i'll proportion as the in
yestigations by the authorities continue.
These are made under difficulties, as
the recovery of the victims was con-
Quoted by hundreds of volunteers and
many were carried away before they
we're enumerated. Many additional
deaths of the injured who were carried
away are occurring, which are only
added to the enumeration after some
time.
II is now said that the fatalities will
amount to between 1900 and 5000, but
it is impossible yet to ascertain accur-
ately the extent of the disaster. An Of
fetal statement places the number of
dead recovered at 1885, and the serious
II Or fatally injured at 2ss.
Work of Identification Difficult.
The work of identification is most
difficult on account of the large number
Of victims and the trampled, torn and
mutilated condition of many of the
corpses, some of which are crushed
quite beyond the possibility of recogni-
ton and almost beyond the semblance
to humanity. The majority of the
killed were peasants from outlying dis
tricts, though the clothing of some in
dicated that they were persons of wealth
and distinction. The bodies of num-
Der of women clad in silks and fine
linen were among those found.
All day the full force of police and
fremen worked among the dead, pull
ing bodies from heaps of killed and in
jured and ranging them on the ground.
which was covered for hundreds of
yards with groans of 10 and 20 begrimed,
Blood-stained and Disfgured Corpses,
among which the agonized friends of
the missing wandered in painful ef-
fort to identify them. The work of car
rying the bodies to the cemetery, where
1t is the intention to inter those who
fail of identification, continued all
night. The forces at work on the plain
discovered disused well in the middle
OF the field, the plank covering of which
had given away in the mad rush. In
the well there were 30 dead bodies, and
wedged In among them and held down
by their weight were found two men
comparatively uninjured physically.
But the terror and the hileous sur
rounding of the night had proved too
great a strain for their minds, and they
were raving maniacs.
Cause 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 wagon laden
with the 500, 900 souvenirs which was to
De distributed among the people was
proceeding to the plain, followed by a
multitude OF eager peasants, when the
attendants, with view of pleasing the
people, threw number of the souvenirs
among the crowd. There was wild
scramble towards the point where they
ien and the news spread like wildfire
up and down the crowd. The throng
Oh expectant peasants thought that the
distribution had commenced and they
rushed headlong, pell nell, for the the
booths where the distribution of SOU
yenirs was to have been made later
The arrangements which it was intend
ed to make
To Keep the Crowds I'm Order
during the distribution had not been
completed at that early hour and the
Ionce ON hand was powerless to stem
the tide of the crush of humanity
what added greatly to the gravity of
.ne disaster was the circumstance that
.nese booths We're surrounded by ditch
s' The foremost persons fell prostrate
N these bitches and the people following
speedily trampled them to death. 9th
en stumbled over their bodies and met
'ne same fate. And so the horror grew.
The car and czarina after attending
.ne requiem mass in the chapel of the
hreemlin, paid visit to the injured
survivors, IN the hospitals. passing from
oU 70 cot, and addressing words of
bymDathy and cCv,.F<x.ux