The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1896-06-06
MIRTH AND MOURNING
MOBILES FEAsT-PEAsANTRY WALL
FOR THEIR DEAD.
people Fell Into Trenches in Their
Mad Rush and Were Ground
to Death.

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 1885, 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-
lions the car and czarlna 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 thee 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 galety, 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 czar
and czarina and all the members of the
imperial family attended. The city is
filed today with gref-stricken crowds.
It is a 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 ana
dshgured corpses. among which the ag
onized friends of the missing wandered
| in painful effort TO Identify them. The
work of carrying the bodies to the Gem
etery, where it 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
the field, the plank covering of which
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 50 humble peasants who had come
together from a single village for the
merry making at the ears feast. OF
this party SO 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 a multitude of eager peasants,
when the attendants, with view to
pleasing the people, threw a number OF
the souvenirs among the crowd. There
was a wild scramble towards the point
whore they fell and the news spread
like wildhre up and down the throngs OF
} sxpectant peasants that the distribution
2 had commenced. This resulted in head
long. pell-mel 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
r 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
J No Americans Hurt.
Y There were no English people nor Amer.
1 leans among the victims. The car and
czarina today, after attending requiem
mass in the chapel of the Kremlin, PAID
a visit to the injured survivors in the
hospitals, passing from cot to cot anc
\ addressing words of sympathy and com
fort.
I \ judicial inquiry has been opened into
the causes of the disaster. and an effort
will be made to fix the responsibility.
S The scene at the celebration of divine
I service at the cemetery today was mosl
impressive, some $4,000 people being rres-
ems. The majority of those were seeking
, missing relatives in the mortuary cham
hers, and their grief and despair was
3 indescribable. AS fast as a body was
Identified sacred icon Gmage) was