The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-05-16
THE KIsHINEFF MASSACRE.

THE hISHINEFF MASSANhEs.
The Gar proposes peace throughout
the world, and at his instance meet
ing of representatives of the Powers is
held at The Hague for the purpose of
considering disarmament. He justi-
fes the presence of his forces in Man
churia by the claim that they are
there to enforce reforms" TO guar
antee the safety of life and property.
And yet within hardly more than
days Journey of the Cars capital,
there has recently occurred one of the
bloodiest massacres of more than thir-
ty years. precipitated by the Cars
loyal subjects" and condoned if not
abetted by the Cars police and
troops
The city of Kishineff, in Bessarabia,
is some 900 miles from st. Petersburg.
1t has a population of 100000, and is
therefore somewhat larger than Allan
ia, being about the size Of COLUMBIA us,
O., or Worcester, Mass. Being SO con-
siderable a city, situated within COM
paratively easy distance of the capital,
Kishineff may be regarded as typical
Russian city, in which life and property
ought to be as safe as in about any
city of the empire. And yet on
Sunday and Monday, April % and rs,
there occurred in Kishineff riots" OF
such bloody and forbidding aspect as
to shock the civilized world. The vic
Tins were Jews, which race constitutes
about one-third the population of the
city. During the disturbances not
less than forty-five persons, men and
women, were killed, nearly $50 were
more or less seriously injured, and at
least 1900 houses and places of bust
ness, belonging to Jews, were looted
and their contents carried away by
their assailants During the "rioting"
the most horrible outrages We're COM
mitted against the persons of women of
the prosecuted race Not since the
riots and massacres of Odessa, in the
early seventies, has there been such a
carnival of blood, rapine, robbery and
arson as that at Kishlneff during the
closing days of last April.
There had to be some excuse for the
precipitation of the trouble. 1t was
found in an alleged ritual murder"
committed by Jews upon the person of
a Russian. There is an exploded super
stition to the effect that the orthodox
Jews make use of the blood of an "un-
believer" in some of their religious
ceremonies. The rumor got noised
about that a certain Russian who had
met violent death in Kishineff had
been murdered by Jews for the purpose
of securing his blood. An official inves-
tigation was made, but not one scintilla
of evidence was adduced to show that
there was the slightest truth in the
charge. Indeed, the whole weight of
the evidence was against any such
thing, and in favor of the innocence of
the Jews Nevertheless the inflamed
Russian population attacked the Jews,
killed and manned them, outraged their
women and wrecked their shops and
houses. The Governor of the city was
called upon to stop the disorder, but
for two days the rioting. slaughter
and carnival of outrage continued.
Finally troops were ordered out, but
they were in sympathy with the rioters
and did practically nothing to defend
the Jews from their assail-
ants. At length there came
from st. Petersburg an order, peremp-
tory in character, saying that the riot
must be suppressed. And then it was
suppressed. But the Jews had suffered
pltifully. Homes had been wrecked,
heads of families killed, and house
holds left desolate. Collections are
being taken up in this country for the
relief of the distressed Jews of Kishi-
neff, and the response to the appeal of
the suffering has been liberal, as it win
doubtless continue to be.
The troubles in Russia are manifes-
tations of race and religious prejudice.
In territory and numbers of citizens
Russia is strong. but in moral sense
she is weak; and that moral weakness
reacts directly upon the Russian sys-
tenn of government. The monarchy,
absolute in character, is founded on
injustice, inequality, oppression. and
corruption in office. Before there can
be genuine patriotism and national
prosperity in Russia there must be
such changes that will make impossi-
BILE the denial of simple justice to a
whole race of people within the coun-
trys borders.