Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-05-21


The swretched shanties present a sorry ap->
pearance. with their broken doors and win
dows; at the thresholds small groups of
Jews are sitting, with mortified counte-
nances. These suburbs are the abode of
Jewish poverty. day laborers and small
nsoaiAfa --eKIng ous nans-to-mouth ex-
istence. Several Jewish Syn neuea are
also demolished. the panes are smashed,
cred scrolls torn. The damages reach into
the millions. Many Jews are totally ruined.
The richest Jews have. however. mostly
escaped. The calamity has befallen chief
ly the poorest part Of the population The
most awful thing is that the riot was at
tended with loss of life. These are the
appalling figures: About forty-five killed
and sixty MANNED and seriously wounded:
few hundred have sustained minor in
Juries. have seen in the cemetery nine
teen bodies The sexton removed the COW
erS from them. saw a woman, child OF
year and half or two years. a youth of
seventeen or eighteen, an old man. persons
of all ages. The old man had one open
fracture In place of the nose and forehead.
The blows dealt to them were beastly,
which only stone wall could Withstand.
1t Is related that Jews were thrown from
the third story; judging by the nature of
the injuries, 1t is quite possible. There were,
1T is said cases of rape. On the street one
frequently meets Jews with bandaged
heads. l have seen two little girls SO BAN
daged.
What must be the feelings of the Jews
toward the people who have robbed them
and upon whose hands is their blood? What
must be their feelings toward the system
which has allowed such terrible outburst
OF wild fanaticism?
THE rioters moved in gangs of about
twenty. followed by crowds of sightseers--
The police witnessed the breaking in and
robbing Of stores, but no measures were
Immediately taken to restore order. The
crowd following the rioters picked up the
things and carried them home Among the
sightseers were cultured" men; some OF
fhnvo 20 1T
with the riot and loudly cheered on the
mob.
However some stores whose owners had
managed to have certain measures were
not touched. (To Russian readers trained
in the art of reading between the lines. this
is very transparent hint at police bribery
A Prearranged Plan.
1.-The attack was evidently planned in ad-
vance and Systematically organized. 1t
broke out simultaneously in many places;
each gang took charge of its own district.
The preliminary arrangements doubtless re-
quired time. During all this time, however,
the eye of the Argus was slumbering.
1t now appears it was an open secret that
a riot was planned for the first day of
Easter. Servants informed their employ
few days before the holiday. The
Jews were also apprised of it, and likewise
a few days before the holiday they sent
delegation to call attention to the danger
threatening them. The delegates were
told they should not worry
The imperSonal form of the narrative is
characteristic of the condition of the Rus
sion press. A delesat ton was seat to whom?
Assurances were given to the delegates by
whom? The reporter saith not, but the
Russian reader takes judicial notice, as it
were, of the existence of governor and
chief of police in Kishingoo, who are the
proper officers to be approached by a dele
cation in such a case. The reporter next
describes the rioting
1T was started by the boys, who began
to break windows. The Argus still
sumbering. On the next day the mob
made tremendous attack. Then. accord
ing to some, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon,
according to others much later, the military
was called out"
The next day after the publication of
this report the RussXiya Vyedomorti had
the following editorial commenting upon it:
THE anti-Jewish riot which broke out on
Easter at kishinyov is marked, first of all,
by the beastly fury of the mob, who, not
contented with insulting, running and rob-
bling, committed detestable acts of violence
against the poorest portion of the Jewish
population. On the other hand, the striking
feature of this wild rioting of the populace
is the fact that it could be kept up so long.
that IT was attended with such a sacrifice
of life, that it evidently not a casual
outbreak, unexpected and unforeseen, but
a prearranged affair, boldly carried out in
Q1Herent parts OF the city by nanQfu1S OIL
daring rioters. The fact that disturbances
which began on the first day of Easter could
break out afreSh with tremendous violence
on the second day and continue all day until
the object of the robbers had been accom-
plished, and that the troops, when called
out, could only drive away and arrest the
crowds of the populace which had not dis
persed before is proof that the local adj
miniStratiOn incapable of preventing
violence and of stopping 1t in time, and
took necessary measures only when the
evil deeds of the robbers and murderers had
all been accomplished. This is confirmed by
the testimony of the Kishinyov city coun-
Gil. which adopted at it's special session a
resolution calling the attention of the minis
ter of the interior to the ''inacton of the
local police The official inquiry must
throw light upon this deplorable event. as
regards its direct perpetrators, as well as
the attitude of the officers of the local adj
ministration. which must bear the respon-
sibility for having allowed the rioting to
continue so long, attended with inhuman
violence and wholesale robbery
The Anti-Semitic Press.
The Kievlyanin. a leading daily published
in Kiev. has the following to say in re-
gard to the part played by the anti-Semitic
press in instigating these riots:
For five years Kishinyov and it's tribu-
tary district were the arena of the most
unbridled. the widest instigation of race
with an ignorant and benighted population
was delivered into the exclusive control Of
a press shamefully abusing it's mighty
power Floods of malicious insnuations
for many years excited the passions, in
famed the unstable imagination of the
dark masses. leased it's british instincts
and capped the climax with the infamous
Dubossary calumny Uhe ritual murder
story) which has doubtless sounded the
final accord in this mad bacchanal And
to offset the influence of this unbridled
press, thriving on darkness and ignorance
there was no sufficient local power, no in
telligent, honest press, which could show
up in strong light the criminal character
of the real appetites of these bigots of the
Russian press. With the blood of the Kish-
inyov Jews stained the sheets of the
Krushevan press. (Krushevan is the edi-
tor and publisher of the BessarabetZ). 1t
is imperative that the -unrestrained Jew
batting of the Krushevan type of the press
should at last be drowned by a powerful
appeal to the great dictates of Christian
ethics love and brotherhood
To properly appreciate this editorial one
must realize that in Kishinyov, as in all
cities of the same class, the vice governor
is ex-officio censor of the press and has the
unlimited power to exclude any article from
the columns of the newspapers. The alb
sence of any criticism of anti-Semitic ut
y,,,h1 had i,,o ,itxy rryit