Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-12-08
sRuTALITIEs AT ODESSA.
Eyewitness Tells of Massacre Of Jews
BY Russians.

Eyewitness Tells Of Massacre OF Jews
BY Russians.
Solomon Brodsky. Jewish watch
maker of Odessa, who recently arriv-
ed in London from that town, gave a
London Telegraph representative a
graphic description Of the terrible
scenes Of bloodshed which occurred
there a few days ago. Mr.. Brodsky
is a prominent member Of the revolu-
tionary party in Odessa, and 1t was
because he took prominent part In
the defense of his coreligionists and
thereby became marked man that
he fed from the town In fear Of his
life, being provided with funds by the
revolutionary party to enable him to
20 to London to assist in raising funds
for the revolutionary movement.
Mr.. Brodsky attributed the COM
mencement of the attack upon the
Jews to the issue Of proclamation
inspired by the police asserting that
Jewish revolutionaries were plotting to
take the life Of the czar. At the time
the proclamation was issued great
mobs of loyalist hooligans were parad-
ing the streets, rejoicing over the
czar's manifesto promising a constitu-
ton. The hooligans at once raised the
cry Of Down with the Jews!" attacks
on the Jewish quarter began and for
three days the whole city was given
up to scenes Of indescribable horror.
early on Wednesday morning
Oct. &C." continued M. Brodsky, Il
was awakened by terrible uproar in
the street. Arming myself with a re-
volver, went out and found a great
mob Of hooligans and disguised po-
licemen. armed with swords and re-
volvers, attacking a house where sew
eral families Of Jews resided. their OBJ
ject being murder and robbery. The
Jews tried to defend themselves, but
they were soon oyerpowered, and
nearly every person in the house was
killed or wounded and the place pill
laged.
"Then a body Of the Social Demo-
cratic league came upon the scene and
called upon the people to bring out as
many arms as possible to fight the po-
lice and hooligans. Returning to my
house, I brought out two large dag
gers, one of which gave to another
person, keeping the other myself. A
desperate fight then took place. and I
was in the thick Of 1t, revolvers, dag
gers and sticks being freely used.
Hearing a cry for help. turned
round and saw a young girl Of about
fourteen or fifteen being struck on the
head by hooligan with huge stick.
This got my blood up. and. aiming my
revolver at the man. shot him dead.
Ny act was witnessed by the police.
Several Of them made rush for me,
End one of them tried to fell me with
e rifle. I ran away, with the police In
hot pursuit, but after they had chased
me through two or three streets
managed to enter house unnoticed
by them and hid there for two hours.
As soon as ventured out, however,
was arrested. but number Of revolu-
tionists attacked the police and set
me free.
..'Scenes similar to that In which i
took part were enacted in every part
Of the city. 1t was as though thou
sands Of wild beasts had been let
loose. The authorities made no at
tempt to maintain order. 1t was abb
solutely anarchy, and the Jews were
in a state Of fearful terror, fully ex-
pecting to be completely annihilated.
The scenes on Thursday were, IL pos
sible, even worse, the greatest blood
shed occurring in two streets, Molda-
vanka and Preobrazhenskaya. To de-
scribe the horrible slaughter which
took place here is quite impossible.
Bodies Of the dead and dying lay on
the ground literally in hundreds, and
the cutters ran ankle deep in blood.
the sounds of the firing. the fierce
shouts Of the fighters and the groans
of the wounded making 1t perfect
pandemonium. Fathers saw their
sons and daughters killed before their
eyes, and sons saw their mothers ruth
lessly slaughtered by the hooligan
mob. What wonder s4at everybody
lost his humanity and Sipught like a
wild beast!
"The cruelty Of the hooligans and
the police was unspeakable. I myself
saw a policeman savagely stamp on
the face Of an old woman who was ly-
ing on the ground badly wounded and
saw others who were wounded "fin-
ished Off" by the police with the butt
end OF rifles. The bodies Of horses and
dogs lay mixed up unfortunately
with the bodies Of men and women.
So numerous were the victims-it was
impossible to count them, for there
were thousands-that the police could
not cart them away quick enough, and
during the night dogs and cats and
rats actually fed upon the corpses.
The bodies were taken away in thirties
and forties in dust carts and there
was no attempt at proper burial. They
were all thrown together into huge
holes, irrespective Of nationality, and
covered over with lime.
"I became as one insane with the
horrible scenes which I witnessed on
every hand, and during Thursday
evening when was attacked by sew
eral disguised policemen who were as
sisting a band of hooligans who were
ill-treating a number Of students, I
again lost my head and killed one Of
them by stabbing him in the eye with
my dagger. Again I was obliged to
flee into hiding, and the next day,
knowing that I was now a marked
man, I took the advice Of the revolu-
tionary leaders and fed"
To EXTEND AMERICAN MARKETS.