A MAD RUSH.

Otago Witness, Issue 2205, 4 June 1896, Page 23

A MAD RUSH.

TWO- THOUSAND FIV.E HUN- * DJRED PERSONS KILLED. St. Petersburg, May 30. A terrible scene took place at a peasant feast held outside Moscow in honour of the pz3T*s coronation. An immense crowd of 400,000 persons were assembled. The attendance on these not being adequate, the people madly rushed the booths. The crowd were wedged in in a narrow passage, and the prassure was so terrifio that people were hampled to' death — chiefly women and Children. The hollows in the ground proved veritable death traps. The police and Cossack soldiery Were quite unable to stop the mad rash. It is officially announced that 1100 were killed and 450 icjared. May 31. The Czar is deeply distressed by the terrible disaster at the peasant feast-, Moscow, and has assigned a sum of 1000 roubles to each of the bereaved families. Jane 1. The fete which resulted in such a terrible disaster took place on the Kbodyneski plain. The people were to be treated to free amusement, supplied with food, and provided with gifts in honour of the coronation. Immense crowds, chiefly peasants, were assembling all eight prior to the fete, but there were very few police on the scene. ■ A false alarm that the division of gifts had commenced caused the rush early in tbe morning. The attendants becoming frightened, scattered bundles of food and gifts in all directions, and this bad the effect of inciting the people at the rear of the concourse to make a rush for the front. In d oiug so they f ough t, crushed and trampled, with the resnlt that hundreds were suffocated, many being flattened like pancakes. Thirty fell into an old well and were killed. When the crowd had been dispersed the plain presented the aspect of a battle field. The screams of the sufferers and bereaved were heartrending. Considerable heroism was shown. Many women escaped death by passing over the heads of the crowd. Some estimates give the total killed as 2500. The victims were buried in immense trenches. ' After the burial the fete was continued, the Czar and Czarina being amongst those present. The chief of the police was blamed for not taking steps to provide against a panic, and an attempt was made to lynch him.