A PANIC IN A CHURCH.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1037, 16 February 1882, Page 4

A PANIC IN A CHURCH.

FORTY PEOPLE KILLED. Warsaw, December 25. —During the celebration of high mass in the Church of the Holy Cross to-day a man was seized while picking pockets. In order to effect his escape the culprit cried “ Fire 1” Immediately a great panic seized the congregation, who rushed for the door. During the confusion twelve women where crushed to deat h and forty other person seriously injured. The pickpocket was I soundly beaten by the crowd. The culprit is a Jew, and the classes were I much excited against his co-religion- ; ists, several of whom had been i’llj treated and had the windows of their dwelling broken. The military had to be called out.

A later despatch states that so far thirty persons have died from injuries received during the panic in church. Four shops kept by Jews had been gutted. Several policemen were injured by the rioters. The authorities displayed great promptitude in repressing disorder. The military are patrolling the disturbed quarters. London, December 26. —A dispatch from Warsaw reports that the deaths so far from the panic in Church of the Holy Cross on Christmas morning number forty. Sixty other persons were injured. A dispatch from I Cracow states that the persons killed I were mostly woman. Very serious rioting ensued after the panic. Most of the Jewish liquor shops and many Jewish houses were sacked. The police were powerless. In several cases policemen assisted in plundering the dram shops. Six hundred persons have been arrested.