h ever-increasing
fury and savagery.

While some of the robber bands were "busy" in Podol, others were active
in the principal thoroughfares of the city. In each case, the savage and
drunken mob--"not a single sober person could be found among them," is
the testimony of an eye-witness--did its hideous work in the presence of
soldiers and policemen, who in a few instances drove off the rioters,
but, more often, accompanied them from place to place, forming, as it
were, an honorary escort. Occasionally, Governor-General Drenteln
himself would appear on the streets, surrounded by a magnificent
military suite, including the governor and chief of police. These
representatives of State authority "admonished the people," and the
latter, "preserving a funereal silence, drew back," only to resume their
criminal task after the departure of the authorities.

In some places there were neither troops nor police on the spot, and the
rioters were able to give full vent to their beastly instincts.
Demiovka, a suburb of Kiev, was invaded by a horde of rioters during the
night. They first destroyed the saloons, filling themselves with
alcohol, and then proceeded to lay fire to the Jewish houses. Under the
cover of night indescribable horrors were perpetrated, numerous Jews
were beaten to death or thrown into the flames, and many women were
violated. A private investigation carried on subsequently brought out
more than twenty cases of rape committed on Jewish girls and married
women. Only two of the sufferers confessed their misfortune to the
public prosecutor. The others admitted their disgrace in private or
concealed it altogether, for fear of ruining their reputation.

It was only on April 27--when the pogrom broke out afresh--that the
authorities resolved to put a stop to it. Wherever a disorderly band
made its appearance, it was immediately surrounded by soldiers and
Cossaks and driven off with the butt ends of their rifles. Here and
there it became necessary to shoot at these human beasts, and some of
them were wounded or killed. The rapidity with which the pogrom was
suppressed on the second day showed incontrovertibly that if the
authorities had only been so minded the excesses might have been
suppressed on the first day and the crime nipped in the bud. The
indifference of the authorities was responsible for the demolition of
about a thousand Jewish houses and business places, involving a monetary
loss of several millions of