ies of Balta were forewarned in
time of the approaching pogroms. Beginning with the middle of March the
people in Balta and the surrounding country were discussing them openly.
When the Jews of that town made their apprehensions known to the local
police commissioner, they received from him an evasive reply. In view of
the fact that the Jewish population of Balta was three times as large as
the Christian, it would not have been difficult for the Jews to organize
some sort of self-defence. But they knew that such an organization was
strictly forbidden by the Government, and, realizing the consequences,
they had to confine themselves to a secret agreement entered into by a
few families to stand up for one another in the hour of distress. On the
second day of the Russian Easter, corresponding to the seventh day of
the Jewish festival, on March 29, the pogrom began, surpassing by the
savagery of the mob and the criminal conduct of the authorities all the
bacchanalia of 1881. A contemporary observer, basing his statements on
the results of a special investigation, gives the following account of
the events at Balta:

At the beginning of the pogrom, the Jews got together and forced a
band of rioters to draw back and seek shelter in the building of the
fire department. But when the police and soldiers appeared on the
scene, the rioters decided to leave their place of refuge. Instead
of driving off the disorderly band, the police and soldiers began to
beat the Jews with their rifle butts and swords. This served as a
signal to start the pogrom. At that moment, somebody sounded an
alarm bell, and, in response, the mob began to flock together.
Fearing the numerical superiority of the Jews in that part of the
town, the crowd passed across the bridge to the so-called Turkish
side, where there were fewer Jews. The crowd was accompanied by the
military commander, the police commissioner, the burgomaster, and a
part of the local battalion, which fact, however, did not prevent
the mob, while passing the Cathedral street, from demolishing a
Jewish store and breaking the windows in the house of another Jew, a
member of the town-council. After the mob had crossed over to the
Turkish side, the authorities drew up military cordons on all the
three bridges leading from that side to the rest of the town, with
the order not to allow any Jews to pass. Needless to say, the order
was carried out. At the same