At this stage several companies of soldiers, headed by Loris Drentell,
appeared upon the scene. The Governor fearing that Christians might
suffer in the general massacre, had at length yielded to the
importunities of his counsellors and sent his son with a detachment of
men as a protection, not to the Jews, but to the Christians. Loris had
returned to Kief shortly after the assassination of the Czar.

For an hour the soldiers allowed the work of destruction to go on
unhindered, and then, no longer able to control their appetites, they
joined the mob.

The rioters came to the house of Hirsch Bensef.

"He is the richest of them all," shouted a Russian, who had once been
employed by him. "His house is a regular mine of wealth. I've been in
it."

"Down with the house!" shouted the mob. "His wealth belongs to us. Show
him no mercy!"

They battered down the door, and regardless of the piteous pleadings of
the aged man and his wife they pillaged and plundered from cellar to
attic. Nothing was left intact. What could not be carried away was
destroyed. Loris himself, stimulated by reports of the fabulous wealth
which Bensef was said to possess, led the charge and took an active part
in the attack. When he left the house it was because he could conceal no
more of the booty about his person. Valuable property was scattered upon
the ground by the rioters and lay in mud-bespattered heaps, to be picked
up by the crowds of women and children that followed in their wake.
Bensef and his wife escaped assault at the hands of the ruffians by
fleeing precipitately through a rear door and taking refuge in the house
of a Christian friend.

Haim Goldheim's dwelling, not far from that of Bensef, was next
attacked. Father, mother and children had fled at the approach of the
rioters, but the rich furniture and works of art which the well-to-do
banker had accumulated fell into the destroying hands of the mob. An
hour afterwards, hungry flames devoured all that remained of the once
luxurious home.

At the further end of the street was the house of one David Wienarski.

"He, too, is rich!" shouted a Russian, and the rabble attacked the place
without delay. A search failed to discover the wealth they expected to
find, for the poor man had buried his meagre possessions in the garden,
the night before. Disappointed in their search for plunder, they caught
up his three-year-old child and threw it out of the window. It fell dead
upon the pav