On the following day, March 30, at four o'clock in the morning, a
large number of peasants, amounting to about five thousand and armed
with clubs, began to arrive in town, having been summoned by the
Ispravnik [1] from the adjacent villages. The arrival of the
peasants was welcomed by the Jews, who thought that they had been
called to come to their aid. But they soon found out their mistake,
for the peasants declared that they had come to beat and plunder the
Jews. Simultaneously with the arrival of the peasants, large numbers
from among the local mob began to assemble around the Cathedral, and
at eight o'clock in the morning signals were given to renew the
pogrom. At first this was prevented. The officers of the local
battalion, who patrolled the city, ordered the soldiers to surround
the mob and hold it off for about an hour, during which time the
Greek-Orthodox bishop [2] Radzionovski admonished the rioters and
tried to make them understand that such doings were contrary to the
laws of the Church and the State. But when the police commissioner,
the military chief, and Ispravnik arrived before the Cathedral, the
military cordon was withdrawn, and the crowd, now let loose, threw
itself upon a near-by liquor store, and, after demolishing it and
filling itself with alcohol, resumed its work of destruction, with
the co-operation of the peasants who had been summoned by the
Ispraynik and the assistance of the soldiers and policemen. It was
on this occasion that those wild, savage scenes of murder, rapine,
and plunder took place, the account of which as published in the
newspapers is but the pale shadow of the real facts.... The pogrom
of Balta was called forth not by the mere inactivity but by the
direct activity of the local authorities.

[Footnote 1: The head of the district (or county) police. The police