troops were summoned. The soldiers made use of their weapons, and five persons were seriously wounded, while a large number were slightly injured. Many arrests were made.”[201] In reading these official statements one must constantly bear in mind the Russian Government’s desire to minimise a misfortune or a misdeed which they dare not deny. A few days later, on September 11, on the occasion of the Jewish New Year, another anti-Jewish disturbance occurred at Sosnowice, a town on the Siberian frontier. A number of boys threw stones at some Jews who were engaged in their annual ceremony, slightly injuring a child. This gave rise to a rumour that the Jews had killed a child. Numbers of workmen marched through the streets in the evening, smashing the window-panes of Jewish dwelling-houses and of the synagogue. Several Jews were injured by stones or knives. Doctors were afraid to render assistance to the injured, owing to the attitude of the mob.[202] Hardly a month had passed since the last-mentioned event, when a new outrage occurred in Mohileff. The following is a condensed description of the occurrence by a well-qualified observer who supports his statements by references to numerous witnesses: A political demonstration in the town of Mohileff took place exactly one week before the anti-Jewish riots. In Russia it is a crime for even four men to come together in a private room without the knowledge and permission of the police, and it is, therefore, a heinous atrocity for a crowd to gather in the streets for a political purpose. Yet that is what happened on October 15 in Mohileff. The Jewish workmen of the place assembled by way of protesting against the cruelty of the police, who, without a word of warning, had shot down harmless and unarmed Hebrew working women and men; and against the unjust condemnation to twelve years’ penal servitude of their comrades in Yakootsk; and they recorded their wish that the war should stop. A few policemen advanced against the workmen and tried to disperse them, but were themselves scattered by the crowd. Then an overwhelming police force marched against the malcontents, but to their disgust found nobody. At this the Prefect of the Police of Mohileff determined that, during the mobilisation which was to take place in a few days, from Tsukermann’s synagogue to the railway station the Jews should be thrashed until not a stone remained on the pavement.