Only through the energetic intervention of the Vilna police was a riot, threatened by an excited mob, prevented here. The crowd besieged the shop of a Jewish merchant, alleging that he had captured a Christian child for ritual purposes for the forthcoming Passover.
The incident arose when a Christian woman, Madame Voitovitch, a customer of the Jewish merchant, Gershkorn, asked the shopkeeperto care for her child while she settled other business in the town. As the child cried for its mother, Gershkorn decided to take her to meet the mother. A passerby, noticing the Jewish merchant carrying the crying child, began to question Gershkorn. A crowd soon assembled around them and became threatening. A Jew in the throng was beaten by the mob.
In the meantime the mother returned. Her explanation was scoffed at by the aroused assemblage, which grew more threatening until the police dispersed the mob.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
