ABSTRACT
The townspeople of Ostrog dealt slyly with the Jews. They wrote to the Jews of the surrounding places who had been inhabitants of Ostrog, inviting them to return, not to fear the Cossacks, because the King had made peace with them. The poor Jews rejoiced exceedingly, believing that this was the truth. Some three hundred persons returned to Ostrog. And it came to pass at midnight of the 19th of the aforementioned month of Adar, that many thousands of Cossacks came into the city of Ostrog and slew all the nobles and the Jews in their beds. When the nobles and the Jews of Zaslaw, and of the other communities near Ostrog heard of this they fled for their lives. Some escaped to Great Dubno and Olyka, and others to Krzemieniec. The wretched Jews, however, though indigent and destitute, appeared in the eyes of the multitude and of the nobles as rich people.
