The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-04 00:00:00

THE ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS.

The Naples correspondent of the Tones, writing on the
29th ult., says :—" A sad disaster has befallen one of the
most beautiful quarters of th's city. Last night, about N
quarter to seven, there was a land-slip of that huge tufa.
mountain which towers up above the corner of Santa Lucia;
leading round to the Chiatomone, overwhelming the shops
and dwelling-houses which lay below. The report in the
city early this morning was that fifty-five bodies had been
already disinterred ; but, as little trust is to be placed in
statements in moments of excitement, I procured the
escort of a Guard of Public Security, and was admitted
to the scene of the disaster. Many who read this w:11
remember how long they have lingered at several
coral and print shops just at the turn of Santa Lucia
less agreeable reminiscences they will have of one or two
wine-shops and trattoria frequented by the people. Well,
all are overwhelmed, and how many unhappy beings lie
buried beneath is up to the present time unknown. In
some respects I was reminded of the appearance of Torre
del Greco during the earthquake of 1861—there were long
beams and rafters standing perpendicularly out of the rub-
bish ; chairs, tables, beds, and other articles of household
furniture were mingled with thh ruins ; sections of houses
which clung to and climbed up the cliff were apparent,
with private cupboards full of bottles, but the inhabitants
and the facades—indeed, the great portion of the houses—
lay embedded beneath the mass of tufa which lay piled
high beneath, obstructing all communication between
the city and the Riviera di Chiaga in this direc-
tion. It was most painful to think of the amount of
suffering that lay buried there without the possibility of
relief, for the work of excavation was pronounced to be
dangerous. How high the mountain stands which domi-
nates Santa Lucia I cannot precisely say—certainly many
hundred feet, and, composed as it is of very friable mate-
rials, there was full expectation that even larger masses
would fall. On the very summit, and at the extreme edge,
there are barracks ; the stone facing of the mountain had
givenway, and the apparent probability was that the tufa
might yield, and this vast pile of building topple over. The
work of excavation, therefore, was full of danger, not merely
to those engaged in it, but to the crowds who stood around.
Even as I looked masses of rock and building fell, and
here and there long lines of sand, as it were of smoke,
came trickling down. There were very few persons em-
ployed, therefore, in excavating ; all that could be done
was to preserve order, and keep off the hosts of street
Arabs who every now and then tried to break through
the cordon of soldiers. A commission of engineers and
architects was appointed to examine the mountain and
report whether it would be safe to remove the ruins at
the base. It was a work of great danger, for they had
to scramble over the wrecks of the demolished
houses, at the risk of being swallowed up by another
landfall. At length it was decided that nothing could be
done until the mountain had been propped, and how this
can be done appears to me to be a most puzzling affair.
Some were of opinion that the best thing would be to
explode that part of the mountain with a mine, but this
would have endangered much property near ai hand.
At present, therefore, we are quite in the dark as
to the extent of the disaster, and if any unfortunate
persons are buried they must remain victims. The
houses destroyed are, a lodging-house much frequented
by foreigners ; two, if not three, coral shops, a shop
where engravings were sold, a caffil partially so, a wine-
shop much frequented, and one or two small eating-
houses.

THE PECULIAR PEOPLE. —The "Peculiar People"
nave by no means been convinced of the error of their
dogma regarding doctors, &c. Their chapel is described
as a plain room, and the manner of worship appears to be
somewhat similar to that which is commonly known as
" Plymouthism." There is no fixed minister, and anybody
speaks who will. At their last meeting, on Sunday, one
of those present spoke with great bitterness concerning
the late trial, and those who followed him narrated
numerous instances where, " after the arm of faith was
powerless, the prayer of faith saved the sick." Ono
related how a man, bent double with spine disease, sent
the doctors about their business, and was miraculously
cured ; and another told how a woman whose bones were
turned to gristle was instantaneously cured
REVOLTING CRUELTY TO A CHILD.—A case of
cruelty has been brought before the Dublin magistrates.
In the top room of a house in Dolphin's Barn—a suburb
On the south side of the city—the police discovered an un-
fortunate little boy, only four years old, lying in a corner
on the bare boards, stark naked, in a disgusting state of
filth, and perishing through hunger and neglect. He was
almost a skeleton, and when food was offered to him he
devoured it with a voracity which showed that it had long
been a stranger to bin. He is the son by a former hus-
band of a woman named Foley, who, with her present
husband, the child's stepfather, was brought before the
magistrates. They are in comfortable circumstances, and
the house in which the child was found is the freehold pro-
perty of his mother. As the child was too weak to be
brought out of the hospital to which he was taken, his un-
natural guardians were remanded.
MURDER AND OUTRAGE IN DUMPRIESSIIIRE.—A
rdurder bearing a horrible resemblance to that lately com-
mitted at Alton has just startled the country of Dumfries.
It appears that an Saturday afternoon, between three and
four o'clock, a young man, named Smith, who earns a
living by jobbing and labouring about the county, was
observed by a woman, named Patterson, to take into a
wood near to Cummertrees, a village between Annan and
Dumfries, a young girl about 14 yeas sof age. The woman,
as it turned out, had been obserVed by the ruffian, fors ome
time afterwards he entered her house at Longford Cottages
and felled her to the ground. While down he attacked her
with his knife and inflicted five stabs about her neck. Her
cries alarmed three young men who were passing, and who
rushed in to her assistance. The ruffian had meanwhile
escaped. On the poor woman recovering, she related what
she had seen near the wood. Information was given
at the nearest police-station, and on the party going to the
wood they saw a hbrrible sight. The girl with whom the
villain had been seen was found to have been robbed and
murdered, after another atrocious crime had been cow
witted. The murderer had hanged her up to a tree and
then cut down her body. Pursuit was at once commenced,
and Smith was apprehended on Sunday. He had gone to
a farmhouse, where blood was observed on his clothes,
and in his pocket wa3 found a leather shoelace tied in a
noose. There is little doubt that he is the murderer. The
atrocious affair has created the utmost horrcr.--Another
account states that the poor little girl is the daughter of a
shoemaker at Cummertrees, named Scott, and that she
was going to Annan to purchase groceries ; that she
stopped for shelter at a cottage on the road, and the sup.
posed murderer, Robert Smith, a farm labourer, aged 23,
known in the neighbourhood, arranged to accompany her.
The man and girl left the cottage together at noon, and
the latter was never seen alive again, It was three in the
afternoon before Smith returned to the cottage and made
the murderous attack upon the woman, with the design,
as it is supposed, of preventinz her fro iivinayqence
againit