Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1872-05-17
vESUvIUS.


From the New York Times.
After Il silence of eleven years
Vcsuvius is again in eruption, and,
according to the telegraphic dis
patches, with vehemencc and fury
such as the Neapolitans have not
witnessed since the great eruption
Of 1894. In that terrible cataclysm
described by the Austrian writer,
Ireislak, the town Of Torre del
Greco, which is now mentioned as
threatened, was utterly over
whelemed by stream Of lava
which contained upward of 48,OoO,-
900 OF cubic feet. Thick sulphur
Gus smoke, white as snow, and re-
senlbing closely that of discharged
gunpewdcr, at that time enveloped
the side of the burning mountain,
and sometimes rose up in solid
masses to an altitude of IA, 900 feet,
presenting at night time, when
lighted up by the lurid columns of
fire from the crater, a spectacle of
overpowering magnificence. Sir
William Hamilton, who was the
English Ambassador at the Neapo-
Titan court, described the scenes in
private letters as one of unearthly
splendor, creating such an effect
upon the minds of the ignorant
reasantry, as to render them incspa-
BILE OF any efforts to save their pro-
perty from the villages along the
sides of Vesuvius. Some men were
seized with epileqtic fits at the
spectacle, and rolled on the ground
toaming at the mouth, and calling
on Madonna and the holy angels to
save them. The beautiful Bay Of
Naples was the great rendezvous
for visitors, and the effects Of color
upon the water were described as
being singularly fantastic.
The telegraphic dispatches state
that huge masses OF rock are ejec-
ted from the crater, with earth
quake shocks which are distinctly
felt within the city Of Naples. Such
was the case in the eruption Of 1879
when a rock was projected from
the Punta del Palo which measured
II feet in height and 1Os feet cir
cumference. In December, 1861,
and January, 1862, these tremblings
were very strongly felt both at Tore
del Greco, which had been rebuilt
over it's former site, and at Resina,
and they were accompanied with
exhalations of an insutf'erable gas
in the streets of the former, which
drove the people from their houses.
Some hours afterward the earth
opened very nearly at the base Of
the mountain, and directly above
Tore del Greco. From these open
ings came first jets Of fierce flame,
accompanied by terrible explosions
that sopndcd like the discharge Of
numberless pieces ofheavy artillery.
Then came streams Of lava, which
united and poured down upon Terre
del Greco with breadth Of half y
mile. The town, which then con-
tained at the least 10000 inhabi-
tants, had been abandoned in con-
sequence of the horrible gas, but
the houses were filed with valuable
property, which the terror-stricken
inhabitants did not dare to attempt
to rescue, for the lava was coming
Oh with slow, even pace, but with
a height of twenty.six feet, which
engultcd in its raging depths every
thing that it met. Just outside Of
the town was the convent of Nuestra
Sonora del Carmen, which the
monks refused to leave, declaring
their faith in the providence Of ftheil
patroness. Within hundred feet
Of the convent walls the horrible
river actually diverged and broke
into two streams, passing on eithel
side Of the convent, which it lef
untouched. Each stream divcrget
more and more us it went dow
ward, so as to render the safety o
Tore del Greco a certainty, ant
the inhabitants returned to thei
homes, ascribing their salvation t,
the prayers Of the stout-hearte,
monks Of the convent. A fine, blacl
dust was continually falling, whicl
accumulated in the roof.tops and i,
the streets to the depth of 3 foot
resembling, in small way, th
fatal showers which overwhelme'
Pompcii. This city, it will be re
membered, was destroyed in th
year n by these ashes, and Her
culaneum was buried in the lava, !
Terre del Greco was, in 1894. Tn
ashes that fell then, far exceede,
the bulk Of Vesuvins itself, TO- -
nothing Of tho enormous floods Q
lava that desolated the western sid
of tho mountain. The trsingadou
'I,throes 81 that occasion ~ j j
hax quieted n 81 4 lqng