The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1876-01-28
NJ. LES IN TERROR.
The Threatened Eruption of Vesuvius
Exciting Midnight Scenes.


subsiding into its usual tranquil state of Sc
curity. For one or two days every one.
believe, was anxious and apprehensive, fo
1t is no trlfie to be rocked in your bed, t.
see your walls rocking backwards and for
wards, and to hear the timbers creakino
such sights would be alarming anywhere
more especially in Naples, which has suf
tered from series of disasters, and which
has not yet forgotten the awful EARTHQUAKE
OF 1857. On Monday night and Tuesda,
morning few persons went to bed, or if the,
did they threw themselves ON it in military
style, completely dressed and ready for q
start. Many formed parties, as if seeking
security in society; but more were in the
streets, in the cafes, or in carriages of any
kind they could lay hands on Those who
were less fortunate had to pass the night on
the pare exposed to rain and what for this
country was bitter cold. There was full
expectation that the earthquake would re-
peat its visit at the end of twenty. four
hours after the first shock-it not infre-
quently does-so that from midnight till
5:24 on Tuesday morning apprehension be-
came increasingly and painfully strong.
Conversation was on the wane, snatches of
the Litany We're chanted here and there al
most soto ooce. AS 3 o'clock approached
there was dead silence, as if the enemy
were upon them; and thus it was at quar-
ter-past 3, when apprehension was intense.
| Rut the ninuta- -hanj rnorLyo1 % o,L
sense of relief was great, for nothing hap
pened to create alarm, though this did not
suffice to satisfy those who fancied that the
dreaded visitor might have delayed his COM
ing Or that clocks might be wrong. A few
minutes more restored tranquility to the
most timid, and by dawn of day all went
home chilled to the marrow, many, it is
probable, having found the death from
which they fed. During the day preceding
this anxious night preparations were made
by persons, which remind us of the hur-
ried flight from Pompeii, indications of
which have often been brought to light dur
| ing the excavations. Boxes were purchas-
| ed and jewels packed, and in some cases, it
is said, even articles of dress. All that was
| most precious was in readiness to be car
| rled off, and, says journalist, one lady
sent Off her 'adorato papagazlo' (adored
parrot) to be restored if demanded, or be-
queathed to the friend, if she herself was
buried under the ruins of Naples 1t is un-
necessary to say that this general apprehen-
sion was OF most exaggerated and un-
necessary character. Still no one can an
swer for his house when it's foundations are
heaving up and down, and we cannot for
get the horrors of 1867 when 30, 900 persons
were destroyed by earthquake in the neigh
boring provinces, and our bells rang, as it
were funeral peals over them Later re-
ports now tell us that the shock was felt as
far as Bari, and in every place it excited |
gFearsasHssss= eiss..s.-- IL sss--r-
a state of fanatical madness. All rushed |
to the Cathedral and insisted on bringing |
out the statue of the patron saint, Saint |
Matthew, and on the bells being rung-a |
not uncommon practice in tempest. The |
clergy, however, in obedience to the civil |
authorities, would not permit it; but pub |
lie feeling was too strong to be resisted, SO
that the statue was carried off on the |
shoulders of men. Wax tapers were seiz-
ed, and, followed by many thousand per-
sons, Saint Matthew was borne in pl oces-
sion through the streets. There was con-
siderable fear that dangerous collision |
might have occurred, for, by order of the |
Prrfeot, detachment of soldiers was sent |
out and placed at the disposal of the |
Quastor. After long time, however, the
people were persuaded that the saint had
Little connection with the earthquake, and |
As it did not repeat its visit Saint Matthew
was taken back to the Cathedral and all re-
turned to their homes. No serious disaster
has occurred anywhere except in San Mar
80, in amis, in the Capitanata, a CON-
mune of about Is, 900 persons There sew
eral houses were thrown down and three
persons buried. Many foreign visitors left
Naples on Monday, and it is feared that for
the moment the trade of the season will be
injured but with the almost certainty OF
IN approaching eruption crowds will prob
ably come in. AS in 1857, the earthquake
Of December was followed very soon after
by an eruption, for if Vesuvius was not the
center of the recent movement it is more or
less remotely connected with it. The ac-
tiyity of the mountain increases daily, and
Cozzolino, the well-known guide of Vesu-
vius, writes to me that the shocks have
been frequent at Resina, though slight.
The panic which was created there on Mon
day, he says, was indescribable; for, in adj
dition to earthquake, there was a general
apprehension that the mountain was, or
would be, pouring down its streams of lava
upon them. Let me hazard the conjecture
that the actual subterranean disturbances
may have been produced or preeipitated BY
the deluges of rain which have fallen this
season. Professor Phillips, in his inter-
esting work on Vesuvius, says: 90 If we
follow out the idea arrived at in the preced
ing passages-internal tissures arising from
some kind of accumulating pressure-the
necessity of earthquakes following upen
such process in a volcanic region will bF
apparent. For thus the heaLed interior b.
comes opened to the admission of water;
| the generation of steam, the sudden shock,
| the far-extended yibratory motion, are con-
sequences of slow change of dimensions,
in presence of internal heat and admitted
water
| To obtain light instantly without the use
of matches, and without the danger of set
ting things on fire, take an oblong phial Of
the clearest glass, put into it a piece Of
phosphorus about the size of pea, upon
which, pour some olive oil, heated to the
boiling point, filling the phial about one
third full, then cork the phial tightly. To
use it, remove the cork and allow the air to
| anfa, tha ,,h;al and then raeark * The