Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-11-19
VICTIMS OF POMPEH|
The Secrets Of the Dead Uncovered After
the Lapse Of Centuries-How
Casts are Taken
From Their Ashes-The Mistress of the
ssHouse Of the Faun" aud the Woman
About to Become Mother.

steadily going on in Pompeii for over a GEN.
tury, says the Pail Mall Gazette, from the
day when excavations first began on the site
of what was then vaguely called ala Civits,"
in 174S, has led to other than purely arch
Biological results. 1t has enabledl fairly
accurate notion to be formed of the nature
and extent OF the catastrophe. We know,
Tor instance, that the lava stream did not
reach Pompeii, and that the city was not
destroyed BY ERE. We know also that the
eruption was accompanied by one or more
shocks of earthquake, which threw down
houses here and there, and buried men and
women under their ruins. From the fact
that skeletons have been found at the en-
trance to the public bath, which was quilted
hastily by the few grand ladies who were
not present at the gladiatorial performance
in the amphitheater, the time of the catas-
trophe can be fixed with appropriate accu-
racy at or about noon. Above all,
the discoveries of skeletons, every one of
which has been carefully recorded for at
least a century, enables some concur
sion to be drawn as to the total number of
victims of the catastrophe. 1t would be
mistake to suppose that the majority, or
even very large portion, of the inhabitants
OF Pompeii persisted. The effects of the
ashen shower were not instantaneous, and
every one who could get away from the city
on the frat alarm probably saved his life.
The bulk of the people were in the amphi'
theater, which was situated ear one of the
city gates on the side remote from Vesuvius,
and there was nothing to hinder every one
in the great audience from getting away in
time. Those who persisted were those who
deliberately put off their flight to save wife
and child, or still more often, valuables.
OF such victims $50 have been already
found. From the year when the excavations
beg IN, in 174S, TO the year 1926, the total
number of human remains discovered was
l60; from 1927 10 1916 it was sixty-three;
from 1S46 TO 1860 it was sixty; from 1851 TO
1872 it was eighty-seven, and from 1873 to
1881 about 100. But it is to be remembered
that only tive ifths OF the buried surface has
been brought TO light. On the whole, there
appears good reason for putting the total
number Of human beings who persisted in
the eruption at least as high as HOO. To
these should be added the skeletons of three
dogs, seven horses, eleven hens, two tortoises,
fifteen pigs, ten oxen, and the bones OF fifteen
other animals. The remains of one of these
dogs we're found in the porch of the blouse
OF Orpheus," and the cast which Sig. Fiorelli
has taken brings before us with a painful
vividness one of the minor tragedies OF that
awful day. The poor beast was chained at
his post, and in the general panic and con-
fusion no one remembered to let him loose.
The chain lay by the remains when they were
found, and it was evident that the creature
udo diucu lclueI TO Tue UTMOST
in the effort to keep himself above the masses
of ash and pumice- stone that rapidly accu-
mulated around and over him. The cast is
10 be seen in the little museum at Pompeii.
The dog lies half on his eide, half on his
back, his slender head and open muzzle
gasping for a little air, buried between the
hind legs, which have been convulsively
brought forward in the last sgopy Of death.
But the process which has been SO successful
in reproducing the very form and likeness of
this creature as he lived and died has pro-
duced results no less extraordinary in the
case of the human victims OF the catastrophe.
The idea of pouring plaster of paris in
liquid state into the molds left by the
bodies in the soft ash did not occur TO any.
one till it suddenly flashed across Fiorelli
about twenty years ago. OF the remains of
| the $50 human beings discovered in Pompeii
/ in the first hundred yesrs of the excavations
| there is consequently only written record.
1t is only from the journal of Excavations
| for the year 1881 that we know of the touch
ing and famous sight which greeted the eyes
| Of the first discoveries OF the House OF the
Faup." On the floor of the banqueting hall
| lay the body OF woman, probably the mis-
| tress OF the house, with her Jewels scattered
| where she had thrown them in despair of
rescue or escape. The Ioof had been crashed
in by the weight of falling ash and pumice-
| stone, and the hands of the dying woman
were upstretched in vain effort TO keep off
| the impending weight. Parts of the body
and clothing could still be made out and a
| drawing could be made of one charming
| foot. But such records are lifeless and tame
| indeed beside the extraordinary portrait
statues which are now TO be seen in the little
museum at Pompeii. There are nine OF
these, or were very short time since, and TO
/ see them is like seeing the men and women
| themselves of eighteen centuries ago. A
| email opening is made, the plaster Is deli
cately poured in, and when it has had time
to harden, the surface crust OF ash is peeled
| off, and the man or woman comes back TO
| life again. The details of clothing and
feature have all left their mark on the soft
ash, and are all faithfully preserved in the
plaster cast. The results achieved by Flo
| relli are striking and complete. Take the
cas-, oil the elderly slave, for instance, prob
| ably man OF some sixty years old, who
! appears 10 have been taking his siesta when
the eruption began, and 10 have been pain
| lessly asph yxiafed in his Sleep He lies on
his right side, the knees little bent, the left
leg drawn up, and the cheek resting on the
| right hand. The coarse, strongly marked
| features and peaceful expression of the
sleeper have all been perfectly preserved.
A hardly less easy death must have been the
lot Of the four persons found lying on their
backs in the street. Three OF these were
| men, one of them negro of the most pro-
nounced type. The fourth was a woman OF
| unusual stature, whose time for becoming a
mother was evidently not far off. The three
persons found lying on their faces do not
| appear to have found quite so quick death
Two OF them are women. One of these, an
elderly woman with thin figure, lies by
herself, her face buried in her arms, as if to
protect herself from the fatal rain. The
other lies side by side with man in who's e
company she appears to have taken fight
She has covered her face with fold of her
dress, and the hands are tight clenched in
the last death agony