The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1883-07-05

Some Interesting scenes Revealed by
Recent Elk explorations

accurate notion to be formed of the ma
ture and extent of the catastrophe. We
know for instance, that the lava stream
did not reach Pompeii, and that the city
was not destroyed 10y fire. We know, al
so, that the eruption was accompanied
by one or more shocks OF earthquake,
which threw down houses here and there,
and burned men and women under their
ruins. From the fact that skeletons
have been found at the entrance of the
public bath, which was quilted hastily
by the few grand ladies who were not
present at the gladiatorial performance
in the amphitheatre, the time of the ca
tastrophe can be fixed with approximate
accuracy at or about noon. Above all,
the discoveries Of skeletons, every one of
which has been carefully recorded for
at least century, enable some conclu-
sion 70 be drawn as to the total number of
victims of the catastrophe.
It would be mistake to suppose that
the majority, or even very large por-
ton, of the inhabitants of Pompeii per-
ished. The effects of the ashen shower
who could get away from the city on the
first alarm probably saved his life. The
bulk of the people were in the amphi-
theatre, which was situated near one of
the city gates on the side remote from
Vesuyius, and there was nothing to him
der every one of the great audience from
getting away in time. Those who per.
ished were those who deliberately put of
their fight to save wife and child. or.
still more often, valuables.
OF such victims $50 have been already
found. From the year when the exca-
vation began, in 1748, to the year 1896,
the total number of human remains dis
covered was 160; from 1927 to 1916 it
was sixty-thFee; from 1916 to 1860 it was
sixty; from 1861 to 1872 it was eighty
seven, aud from 1873 TO 1881 about 100.
But it is to be remembered That only
twO-fiflhs of the buried surface has been
brought to light. On the whole, there
appears good reasons for putting the to-
tai number of human beings who perish
ed in the eruption at least as high as
LOO. To those 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 were
found in the porch OF the "House of
0rpheus,T and the casts which SignOr
Fi0relli has taken brings before US with
painful ViYidness one of the minor TRACE
dies of that awful day. The poor beast
was chained at his post, and in the gen.
eral panic and confusion no one remem-
bered to turn him loose. The chain lay
by the remains when they were found,
and it was evident that the creature had
strained his tether to the UTMOST in the
Effort to keep himself above The masses OF
ashes and pum!ce Stone that rapidly 40,
cumulated around and over him. The
cast Is to be seen In the little museum ut
Pompeii. The dog lies half on his side,
half ON his back, his slender head and
open muzzle, gasping for a little air, bu-
ried between the hind legs, which have
been convulsively brought forward i'll
the agony 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 produced 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
ash did not occur TO anyone tiilit sudden
~ flashed across Fiorelli about twenty
years ago. Of the remains of the $50 hui
man bodies discovered in POmpeii in the
Hrat hundred years of the excavation
there is consequently only a written rec
ord.
1t is only from the Journal of Excava-
tions for the year 1884 that We know of
the touching and famous sight which
greeted the eyes of the first discoveries
of the "House of the Faun." On the
goOF oG the hang4etine hall lay the body
Of Q YoNap, pfQbahly the mistress of the
hOIisr, NTH her jewels scattered where
she had THROWN tn ma in despair of rescue
or escape. The Roof ha,l been crushed
in by the weight of the a, b and pumice-
stone, and the h:ltl.: nf the dying wom.
man were ulstre chrl in ii vain effort to
keep off the impending weight Parts
Of the body aud Clothing could still be
made Out, and drawing could be made
Of ono chTrrniRg fnat. Blu; such records
are lifclcss aud tame Indeed beside the
extraordinary. pnrtrt;t statutes which
are now 10 be seen in the iitIle museum
at POmpeii. There are nine Of these or
were Il very short time since, aud to see
them is like seeing the men and women
themselves of eighteen centuries ago.
FinrelIi's methol is as simple as posi-.
Bile. 4 small opening is,male, the plast-
er is delicately poured in, and when it
has had time TO harden the surface crust
of ash is peeled off, and the man or wOm'
an comes back to life again. The de-
tails of clothing anil features have all
left their mark on the soft ash and are
all faithfully preserved IN the plaster
CAST. The RESULTS achieved by Fiorelli
are striking and complete. Take the
cast of the elderly slave, for instance,
probably a man somc sixty years old,
who appears In have hCen taking his
sIesta when the eruption began, aud to
hase lleen nainlessly asphyxiated in his
slfsp He lies on his right side, the knees
y lit'Ie bent, and the I,fl leg drawn up,
aHl he chs"k y sting al ii.' tight hand.
III" coar>. afr ,nglv marx d TEXTURES and
pc ..'rful xp'e<-ion of thu sleeper have
u cen l..rfesIly pres, rived. A hardly
i "a easy d. n h must i':,''' IL euthe l"t OF
rle four prrs.'rs ftinn-l /. ing n ihei,
| |, n;k9 III h" AZ - ifas 81 ihcsf Wesf
Risn, qIE 81 iier Il estsr' OF Tie
IN 4 pro-. tunir'l ixts The fourth was
= man # "iinSIlrl s'a'n,e, " hos. i:,ne
ia, i'econ.ir. - m irt vas eNid' atty
4 = far of Tia" l'.lee f. ,sons I. and
fingnn Iarir faces j" nj ,ri ear 80 .,..,5
:nund quite 50 ggiek y .i.sti. lwn Il