Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1883-09-06
DEATH AND DEsoLATIoN.
The Appalling Ruin Wrought by the
Java Volcano.
The Victims Numbered by Thousands.

BATAVIA, Aug. 29.-Since noon yes
terday everything is quiet the sky is
clear and communication with Scrang
restored. The temperature fell ten
degrees Monday, but it is now normal.
The town is covered with thin layer
of ashes, which was so hot when fall
ing that 1t killed birds. Telegraph
linemen report that while repairing
the line near Anjier early Monday
morning they saw a high column of
sea approaching with a roaring noise
They fed without learning the fate of
the inhabitants. The quarries at Mer.
aka have disappeared and ali the peo-
pie of the place perished. The floating
dock at the Island of Onrust, near
Betavia, is adrift and badly damaged.
LONDON, Aug. pa dispatch from
Batavia, Java. says the towns of Anjier
TJiringine and Telok belong were de-
stroyed by the volcanic eruptions. All
the lighthouses in Sunda straits have
disappeared AMI where the Mountain
of Kramaton formerly stood the sea
now flows The aspect of Sunda straits
is much changed and navigation is
dangerous.
A later cable dispatch to Cleveland
Herald shows that the volcanic dis.
turbances at the island of Java broke
out afresh Sunday evening and en-
gulphed $4,000 more of the panic
stricken people, accompanied by the
most frightful exhibitions of volcanic
energy. One of the most singular
fresks of the eruption was the carrying
in the midst of the molten lava of a
bed of sohd ice of enormous size, which
had been emitted from one of the cra-
ters, carried along by the current and
landed on the extremity of Point st.
Nicholas on the northwest corner of
the island. This bed of ice was sur.
rounded by a thick envelope of sand
and scorse which are such non-con.
ductors of heat, that a red hot stream
of lava running over it will not melt
snow. 1t is supposed that this ice had
formed the crust of some vast subter-
ranean lake. Frightful rumblings
were heard, and the columns of fire
and smoke on the south west corner of
the island ceased to assend. while the
craters In the other parts of Java
seemed to open their fiery throats still
wider to let out the greatest quantities
of lava, rocks, pumice and gases yet
vomited out The kissing of the sea
became so loud as to be almost deaf
ening, and the waves rushed up on the
shore to an unprecedented hight.
The entire Kardang range of noun
talns, extending along the coast in
semi-circle for about 65 miles, has
gone out Of sight The waters of
Welcome bar, the Sunda straits and
Pepper bay on the east, and of the In
dian ocean on the south, had rushed in
and formed great sea of turbulent
waters. The river Jacatra, on the
banks of which Batavia is situated, was
so completely damned by lava and de.
bris that its course was changed, and
from the Franeu bastian it flowed
down through Tygers-st and joined
the waters of the river Emerades,
swelling that stream to such an extent
as to rise high on the Caster batteries.
The aggregate loss of life from the
various elements of the terrible dis
turbance must be fully $4,000, but the
number of those who perished can
never, of course, be approximated.