The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-07-22

with loud smash, and the whole OF the upper
story collapsed the debris falling into the rooms
below We left the snoking-room and went into
the drawing-r0om, which. as IL was
the newest part os the house, We
was with the greatest difficulty that we cot
there, going through falling stones and mud
which impeded as. The back part Of the house,
IN which was the dining room, gave way next
and all of a sudden we heard fearful crash and
roar as II thousands of tons of stuff were falling
and we heard the balcony come down. At this
we agreed that we should make an effort to save
ourselves. and With this object We determined
TO leave the hotel. At 6:30 / went up TO the RESI-
idence of the Hazard family The house was in
ruins and in flames. l then could see no signs
of Mr.. or Mrs. Hazard and their children Az
soon as q glimpse of daylight came we CONS
menced to dig for the bodies of the Hazards and
to our great establishment discovered Mrs. Haz-
ard alive Her two children we're found dead
beside her, lat she was not greatly injured. We
continued operations until we were quite ex-
hausted, but found no more bodies
Between and 2 o'clock in the morning the in-
habtants of Tauranga were startled by re-
peated and vivid flashes Of lightning, shooting
at intervals of few minutes from a dense mass
of black cloud, extending along the southern
sky. The electrical display continued during the
night, and about o'clock in the morning
series of severe earthquake shocks were distinct
ly felt The flashes of electricity continued to
increase In brillianey as the morning wore on,
and from the same direction came continued
rumblings, which appeared to extend along the
line from Rotorua to White island Toward Z
o'clock q leaden-colored cloud slowly ad-
vanced from the direction of the hill behind
Mr.. Jonathan Browns property until reaching
MatapiEi 1t appeared to hang for short
time, after which it again advanced and burst
upon the town and district in heavy shower OF
fine sulphuric dust, enveloping the entire neigh
borhood in total darkness About $50 this
partly cleared away, but only for few minutes,
after which it returned with increased density,
and ere long had again wrapped the town and
suburbs in complete darkness. The dust, which
emitted a sulphurie SMELL soon formed coat
ing upward of half an inch in thickness over the
ground
Mr.. Fl. r. Burt, native agent who has Just
come into town. says he cainped at Okaro lake.
FIVE miles from Rotomahana. He went to bed
about o'clock, and was awakened by rum
bling noise like that OF an earthquake. He went
outside the door, but could see nothing, although
it was q clear night The noise proceeded from
Tarawera- He looked round again and saw
huge mass of flame rise in the heavens, and in
stantly lava and smoke covered the ground.
Soon after volume of flame issued from
Runanga, close to Tarawera.
The scene on the mountain-top was awful.
Large balls of fire were thrown from the gaping
mouth toward Taupo this accompanied by ter
rible reports which shook the whole place.
Forked lightning followed close upon the balls OF
fire; it resembled the wriggling of snakes; it re-
turned to the crater, forming the letter ~"
his was u mOSb WOuQoTluL pu6HOIHcuOus 1uo
roar was tremendous, resembling the heaviest
thunder. AS each piece of hillside slipped into
the open basin, large clouds of black dust rose
out of it, and assembled to the heavens. The fall
of earth into the open crater seemed to stop the
fiery balls from coming up, but forked lightning
still continued. Dense volumes of smoke issued
from the crater. going in various directions.
AS soon as Ruawhina stopped sending forth
it's terrible balls of flame huge white cloud
issued from the cap of Rotomahana, and heavy
booming was heard, followed by dense volumes
of white compressed steam from Lake Rotoma.
hama. It rose with terrible velocity and seemed
to be going toward Okaro lake. This lake is
about five miles from Lake Rotomahana, and
the appearance it presented at times was some
thing like huge boiling caldron, bubbling in all
directions.
Lightning then commenced to shoot out from
Mount KakAramea On the side toward 0karo
lake it commenced to turn to the side Of the
mount. It seemed to be like sheet of flame.
From the whole mount there came myriads Of
shooting stars like large rockets
Shortly afterwards shocks of earthquakes were
felt, accompanied by noise resembling minute
guns, but louder than the roar of the heaviest
gun known. There was open crater Mount
Kakaranga, and Immediately huge volume OF
dense black smoke issued from it, and the coun-
try all round began to get dark. In half an hour
it was so black that one could see his hands
in front of him. While this was going q
shower of pieces of lava the size of peas came
down with terrible swiftness and with such force
as to be almost as dangerous as bullets.
The natives at this time had gathered at
TIharepuni, where they assembled in one place.
They are all Hauhaus about this place They
presented a dismal spectacle. They had
three Maori prophets in the center, and the
natives were in a state of panic, some crying,
others praying, while some were rushing about
in all directions. The Maori prophets were worse
than the others, and set up bowling, dismal
noise Mr.. Burt spoke to them to try and get
them TO be calm, and advised them to go up
Horomanga gorge, where he was going himself.
He tried them, but could not induce one
of them to move He Immediately started for
the place himself, and had got about mile
along the road when the dust and smoke became
so suffocating that he dropped down between
some manuka bushes and could scarcely breathe.
He Kept his mouth close to the ground, and
stones fell with great force upon him. The
pieces of lava seemed to be increasing in size,
and as he was becoming surrounded he rose up
and thus kept himself from being smothered.
Att in the morning there was no sign OF daylight,
aud at 9:20 small streak of light appeared over
Taupo After much exertion he got ND and
made his way to whore he had parted from the
natives and found them still in the same place.
At this time it is impossible to estimate the
number of the killed. Exploring parties are at
work, and their reports are eagerly awaited.
The natives declare that several hundred of their
countrymen have persisted This much is Ger.
tain, Mount Tarawera is wreck The terraceG
are destroyed and all the natives who were liv-
ing in the vicinity of the calamity were over.
whelmed by the streams of lava which belched
forth from the mouths OF the craters
The End of Martin Irons.