Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-10-12
THE EARTH TROUBLED.
A City DestrOyed-Liquid Fire Leaped
Up to the Heavens.
The Rehabilitation of Rich and Gorgeous
City Buried Thousand Years-A Roman
Fesuyal-Ths Temple OF Isis.

There is probably no more interesting, ro-
mantle and thrilling chapter in the history OF
the world than the story of the sudden and
awful desol.tion of PcInpeii and its recent par
tial resurrection.
1t is the city OF romance.
Ages before the bold Osirian settlers ven.
tured to make home on the bare, fire-riven
shore OF the Crater Bay, the first nsne of the
bay of Naples, tradition had woven round earth,
air and water strange web of the fancIful do
lngs of gods and men.
The first eruption OF Vesuvius of which we
have authentic record occurred in the year \. d.
~, on the 9th day OF August. late IN the after
noon. 1t Is memorable not only as being the
one which destroyed Pompeii ana HercuIaneum
and caused the death OF Pliny the naturalist.
but also as having had Pliny the younger, his
nephew, as its historian.
He'll.
In this awful region was. according to the
illogical history, fought the great battle be-
tween the gods and the giants.
From those dark ages to the present time
imagination has found in that portion of the
CampanIa on which Pompeii stood material for
its most vivid pictures
The history of Pompeii is simple enough Its
building is aScribed to the OsCans. 1t is known
to have been city of some Importance 500 years
before Christ, but under the empire il seems to
have become kind of Brighton of the epoch,
3 fashionable summer resort and watering
place. Cicero had villa in its suburbs in
which he wrote his famous ''Ofices" and
tertalEed as guests Augustus Caesar. Balbus.
Hirtius and Fansa. Claudius took refuge here
from the tyranny of Tiberius, and his
Drusus died within the walls OF Pompeii, oddly
enough, from the effects of swallowing the
wrong way pear pip, which chOked him.
On this memorable night Herculaneum, &
much larger city than Pompeli, destroyed
by kind of flow of liquid lava, which pouring
itself into every creylce, has rendered attempts
to recover the remains almost fruitless. POM
peii, however, was buried under 8 thick coating
of ashes, which have rather preserved than
damaged 1t; so that, as rule, the houses are
unearthed entire and pretty nearly in their
original condition, the frescoes fresh Il
painted but yesterday, and even articles of food
are found Just where they were left $500 years
ago.
Since 1884. when the late Lord Lytton. then
Sir Edward Lytton Bulwer, published his ia
nous novel, ''1he Last Days of Pompeii,''
extensive have been the discoveries made among
the ruins of the buried city, that very little OF
what he then wrote remains accurate, The ex-
cavations of the past twenty years have laid bare
sufficient to guarantee the assertion that, far
from being 4 little country seaside town, the
great nByelist described it 10 have been. Pom
4 3eff was very large city indeed, with possibly
over 100, 900 inhabitants.
From certain indications it seems evident that
during the first four centuries of our era many
slight excavations were made, possibly with
view of unearthing hidden treasures, and that
even q village was built on the site of the
once great city; but in Az another vigorous
eruption destroyed the huts and scared the
people that, until 174S further attempts were
made to uncover what nature, in one of her
that year however, a pea ant, when digging II
we'll. found painted chamber containing
statutes and other objects OF interest. King
Charles II. of Naples, in whom the discoveries
of Hercu laneum had awakened desire for fur
ther explorations, ordered the excavations to be
-continued In I155 the amphitheater was laid
bare, and since then until now, and notably
during the past ten years, the works have gone
on pretty steadily.
The grand and awful estructon of Pompeii Is
the scene which Pain will exhibit in Fort Worth
with his gorgeous and wonderful pyrotechnical
effects beginning October Is.
The circumstantial, but fascinating account
given of 4 supposed scene in Pompeii. on that
fatal day. by Lord Lytton, in his charming
WORK THE Last Days of Pompeii.' isthe
groundwork upon which the spectacle IS
fashioned, and the characters and incidents in
the story are fairly accurately adhered to in the
realistic rendition.
The spectacle represents the ancient city of
Pompeii. with all its grand and collosal build
ings, while Mount Visuvius is seen in the dis
: tapce, making in all charmingiy realistic and
rect and handsome costumes take part In the
performance. All the sports OF the Roman am
Dhitheatre are reproduced, including boxing,
wrestling, facing, fencing and gladiatorial COM
bats. The plot of the story is briefly told. Ar
baces, rich Egyptian, has chosen the feast of
the great Egyptian goddess to dazzle the eyes OF
the NeRpolitan lone. with whom he is lnfatu-
ated. He therefore aIranges grand festival,
and lone arrives with her affianced bridegroom,
the Greek Glaucus. After the games the temple
of Isis, the Egyptian goddess, are thrown open
and the temple illuminated interior is displayed
to view. The priest and prleStesseS
issue solemnly, bearing aloft the golden
ainage of the goddess, which they place in the
center OF the stage. Suddenly Arbaces, who
wishes to dispose of Glaucus, demands that all
worship at the shrine of the goddess or suffer
death. Glaucus, who is Christian, advances
to strike rhe idol with his sword. Suddenly the
earth trembles by some hidden force, while the
fearful rumbling from the very bowels of the
city causes CONSERVATION and dread, while from
the mountains liquid fire shoots up to the
heavens Glaucus and lone manage to escape
by a boat from the doomed city. Arbaces is
killed by q falling column, aud the people.
screaming and shouting for aid, scatter in every
direction,