The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-08-16
VOLCANOES VICTIMS.
People Who Have Perished In the
Molten Lava.

Molten Lava.
From the Neto York Recorder
The awful death of a Brazilian traveller
who recently toppled over into the molten
lava of Vesuvius recalls the fact that a
number of persons are known to have per-
ished in similar way. In 1889 merchant
of Gaeta named Lovera di Priola deIiber-
ately committed suicide by leaping into the
crater of the mountain, in which u lake of
fire was raging, and sending up at intervals
volumes of deadly sulphurous fumes. There
never was any doubt that Di Priola iuten-
tionally sought death in VeSuvlus. 1t was
shown afterward that he labored under q
peculiar mania. His two companions,
one peasant guide and the other
a friend who had accompanied Di
Priola from Naples on what was sup
posed to be a mission of curiosity, both
testified that Di Priola left their side while
the air was clear and his movements could
easily be seen, ran TO the very edge OF the
| crater and leaped, with an awful cry, into
the chasm. At the time they went with
him up the mountain they saw no signs of
mental deran cement, but soon after reach
ing the top he began talking in an erratic
way about some sin he had committed, and
the hopelessness of ever being forgiven for
it. Even this did not alarm them as they
did not connect the utterances with any de-
sign Of suicide until he actually dashed
away and took the fatal leap. It appeared,
upon inquiry, that he had committed some
offense, OF believed he had, as nobody else
knew anything about it, aud had brooded
over the matter until his reason became uu-
settled. Becoming convinced that he was
sure of eternal punishment anyway he con-
| cluded to go to the locality by way OF We
suvius.
| The most recent case of death in the
/ IL. - l,k 8
ian, De Silvas, was that of N. Vignes, f o n
Besancen. Vignes undoubtedly committed
suicide during the eruptions Of 1869, or, to
| be precise, just before they began. He left
| his guide and leaped into the chasm and
was never seen or heard from again. He
| did not even cry out. A love affair Is said
TO have prompted Vignes to self-destruc-
ton He was only 80 years of age At
that time there was some discussion as to
the suffering attending such method of
suicide. The opinion generally expressed
by medical men was that the man was UNI
conscious from the sulphur fumes before
the awful dip into the liquid mass of melted
rock, and that Vignes had endured no pain.
A band of brigands that fiourished In the
woods on the slopes of Etna in 1868, under
the leadership OF the infamous Morozzo,
used TO threaten their victims with death
in the voicano in the event of the ransom
not being paid. Whether they ever carried
out tho threat Is not known, but il is
thought possible. At least they frequently
had prisoners in whose redemption nobody
took any interest. and the peasants have al
ways said that MoroZzo SANK some Of them
In the bowels of Mount Etna. It is a saw
ing among Italian peasants to-day who
live 10 that vicinity, when they hear sub
terranean rumblings, that Morozzo is
throwing his victims into the crater.
In the II lwaiiau Islands the savage chiefs,
before the introduction of Christianity, cast
criminals into the boiling lava Of Kilauea,
and this was sometimes done IN the way of
sacrifice. to propitiate the volcano god,
when believed to be on the eve Of eruption.
Unhappily, therefore. the case of the Bra
lillian is not without number of unhappy
presidents, both in savage and romlnally
civilized countries,