The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1894-07-19

no longer its position as an infallible
guide. In 1892, about three hundred
bodies had been dug out Of the ruins;
to-day the number reaches considera.
bly, over three thousand.
The history Of Pompeii is simple
enough. its building is generally
ascribed to the Oscans, and its nam is
derived from the Greek "Homiieta.'
or ''storetouses, indicating its com.
mercial origin. 1t is known to have
been a city of some importance SOC
years before Christ, but under the en-
pire it seems to have become a kind of
Brighton OF the epoch. a fashionable
summer resort and watering place.
Cicero Lad a villa in its suburbs, in
which he wrote his famous Offices
and entertained as guests Augustus
Cesar. Balbus, Hirtius. and Pansa.
Claudius took refuge here IRON the ty-
ranny Of Tlberius. and his son Drusus
died within the walls OF Pompeii, oddly
enough, from the effects Of swallowing
the wrong way a pear pip, which
choked him.
on more than n occasion the city
was A-enaced by destruction: firstly,
A. ID, SO. by a terrible earthquake,
which Tacitus tells US threw down half
the place, and Seneca adds. killed over
six hundred sheep. and deprived hun
dreds Of persons of their reason. So
great. indeed. was the terror. that
many persons abandoned the city en-
tirely." In the course of the same
year there was yet another earth
quake: which was, if ANYTHING. much
more terrible than the first, and traces
nf w hiah ana ,-at dtcae. Nm hla Il, ~ VT Z ~
ruins now brought to light.
The first eruption of Nesuvius oil
which We have authentic record oc.
Cured in the year A. d. 70, on the 24th
day of August. late in the afternoon.
1t is memorable not only as being the
one which destroyed Pompeii and Her.
culaneum. and caused the death Of
Pliny the naturalist, but also as having
had Plinv the younger, his nephew, a.
its historian.
Pliny describes the catastrophe as
he himself saw it. He tells us that
there had been many shocks of earth
quake before. and one slight one il
the morning. From this epistle we
gather that the first warning of a seri
Gus nature occurred at Pompeii a,
about I in the afternoon. All through
out the evening and night long scenes
OF unexampled horror took place.
Nothing there was to be heard blu,
the shrieks OF women and children
the cries Of men: some calling fol
parents, others for husband and wives
others upon their favorite gods: one
lamenting his own fate. another thai
of his family: some wishing to die
from the very fear of dying: out the
greater part imagining that the las
and eternal night was come which wa.
to destroy the world and its gods TO
gether. Meantime a rain of fire tel
around US, mixed with cinders and
ashes, which we were obliged now anG
then to shake OFF. otherwise we should
have been crushed and buried in tbs
heap" When day did appear anc
even the sun peeped out, the sigh
which greeted the eyes of the grea,
naturalist'- nephew and his mother
"a corpulent and elderly lady who
had frequently urged her son t
abandon her and save himself" bu'
which he nobly ana dutifully refused
to do. was extraordinary indeed
Every object which presented it
self 10 our eye seemed changed, being
covered over with white ashes. like
deep We returned to Misenum
where we refreshed ourselves a. bes'
We could. and passed another anxious
night between hope and fear-though
indeed. with a much larger share 0
the latter, for the earthquake still
continued, while several foolish per
sons ran up and down. heightenins
their W and their friends calami
ties by their terrible predictions"
On this memorable night, Hercula
neum, a much larger city than Pom
peii. was destroyed by a kind of flow O
liquid lava, which. pouring itself int
every %crevice, has rendered attempt.
to the remains almost f~ruitles
Pon.peii, however, was buried under {
thick coating of ashes, which hay,