The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-10-12

minute it cxpcls tons upon tons Of
molten stones and lava; and as the
flames force their mammoth cargo up
ward mighty roar shakes the aight,
and the earth on which one rests
luvcrs like sail in the wind.
About fifteen feet below the edge is
ledge of sand, narrowing the upper
diameter Of the colossal basin about
eight feet all around the circumference.
This inner border Of the crater shuts
on ones vision at a right angle; but
looking further out one sees below
such a spectacle as men imagine of
hell. Flames, flames, flames every
whcre--nothiDg but flames. "Of all
sights on earth, wrote famous Ger
man traveller, "the crater of Vesuvius
is the grandest and most terrifying"
This is a skeleton description Of
what the volcano locks like when it is
placid, or in it's normal state. Noman
knows what it must be like if seen
nearby in one Of its periodical erup-
tions, for the bravest guide in all the
country round shuns the mountain
above the grass line at such times as
he would the worst of pestilences.
And naturally no other man would be
SO foolhardy as to risk an ascent when
the great giant is in anger.
One night in 1873 an eruption sud-
denly occurred, and without the usual
warning, when band Of guides were
up the mountain with party. Every
man in the lot turned and dashed
madly down to safety. 1t was full
hour later when they ceased running.
BY the side of an old hut called the
halfway house, remote from ordinary
risk, they counted noses, and found
that every one was safe. Then they
resumed their way down to the village
at the foot. When near the bottom
they encountered four Swiss, who
were starting out to climb to the sum-
NIT. The guides notified the strang-
ers that an eruption had suddenly oc-
CURED. and told them to turn back.
This tho men from the land of the
Alps refused to do. Despite the
warning of the guides they continued
Oh their way to the top. That was
the last ever seen alive of the head
strong Swiss.
The only other incident Of the kind
on record refers to q young officer of
the United States army, named Bay
ard, who, accompanied by several
brother officers, from a man-of-war
anchored at Naples, went up the
mountain one afternoon in the early
part of the century. Bayard, the
story runs, Sas overpowered by the
sulphurous fumes while gazing into the
crater, and, losing his balance, fell
headlong into the gaping mouth of the
monster.
There are other traditions Of TRACE
dies occurring on the mountain, and
blood-curdling tale used to be cur
rent in the village Of Tore Annun-
ciata about man from Servia who,
suddenly stricken intAne, hurled his
bride of month into the flaming
abyss, and then, laughing wildly,
jumped in after her. Few Of these
stories, however, arc we'll authenti-
Gated, and employees about the hotels
in Naples warn strangers to run no
risks with the Vesuvius guides, who
are known. they say, 20 have com
mitted robberies and murder of de-
fenseless foreigners employing them,
and then give out that the poor VIC
tins had been lost through assures in
the volcano. There is no danger,
however, to any climber up there now
for many days to come, for even the
most determined suicide would turn
away affrighted rather than face the
volcano in its present fury.