Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1901-12-31
A VISIT TO NAPLES
Ralph Mahon Writes OF an Interest
ing Tour.
A MEMBER OF CREW OF us. S. DIXIE
War Vessel Now Making a Voyage of
European Waters-Mr. Mahon Is
Disappointed in vesuvius, Writes
EntertaininsIy Of Ponpeii.

EntertaininsIy Of Pompeii.
/ The following letters have been re-
ceived by A. W. Mahon, from
! his son, Ralph Mahon, formerly of
this city but now member of the ma
rine guard of the U. S. S. Dixie, which
is making voyage in European wa
tiers. The last letter was mailed from
| Naples, which was visited by Mr. Ma
hon. He writes entertainingly of his
visit to Pompeii and of the excavations
that have been made there.
The Letter.
! Following is the letter:
"On Board the u S. S. Dixie,
In Front of Naples, Italy,
November 81, 1901.
Dear Father:-We left Villa
Franche on schedule time, November
II, went to sea for two days, and then
returned to Villa Franche to tow the
Monongahela out to sea, but after
spending a half day in the attempt and
. parting four-inch hawser we made a
complete failure of the job Then the
Monongahela, which is a sailing ship,
set sail and sailed out ahead of us,
bound for Gibralter and San Juan and
then home. We followed her out and
steamed southeast to the island of Cor
!, sica. Corsica belongs to France and
is perhaps, most famous as the birth
place of Napoleon. We laid about a
! half mile from the shore in front of
Bastia, a city of 10000 inhabitants on
the eastern shore of the island, for
two days. The island is mountainous
and the beautiful scenery was a source
J of much enjoyment to us, but no one
was allowed to land since this was
not one of the scheduled stops and we
only laid over there long enough to
make our arrival at the next stop on
, scheduled time. We next visited the
I l.ipari islands, group of very small
, islands just off the northern coast of
Sicily. These islands are not inhab.
tied and the most active volcano in
; the world is located on one of them
1t is on the island of Stromboli and the
volcano is known by the same name.
The crater of the volcano is 1850 feet
above sea level and can be seen fifty
; miles away. At distance it looks
like a lighthouse showing red light
: but when close to it loud roars and
rumblings are heard and the top of the
mountain appears to be great kettle
filled with molten metal boiling over
Every seven minutes loud explosion
: occurs and the lava runs down the side
of the mountain hundreds of feet be
! fore it cools. We steamed all the way
around Stromboli, then north, and ar
l. rived here in front of Naples this
! morning. We will not go into the har
/ Dor until tomorrow because we are
not due until that time. Mt. Vesuviu:
can be seen from where we are now
lying and have been watching the
/. smoke issuing from it's top all day.
will be able to get better view of i
when We get into the harbor in thu
e morning, and | will then try to tel
d more about it. ia
Harbor of Naples.
l. Saturday, Nov. 49,
= I'VE came into the harbor of Ma
pies and tied up to the dock yesterda.
g. morning. Mt. Vesuvius is sometime
e. of disappointment 1t is only smok
d ing now. This city of Naples ha
y about one-half million inhabitants an
4 they are as miserable lot Of peopl
b. as / ever saw There are at presen
It about fifty bumboats flocking aroun
.e us, some of them Swimming the waite
t. for bits Of refuse, salt horse and har
IS tack that have been thrown overheard
d and others trying to sell pipes and av
d fully poor tobacco for which they wan
one dollar pound. In two boats ar
men and women singing and playin
and begging for anything we have t
give All these people must pay
d heavy license to do this. understan
that there are 175,00O licensed beggar
in this city. To give you an idea {
Of the condition of things will quote yo
T. few of the current prices. FIRES
rs meat is SO cents, potatoes, So; eggs
C. cents and salt 10 cents. Wages al
,k about 20 cents per day. The boats al
h. SO thick around the gangway that tn
d. boys have just turned the hose o
as them to drive them away.
On Shore Leave.
Monday morning, Nov %.
q. 81 was ashore yesterday and la!
night and have seen about all til
d sights it is possible to see in SO shol
time / was accompanied by one {
IT. my comrades and we left the Dixie
I'd Cutter No. 10 at 10 o'clock The di
he lance from our anchorage to the lan'
ID ing is about half mile and in tt
harbor are some of the most poWerfl
warships afioat. The water front
I. all one solid mass of masonry and a
the streets, sidewalks and passag
ways are paved with square blocks
lava as hard as flint. The streets al
Id very narrow and dirty and accomm
IS date human beings, cows, dogs, goat
Up etc, each having the same privilege
III The buildings are great, massive a
fairs and are built. of Italian marbl
The windows from the second store Il
are provided with verandas and OF
can see all kinds of vegetables an
IS fruits hanging from the front walls
the buildings, presumably becaus
there is no other convenient place
ps store them. The verandas are occ
IT, pied by a dirty lot Of women and CHI
le dren.
he Beeears of Italy.
81 when we landed at the dock "
40 were met by at least $50 hack-driver
beggars and guides and they all wan