The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1904-06-24
BENNErsv1LlE, S. G.. FRIDAY, JUNE "a, 1904
WORLDS NOTABLE DISASTERS
The Burning OF the Slocum One of the
Most Heartrending.

Most HPartrending.
The burning OF the steamer Genera
Slocum, on last Wednesday morning
with loss of probably more than SOC
lives, is oHg Of the most heartrendlng
disasters Of recent times. The guests
OF the big steamer were nearly all
children and women, going upon thei
annual Sunday school picnic.
Such catastrophe cannot fail tc
recall the recent holocaust in Chicago,
when at a matinee on the last day of
1903, the IrOQuois theatre, just c. M
| pleted, was seized by the fire tiend and
| in less than thirty minutes more than
600 people, largely women and chill
dren, were burned to death, and more
than 100 others were manned for life.
Such disasters call to mind the
theatre fire OF Richmond, Va, in
| 1911; the burning OF the CunwayS-
brook playhouse in 1876, and the fiery
destruction Of the Paris theatre few
years ago, in which the leading actress
and many Others lost their ivJs.
While such cataStrOpheS are horrible
TO contemplate they do not approach
the horror Of other disasters by lire,
flood and volcanic erupti IN.
| All will recall the eruption of Vesu
vius in "A. ID. 20, which buried in sand
and lava Pompeii, Herculaneum and
Stabiae. The loss Of life was 100, 900,
and the cities have never been rebuilt
Lisbon, the capital OF Portugal, suf.
| fnra1 CDrthnrnln ~ i'm 1SEE tul, iol,
left the city in ruins, and took SO, 600
| lives.
Caracas, the capital Of Venezuela,
lost 1000 lives from an earthquake
in 1872.
Manila, Philippine Islands. was Wis,
tied by an earthquake in June, 1868
causing loss of nearly 10, 900 lives.
Certainly the most destructive tirt
in the history of this country, if not
in the world, was the Chicago fire OF
October, 1871. Beginning in Il barr
iD DeKOven street, it spread wit!
lightning rapitiiiy, and ragcd Tor two
days and nights 1t swept over ,, l0(
acres, destroying l7,450 buildings
The exact number OF the deaths ha.
never been asccrtained, but it went
into the hundreds: 10000 people
one-llfth of the entire population
were left homeless, and property
worth Sl90, 200, -one-third of tn}
value OF the entire city-was destroy
ed by this fire.
Boston had fire in 1872. which de
stroyed 30 acres Of the business sec
tion at a less Of SO, 900. 900.
The Jobnstown, Pa, Hood in May
1889, was q frightful disaster. Th
dam across South Fork, a branch o
the Conemaugh river, II miles east o
JohnStown, broke, releasing Core
maugh Lake, whose waters thunderet
down the valley, engulfed Johnstowl
d and neig hborlrlg villages, causing
sliitJssef AZ sli sru, 100000.
ID bef sSgD, Galveston
TEX, was the scehe of a great tio0d
a West: Indian hurricane, with T;
velocity Of 1875 miles an hour, swep
over the ti;y and flooded the streets
and in less than five hours destroyed
5000 lives and property valued a
SIS 600 900.
More recent still was the eruption
OF Mont Pelce on the Island of Mar
Unique, Frehch West Indies. Oh
May the Sth, 1902, the mountain
belched forth and overwhelmed TIT
town OF st. Pierre az its base will
sand and laya which overran uhe sur
rounding country, and destroyed 30,
600 people.
On August Sth, 1902, Mt. Pelc
erupted again and $500 lives wcr
lost.
Every one recalls the recent cyclon
of Gainesville, Ga. and the burnin.
Of the Park Avenue Hotel in Ney
York, each disaster causing so mucl
suffering and the loss OF life, in tn
latter lJ7.