The San Francisco call., 1906-04-13
AMERICAN DESCRIBES ERUPTION,
Graphic Picture of Scenes in the Desc
lated District.

]
Graphic Picture of scenes in the Desc
lated District.
NAPLES. April 1.-THE following de-
scription of the conditions surrounding
Mount Vesuvius was written for the As
sociated Press by Robert Underwood
johnson, associate editor Of the Century
I Magazine:
i had the unexpected opportunity TO
realize the magitude of the disaster by
personal observation in a trip entirely
around Vesuvius. Since the Chicago
fire have seen nothing so terribly I'M
pressive. Twenty years Will not repair
I the damage, including the destruction
| Of four whole villages.
Arriving from Rome two hours late
! by train, Joined a party of Italian
! gentlemen and two English ladies, in
cluding Miss Underwood, the Rome cor
( respondent of the London Standard. We
caught a train from Tore -Annunziata,
three miles this side of Pompeii and
/ two miles from the southern end of
the wedge of lava which destroyed
! Boseo Trecaz. We had a magnificent
view of the eruption, eight miles away.
Rising at an angle of fifty degrees the
vast mass Of tumult around us was
beautifully accentuated by the full
4 moon, shifting momentarily into new
forms and drifting south in low, black
| clouds of ashes and cinders reaching
70 Capri At Torre del Greco we ran
under this terrifying pail, apparently
a hundred feet above, the solidity of
which was soon revealed by the moon
light The torches of the railway guards
| added 10 the effect, but greatly relieved
| the sulphurous darkness.
I'VE reached Tore Annunziata at
o'clock in the morning. There was lit
tie suggestion of a disaster as we
| trudged through the sleeping town to
the lava, two miles away. The brilliant
moon gave US superb view of the vol
cano, a gray-brown mass rising, ex-
1 panding and curling with a profile like
a monstrous Cyclopean face. But moth
/ ing in mythology gives suggestion of
/ the fascination of this awful force, pre-
senting the sublime beauty above, but
/ in it's descent filled with the mysterious
malignance of Gods underworld.
| 1--WE reached the lava at a picturesque,
/ cypress planted cemetery on the northern
boundary of Tore Annunziata. 1t was
| as if the dead had effectually cried out
to arrest the crushing river of flame
! which pitilessly engulfed the statue OF
st. Anne. with which the people Of Bosco
Reale tried to stay 1t, as at Catania the
| veil of st. Agathe is said TO have stayed
similar stream from Mount Aetna.
1--WE climbed on the lava. 1t was COO
above, but still alive with fire below
We could see dinly the extent of the de
struction beyond the barrier of brown
| which had closed the streets. torn dowr
the houses. invaded the vineyards anc
broken Cooks railways.
"a better idea of the surroundings was
obtained at dawn from the railway We
saw north what was left of Bosco Trecoz
| a great square stone church and feS
houses inland in a sea of dull brown lava
North and east rose a thousand patches
of blue smoke like swamp miasma- Al
was dull and desolate Stag, with nowher'
the familiar serpentine forms of the olt
lava. streams. In terrible contrast Will
the volcanic evidences were strong cy
presses and blooming camellias in neigh
boring cemetery.
1--WE ate a hasty luncheon before sun
rise. when the great beauty OF the seem
was revealed. The column now seeme'
higher and more massive, rising to thre
times the height of Vesuvius. Each por
tion had a concentric motion and new as
pects. The south edges floating towar'
! the sea. showed exquisite curved surfaces
to the upper moving current. 1t was Tx
the decoration Of the side Of Greel
50 rcouhagus As yellow dust hang
over Naples and hides the volcano,
count myself fortunate to have seen a.
day from the leeward this spectacle
changing, undiminishing beauty. M
COMPANIONS left for Naples after drivinl
to Pompeii.
latter three hours sleep went TO tn
excavations, expecting TO return I
Naples by the afternoon train, put her
met r A Bowen of New York, who CAV
such an alarming account of his expe
rience on the train coming through o
| Monday, in the darkness or Iorre oe
Greco, that 1 concluded to return by tn
north, fret visiting the eastern weoge
destruction. which was central at Sa
Giuseppe.
aNith Mr.. Bowen l left Pompeii In
car. expecting to strike the edge Of tn
. | lava. What was my surprise to nnd n
| new lava at San Giuseppe. -Four town
here were destroyed in different way
namely, by rain of cinders and ashes
, which could not be skirted because the
lay everywhere in mass, which ha
broken nearly every roof within the are
, of thirty miles by train. The lava, whic
was moving several feet minute, we ha
no difficulty in estimating.
AT Boscotrecaz the carbineers drov
the people before the fiery avalanche, bu
! the fimsily built houses were no proteC
ton against the blizzard of cinders an
ashes, falling on the roofs and strongl
built walls all Saturday.
'.The wedge east of the volcano thu
destroyed extends ten miles at least. wit
! width of twenty or thirty miles.
Fancy a rich and thickly populate
country Of vineyards lying under thre
to six inches of ashes and cinders of tn
color of chocolate and milk, while abov
to the west the volcano in full activity
distributing to the outer edge of the cii
Gle the same fate and you will get a
idea of the desolate impression of tn
scene-a tragedy colossal and heart
rending. Like that Of Calabria, it enlist
the sympathy of the civilized world.
takes time for such a calamity to
realfzed