New-York tribune., 1906-08-12
THE PRESENT ERUPTION.
In Many Ways 1t Is One of the Most Terrible
on Record.

The present eruption though one OF the most
terrible record has not quite reached the pitch
of horror which the younger Pliny describes as
accompanying the earlier phenomenon, though
many of the incidents related by him of that earlier
catastrophe have been repeated. The enor-
nous cloud. which Plny likens TO the appearance
of gigantic pine tree. ''shot up great height
and spread itself out at the top in a sort of
branches" Again 1t shrouded the whole vast gulf,
and again the region round the mountain was COW
cred with "a fall Of cinders and pumice stones and
sba6 pieces 1 yro G VTnss 5s lace % o b "n
The terrible earthquake and uproarious seas retir-
ing from the shore were lacking in this last con-
vulsion but the darkness. not like a night when
the sky is cloudy and there is moon but that of
bay as it was bv PGnv that fatal night near his
villa Misenum. Lately, at Capri. twenty miles
away this phenomenon noticed for hour
the foreign visitors and on the steamers making
for the port of Naples. many of which were obliged
owing to tn showers Of cindeTs darkening the air.
the depth of from five six inches with a soft
powdered material resembling ashes and this has
seem to be seriously alarmed, except the inmates of
tne prisons %ho & rebeled and had to be contr8IIed
with religious professions carrying efges of their
entered the cathedra and took forcible Possession %
OF thlr patron saint and fully thirty thousand per
the cathedral TO the confines of the city nearest the
The towns lying round the mountain sides. how
ever, were deserted and some of the smaller viii
awful scenes reported by Pliny were repeated. An
Internal darkness reigned. lighted up by the
strous streams of burning lava, pouring down from
the central cone and from vast crevces in it's sides
From time TO time new cTaters would burst forth,
exploding with tremendous and threatening
to sweep all before them.
In the doomed upper villages the rain of cinders
became downpOur of volcanic sand. mixed with
larger punic stones and considerable masses of
and in the outlying region of San Giuseppe, which
are situated the northeastern slope of the
tain. within the line of the railroad running round
II, the people fed through this awful hail of prOjec-
tiles. protecting themselves with tables and chairs
held above their heads. The government had sent
trains to the station to take them away; but the
removal was necessarily slow. owing the CON
Stant blocking of the line by the masses of falling
material. which in places filled the tracks to the
depth of yard. The distressing the
Last Days of Pompeii" repeated, with hus-
bands wives and children calling through the dark
ness for one another. Most were carried to places
of safety; but of those who had fed for protection
to the church TO pray fOr heavenly aid. a hundred
and fifty q buried beneath
when II fell, crushed by the weight OF the material
falling upon II. a large number died in their own
houses. unable or unwilling to leave their homes
ana face the terrible fire of missiles outside This
village of San Giuseppe and the larger town near
II are like partly eXcavated POmpeii the pumce
houses, and many of which were crushed hv the
additional weight imposed upon their level roofs
The whole region round this part OF the mountain
was shTouded for days in dense clouds and cnders
ana the smiling vineyards lie buried a ward or two
deep beneath the material vOmited forth hy the
awful crater menacing them from on high.-WiIliam
r Andrews. in The Century