The San Francisco call., 1906-04-12
EXTENT OF. THE DISASTER.
Damage Totals $4,000, 900, and 10000
Persons Are without Homes.

Damage Totals S2O.O0O,O0O, and 10000
Persons Are without Homes.
NAPLES, April 1.-THE loss to property
by the volcanic outbreak is estimated at
S20, 900 900, and it is announced that $1,000
persons have been rendered homeless. So
widespread is the catastrophe that 1t is
estimated it Will require an organized
body of 10000 men and the expenditure OF
many millions of dollars to raise houses
made unsafe for habitation by the ac-
cumulation of ashes and cinders on the
roofs, erect temporary huts of refuge
for the thousands that have been obliged
10 fee from their homes, clear the roofs
of buildings that may yet be saved and
extricate the dead from the ruins of fallen
structures and bury them.
The papers unite today in urging the
Government to send here General Baldis-
sera, who saved the situation after the
crushing defeat of the Italians at the
hands of the Abyssinians at Adowa, Abys-
sinia, in the spring of 1896, and instruct
him to organize and control the work of
relief.
The eruptions from Vesuvius increased
during last night, and a coating of ashes
and cinders 10 a depth of four inches COW
cred the ground and the roofs of buildings
today
The morning opened with the atmos-
phere oppressive and yellow with ashes
The volcano was completely hidden in
dense mass Of cinder-aden smoke, the
only other signs of activity being frequent
and very severe detonations and deep
rumbiings.
From all quarters come reports of the
accumulation of ashes, the flight of the
rror-stricken inhabitants of towns and
villages, the collapse of buildings. the in
suficiency of the relief measures, hunger
and discourag cement. 1t is no longer possi-
bic TO reach the points which have suf-
fered most severely. Even the soldiers de-
tailed to guard the ruins at Ottajano have
been recalled and the town has been left
TO its fate " f e0-.-
The military forces have earned the
gratitude and admiration of the people
by their devotion to duty. Not only are
they credited with many acts of heroism,
but they have displayed untiring perse-
verance in searching for the living and
the dead among tottering walls, assisting
fugitives to reach places of safety, giving
aid to the injured and burying the dead,
and all this while partly suffocated by the
ash and other cinder-laden wind blowing
from the volcano. No danger has been
too great for the troops to encounter and
no fatigue too severe for them
In this work the soldiers and others
nave Deen SHOWN worthy example Dy
the Duke and Duchess of Aosta, who
are praised on all sides. The Duke is
pronounced to be a worthy descendant
of the late King Humbert, who, in 1884.
went to the assistance of the sufferers
from the cholera epidemic. visiting the
patients in hospitals and in some cases
remaining by the bedside of the dying
until the end
According to the Mattino fifty houses,
three churches and the municipal
buildings at Somma have collapsed. The
sand and cinders are six feet deep
there, and all the inhabitants have
sought saftey in flight. Houses at OF
tajano are still collapsing and most of
the buildings in the towns and villages
in that neighborhood are tottering or
in ruins.
The prisoners In the City Jail mu-
tined today, owing to fright, and sue
ceeded in breaking open some Of the
doors inside the building, but were sub
dued by the guards. The prisoners,
however, are in a state of great excite
ment, requiring double guards.
The employees OF a tobacco factory in
Naples, believing the roof was about to
fall this morning, fed in panic from
the building and communicated their
fears to so many persons outside that
the police were compelled to interfere
and restore order. Many persons were
injured during the panic