New-York tribune., 1906-04-12
VOLCANO LESS VIOLENT
Continued from first page

mare in an automobile reaching that place with
great difficulty. They hoped to get a boat at
Castellammare 10 take them from there to this
city. but the fishermen refused TO take the risk
OF crossing the Bay OF Naples. as they would
have had to pass Mount Vesuvius, which is
about half way between Castellammare and
Naples.
Robert Underwood Johnson. associate editor
Of The Century Magazine" said to-day:
Each day # becomes more impossible to visit
even at distance the afflicted districts The
ashes have reached preposterous proportions.
filter into everything block the trains, trans.
automobiles, carriages and horses. Only the
soldiers seem TO overcome them.
Before the interruption / took a train for
Tore AnnunZiata. on arriving at Tore del
Greco the heavens seemed to open and we were
soon half buried in ashes and hot cinders. The
train drew up in total darkness, relieved only by
lightning flashes. Thus waited events Soon
the darkness took purple and yellow tinges the
detonations became louder than the loudest
thunderclap. and the ashes burned our eyes 1t
was a perfect picture of Dante's Inferno The
train could not proceed, the ashes thick
the track. Presently the train divided but
was left behind. The poor women fugitives,
thinking they were about to lose their lives, be-
gan TO chant litanies for the dead, giving last
weird touch 10 the internal scene.
CaTibineers came to our rescue. proposing to
take the sea We then found
bridge. with the side and Tore
del Greco on the other thirty feet below. In the
binding darkness descended hand in hand,
a human rope. false step meaning death. How
ever, troubles were not over. The port
full of ashes also. Small boats could not put
in or put out wearfly we trudged back TO the
station TO find there prospect Of a train.
We had then been five hours in that plight so,
seeing that heroic measures were necessary,
with a companion I trudged miles in two
three feet Of ashes to Portici where finally we
found a cab which brought us 20 Naples.
The distress among the tens of thousands of
fugitives is appalling The government has for
warded supplies Of food and money. several of
the Italian cities have done the same. and pri-
vate citizens are contributing money for the
assistance Of the sufferers, but more help is
needed.
The loss 10 property by the volcanic outbreak
IS estimated at s2OOOo,Oo0. and IT is announced
that fifty thousand persons have been rendered
homeless. It is estimated that it will require
organized body Of hundred thousand men
and the expenditure Of many millions of dollars
70 raze houses made unsafe for habitation. erect
temporary huts of refuge and extricate and bury
the dead.
The morning opened with the atmosphere op-
pressive and yellow with ashes from Mount We
suvius. causing a feeling of greater apprehen-
sion. The volcano was completely hidden IN a
dense mass of cinder laden smoke the only
other signs of activity being frequent heavy de-
donations and rumblings.
From all quarters came reports of the
mutation Of ashes, the flight Of the terror
stricken Inhabitants of towns and villages, the
collapse Of buildings and the insufficiency of
the relief measures. II was no longer possible
to reach the points which have suffered most Sc
verely. Even the soldiers detailed to guard the
ruins at Ottajsno were recalled. The military
forces have earned the gratitude and admiration
of the people No danger has seemed too great
for the troops TO encounter and no fatigue too
severe for them.
The employees Of a tobacco factory in Naples
thinking the roof was about to fall in this morn
ing, fed in panic from the building and COM
nunicated their fears TO so many people outside
that the police were compelled to interfere and
restore order Many persons were injured
The prisoners in the city Jail mutinied this
morning owing to fright and succeeded in
breaking open of the doors inside the
building, but subdued by the guards
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
fed
Tore del Greco, Sarno and San Gennaro have
been evacuated and Portici, Ciricello. Reggie
and Morino are practically uninhabitable At
Tore del Greco the downfall of ashes and
sand continued. The inhabitants were awaiting
steamers At San Giuseppe the ashes and sand
are over four feet deep.