The Washington times., 1906-04-15
FORMER ERUPTION
V|V|DLY RECALLED
Havoc Wrought by Mt. We
suvius in 1895.
TRAVELLERS EXPERIEN NCE
Dwight Elmendorf, Famous Globe -Trot-
ter, Recounts in Thrilling Man
ner His Investigations.

CHICAGO. April H.-Dwight Elnen-
dorf the famous globe-trotter. who is
now in Chicago, has on five different
occasions been present during the erup-
ton of famous volcanoes. and today at
his hotel gave a graphic description of
the scenes accompanying the outbrust
of Vesuvius in 1895.
"It was about the middle of May, 1895, "
said Mr.. Elmendorf that 1 arrived at
the Bay of Naples I had barely reach
ed nv hotel when the whole town was
startled by the first detonation which
precedes the activity of Vesucius. This
was about 10 o'clock on Sunday morn
ing. Naples, you know. is some fourteen
miles from Vesuvius, and during the les
ser disturbances which occur quite fire.
quently, the people there take very little
notice.
1T was not until that evening that
the heavens were Illuminated by the
incandescent lava blowing out OF the
new crater I Immediately made ar
rangements to ascend the mountain as
far as possible. in order that I might
make photographs of this wonderful
exhibition Of the forces OF nature.
Hunted for Company.
'T found great difficulty in getting
anybody to accompany me: in fact. II
was absolutely forbidden by the authori-
ties to make the attempt.
! But my preparations having been
made in as scientific a manner as pos
sible- taking particular pains to protect
the nose and mouth by means of cloths
and sponges, saturated with chemicals.
which. il necessary. would produce
sufficient oxygen to sustain life when
the air became too full Of sulphurous
acid gas TO permit me 70 breath fully. l
started out to make photographs of this
wonderful phenomenon.
"A fresh breeze from the sea enabled
US TO ascend the mountain TO within
q comparatively short distance of the
last point where this mighty lava
stream was pouring from the crater, and
before the wind changed 1 succeeded in
& making several photographs OF this mar
2 velous exhibition of nature. Approach.
s ing too near this seething mass OF
molten rock, caught a whiff of burnina
hair. Unconsciously 1 put my hand tc
my beard and equally unconsciously
rubbed of one side OF my beard which
+, had been singed 10 a crisp from ex.
A Shoeless Retreat.
We retreated TO Torre Annunciata
where 1 discovered that we no Ionge,
had shoes that Were III to walk In. ON
clothes We're literally full of holes, anc
IT looked very much as though we hat
been playing papa" at some tuyenil,
Fourth OF July celebration. and bv-the
way, this town of Tore Annune!ata ha,
suffered terribly in this last eruption Of
Vesuvius'
How do the inhabitants look upor
these eruptions. Mr.. Elmendorf wa,
asked
We'll. one of the first things 1 noticed
was the unusual timidity Of dogs. theil
eyes expressing 2 the greatest fear. Thi.
was noticed JJng before there was an,
tremor in the earth, and later the peopl,
began TO notice the vibrations. and al
most TO man they became seized with
an uncomfortable desire TO fee. The
dogs especially seemed to have premon.
ition of disaster and ran whining tC
their homes
Sought Storm Cellars.
The Neapohtans at once recognized
this symptom in the dogs, and became. Il
say the very least, extremely nervous
The first real shock sent everybody
into the street, and the second and thirC
sent them back into their houses seek
in. as IL were, the storm cellars. Th,
second day Nesuvius was sending fortl
great quantities of white steam anC
brown smoke. The detonations can b,
hkened only to the rattle of artiuer,
nring, and could be heard plainly 70,
many miles from the crater.
Those who happened to be neal
enough noticed great blocks OF ston.
thrown violently skyward to the heigh
of several hundred feet The air be
came charged with a peculiar greenisf
sulphurous gas, making il almost i'm
possible TO breathe within a radius OF
several miles around this fiery noun
tain. Without a particle of warnins
there was a great tremor, a wave-lik,
motion Of the mountain side and ar
immense crevice appeared several hun
dred feet above the crater, from which
whole hot stream of lava burst forth
kissing, sizzling, and bursting into :
shower OF a million sparks, leapine
down the mountain side as If eager II
devour everything in its path
Pople rushed from tfeir homes intC
the open fields to the forts and 10 IN,
churches, where they seized the images
and proceeded TO hold them up befor,
their professions, fmploring the image:
10 1ntercede for them and stop the
flow OF lava The lava crept relent
lessly on toward the little town not
far from the observatory IL came OF
down the mountain like a great river
100 yards wide. threatening even tn,
observatory and its inmates Fortu
nately, however, the observer stuck [,
his post. and science today is greatl,
enriched by the notes which he mad,
at this time.
The lava advanced directly toward
little church situated on the side o,
the mountain. which was crowded I,
the utmost with people from the coun
try side who had fed here IN terror
but. mirable dictu, less than 200 fee
from the church the stream parted an,
went either side without harming il
Meanwhile, from the crater issued i'm
mense quantities of gas. steam. ant
VapOrS- The whole mountain wa:
shrouded in gloom. and although 1t wa
then only 10 o'clock in the morning, 1
was necessary to use lanterns auS
torches on account Of the intense dark
ness caused by the immense volume O.
smoke and steam that drifted slSywart
almost completely obliterating the sun
light
People Were Distracted.
In all directions people were turn