The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1906-04-13
VESUVIUS.

roof OF market house Succumbed II
the weight of ashes from the burning
mountain that had been piled upou
1t, and many people were crushed to
death in the debris. This is alarm
ing Naples is across the bay from
the mountain, a distance of ten miles
and was thought to be safe from its
destructive eruptions, but Pompeii
was buried in ashes, not lava, and it
can't be said positively that Naples is
immune to the same dreadful fate.
In the great eruption of the year 472
ashes from the volcano fell as far
away as Constantinople.
Mt. Vesuvius is the most noted and
most interesting of all volcanoes, pro
badly because at an early period the
centre of the earth's civilization was
in the vicinity of its base, and it has
made history not possible for other
volcanoes in remote localities. It's
eruptions, too, appear to have been
more frequent and more violent than
those of other volcanoes. 1t has made
terrible havoc of human life in the
past, but there appears to be fas-
cination that draws people to it's
deadly environment and every fresh
eruption is attended with renewed
loss of life and destruction of proper
ty. Several hundred people, the dis
patches this morning report, not
counting the victims of the Naples
catastrophe, have already persisted
from the present disturbance. The
eruption of Mt Vesuvius is the worlds
greatest spectacular, and regardless
of the danger, thousands of sight
seers are bold enough to venture
within reach of it's flaming crater and
the City of Naples reaps a profit from
the great show which it alone of all
the cities of the world can offer
Vesuvius is a solitary mountain
with two SUBMITS. 1t rises in gran
deur 1000 feet from the fertile plain
of Campania, having at the base a
circumference of about 30 miles.
Prior to the great eruption in the year
70 that buried Pompeii and Hercul-
aneum Vesuvius was entirely peace
full. 1t was then what the scientists
of today would call an extinct vol
cano," but the Roman peasants who
had covered its sunny slopes with
famous vineyards, did not suspect
that it had ever been different from
other mountains, and Spartacus, the
Gladiator, who led the slaves rebel
hon made his stronghold in its an
cient crater.
There was a terrible earthquake
sixteen years previous to the first
great eruption of the mountain that
shattered the adjacent cities, but this
did not prove a sufficient warning of
the wrath to come, and both Pompeii
and Herculaneum were fourishing
and populous towns when the erup-
ton came.
Since this memorable event Vesu-
vius has shown almost continued ev-
idence that it is an active volcano.
There have been sixty great and num-
erous inconsequential eruptions prior
to the present one In 472 the erup-
ton already mentioned took place. In
1888 the summit was forced up in
two days to the height of 413 feet with
a circumference of 5000 feet. 1851
a number of villages at the foot OF
the mountain were destroyed by burn
ing lava and torrents of boiling water
and nearly 10000 people lost their
lives.
Other great eruptions were those
of 1879, 1884, 1922, 1855, 1872, 1878
and 1880.
The eruptions of Mt. Vesuvius have
been the subjects of many essays that
attempted to paint the awful gran |
deur of the scene, but two only have
a fixed place in literature. One OF
these is that of the younger Pliny, !
who witnessed the first great erup- /
ton in the yesr 70, his father, who
attempted to go with the Roman
fleet to the rescue of the Inflated cit
les at the base of the burning noun |
tains, being among the victims. The !
other is by Sir William Hamilton !
and was written of the eruption of !
1879. Sir William was then British !
Minister at Naples. He tells of the !
enormous volumes of white cloud that
arose from the crater to a height of
four times that of the mountain,
while streams of red lava poured from
the crater In torrents down the sides
Of the cone This was followed by
of fire that rose into the
heavens three times the height of the
mountain or more than two miles. In
The midst of all this there were con-
-inued showers of stones, scoria and
ashes thrown to great height and dis