Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1906-04-13
DEATH AND OEsOLAT|ON
AROUNO MT. vEsUV|Us
Even hmidthg Appalling Disaster
Thai III! Has !. !. Bsfa|Ie e Country
Vanda|s Add. to. Horror.
....-.s $3.50
HALF THOUSAND BODIES FOUND
Eruptions subside But the Distress
Of tic Homeless People Becomes
More Pronounced as the Work Of
Resoue Advances King ceusures
Negligent Priest.
(By Associated Press.l

Wy associated PreSs.)
NAPLESs hpril l2.-Whlle The
news from Mount vcsuvlus today is
reassuring tho condition here In
Naples arc such as make II difficult
to realize that conditions are actually
better.
The wind is blowing from the vol
cano toward Naples, carrying the
ashes in This direction. Towards
.cvenlng the fall of ashes and cinders
here was worse than at any time
since the eruption began
The scenic effects vary from hour
TO hour. Now in the North the sky is
chocolate colored, lowering and heavy.
under which men and women with
their hair and colthing covered with
ashes move about like gray ghosts
Silver Lining to the Clouds.
Fort San Martino, as it towers
above the, town can only Just be
seen. while Castle Dcll'Ovo is bodily
III light. seeming like silver against
the brown sky.
TO the south beyond the smoke
zone lies smiling, sunny PosIlipo and
It's peninsula while far away glistens
The sea, deep blue OH which the
islands seem to float in the glow of
shining sun Adding to tho strange
picture. one of the French men-of.
war, which arrived in the Bay OF
Naples today, is so placed as to he
half in the glow and half ubscurcd By
the belt OF falling ashes.
Nothing But Oesolation.
AT The observatory of Mount We
suvins. where Director Matteucci Is
continuing his work in behalf of
science and humanity the scene is
one OF great impressivcness.
To reach the observatory one must
walk for miles over hardened but
hot lava covered with sand. until he
comes to q point whence nothing can
be seen but vast gray reaches. some.
times Hat and sometimes gathered In.
to huge mounts which take on scmb-
lances Of human faces. Above the
heavens are gray like earth beneath,
and seem Just as hard and immov-
able.
In all this lonely waste there is
ITO sign Of life Qryegctatlon, and no
sound is heard. except the low nut.
terings of the volcano. One seems af:
most mpelled to scream aloud TO
break the horrible Stiffness of land
seemingly forgotten both by God and
man. IL,
One Town Lost $50 by sufocation.
Every day that passes give new
evidence OF the magnitude of the ca
tastronhe. Today's visit of King Vic
tor Emmanuel to Ottajano revealed
new tragedies, AT certain point
his majesty was obliged to abandon
his motor car and went forward on
horseback amid constant danger, his
horse laundering through four feet
of ashes, stumbling into holes, blind.
cd by the fall of large clnders and
the target for falling basaltic masses.
In tho presence of the King 129 more
bodies were extricated from the ruins,
the Write ashes and red sand falling
as though they we're determined not
to relin9hlish their victims. The dead
at Ottajano are said to number $50.
Priest Abandoned His Post.
The King was deathly pale. To
a priest who came to him he said:
How did you escape?'
az put myself in safety" replied
the priest.
What do you mean?p asked the
King.
Realizing the danger" was the
priests reply "a had left for Nola."
The King flushed with anger.
What" he cried, "you a minister of
God. were not here to share tile dan
ger Of your people and administer the