Omaha daily bee., 1906-04-15
ITALY'S FLAMING VOLCANO
Pre-Eminence Of Vesuvius as the Blow-Pipe
Of Internal COmmotiOn,
INTERMITTENT ACTIVITY FOR CENTURIES
characteristics of the Mountain IN
Action, It's Buried cities and the
Havoc II Has WrouEht-An
Appalling Record.

vesuvius holds the foremost place In
volcanic history, other famous vents for
earths internal commissions have shown
equal energy and degtructiyeness, but their
comparative Temotenoss from the oenters
Of civilization necessarily restricted the
details OF their activities, The location OF
Vesuvius, no less than It's periodic erup-
lions, makes II pre-eminent Since the
dawn Of civilization Il has been a history
maker and has never lacked writers Of its
history.
The present activity OF Vesuvlus is ae-
counted the most violent since lS12. Sew
eral times since that date the crater has
given warnings OF internal disturbance,
particularly in 1897 and 1900 What de-
struotion may be wrought now time alone
will tell. As destroyer OF cities the
record of Vesuvius IL unrivaled, The ruins
Of Its buried eities-Pompeii and Herou-
laneum, uncovered during the last CEN
tury, are pathetic monuments to its over
whelming power, Though the record goes
back 70 So A. d., the history OF volcanic
havoc starts from 70 A, D., when In Au-
gust of that year the furies Of Vesuvius
burst forth and completely buried the
cities OF Pompeil, Herculaneum and ST,
Abiae, In his Last Days OF Pompeii"
Bulwer Lyytton thus describes that ap-
pallinE catastrophe;
THE cloud which had scattered so deep
murkiness over the day, had now settled
into solid and impenetrable mass 1t re-
sembled less even the thiokest gloom of
night In the open air than the close and
blind darkness Of some narrow room. But
In proportion as the blackness gathered
ha 1fsrk,
crease in their vivid and scorching glare
Nor was their horrible beauty confined to
the usual hues of fire; no rainbow ever
rivaled their varying and prodgal dyes
Now brightly blue as the most azure depth
of southern sky-now OF a lvld snake
like green, darting restlessly to and fro as
the folds of an enormous serpent-now Of
lurid and intolerable crimson, gushing
forth through the columns of smoke, far
and wide, and lighting up the whole city
from arch to arch-then suddenly dying
into sickly paleness, like the ghost Of
their own life!
TerrOrs of the Scene.
I'm the pauses Of the showers you heard
the rumbling OF the earth beneath and the
groaning waves of the tortured sea, or,
lower still and audible, but to the watch of
intensest fear, the grinding and kissing
murmur Of the escaping gases through the
ehasms Of the distant mountain. Some
| times the cloud appeared to break from its
| solid mass, and, by the lightning to as
| sumo quaint and vast mimicries of human
| or OF monster shapes, striding across the
| gloom, hurting one upon the other, and
vanishing swiftly into the turbulent abyss
/ or shade, so that, to the eyes and fancles
of the affrighted wanderers, the unsubstan-
/ tial vapors were as the bodily forms OF
gigantic foes-the agents of terror and OF
! death.
THE ashes in many places were already
/ knee deep and the boiling showers which
came from the steaming breath of the vol
cano forced their way into the houses
bearing with them a strong and suffocatlna
vapor In some places immense fragments
! Of rock, hurled upon the house roofs. bore
down along the streets masses of confused
/ ruin, which yet more and more, with every
hour, INSTRUCTED the way, and as the day
! advanced the motion of the earth was more
sensibly felt-the footing seemed to slide
and creep-nor could chariot or litter be-
kept steady, even on the most level ground
Sometimes the huger stones, strikine
against each other as they fell, broke into
countless fragments, emitting sparks OF
GOtnDuStl
BILE within their reach, and along the plain,
beyond the city the darkness was now ter
ribly relieved, for several houses and ever
vineyards had been set on flames, apd a
various intervals the fires rose sulleniy an,
fercely against the solid gloom To add t,
this partial relief of the darkness the citi
Gems had, here and there. in the more pub
lie places, such as the porticos of temple
and the entrances to the forum, endeavore,
to place rows OF torches, but these rarel,
continued long, the showers and the wind
extinguished them and the sudden darkness
into which their ftful light was eonverte
had something in II doubly terrible an
doubly impressive on the impotence OF hu
man hopes, the lesson of despair.
Flight for Life.
Frequently, by the momentary light o
these torches parties of fugitives encoun
tered each other some hurrying toward tn
sea, others flying from the sea back to tn
land, for the ocean had retreated rapid
from the shoFe-an utter darkness Ia,
over it, and upon its grooming and tossin
waves the storm Of elnders and rocks fe
without the protection which the street
and roofs afforded TO the land.
! wild, haggaTd, CHASTITY, with super
natural fears, these groups encountere
each other, but without the leisure
speak. 70 consult, 10 advise, for the shower
fell now frequently, though not oontinu
ously, exinguishihg the lights, whic
showed 10 each band the death-like face
, OF the other. and hurrying all 10 see
, refuge beneath the nearest shelter. TIL
. whole elements OF civilization were broke
: up. Ever an anon, by the hickering lighti
! you saw the thief Fastening by the mos
solemn authorities of the law laden wit
and fearfully chuckllng over the produc
, OF his sudden gains. II In the darkness
, wife was separated from husband or parer
a from child vain was the hope OF reunion
I Each hurried blindly and confusedly OF
Nothing In all the various and complicate
machinery OF social life was left save III
e primal law Of self-preservation,
J. Advancing, as men grope for escape
a dungeon, lone and her lover continue
3 their uncertain way. At the moment
e when the volcanic lightnings fingered owe
n the streets they were enabled by that aV
4 full light 10 steer and guide their progress
4 yet little did the view Il presented 20 thel
;. cheer or encourage their path. In part
o whore the ashes lay dry and unoommixe
with the boiling torrents cast upward fro
Il the mountain at eapricious intervals, II
n surface OF the earth presented a leproI
4 and CHASTITY white, In other places cind,
q and rock lay matted In heaps, from b,
y meath which emerged the half-hid liml
e OF some crushed and mangled fugitive. II