The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1906-06-05
AN AGE OF DISASTERS.
First Years Of Century Strikingly
Calamitous. America Has Had
It's Share. EH1s

Is the Twentieth to be a century of
terrible disasters ,5..'
1t is only in it's seventh year, and
yet scores Of dire calamities have be-
fallen the human race on land and
sea. Volcanoes, earthquakes, tidal
'i"'icanes, typhoons,
. and tornadoes, explosions, massacres,
strikes, panics, famine, railway acci-
dents, assassinations, riots and never-
ceasing war-every natural agency
, and man himself have combined to
make disaster follow close on the
heels of disaster through the six years
that are gone and the one just near
ing its prime.
Although Providence has been
kind to this section, yet the people
have felt the heavy hand of disaster
laid upon them, for in June 1903, this
county was visited by heavy rains,
which caused Pacolet river and Law
sons Fork to overflow their banks
and become raging torrents, flooding
the river bottoms, washing away Pac-
olet, Clifton and Glendale mills.
Homes were swept away, lives lost
and millions of dollars of property de-
stroyed.
Grouping the troubles in Russia as
one, seven disasters that have attract
ed worldwide attention have alone
occurred in the five months just end
ing. This is the list-the San Fran
cisco earthquake and fire, the Vesu-
Wan eruption, probably the most dis
astrous since the one that buried
Pompeii; the French mine horror, the
sinking Of the steamer Valencia on
Puget Sound, the famine in Japan
and the explosion on the United States
battleship Kearsarge.
Setting down the series of disas-
ters that is known as the Russo-Japa-
nese war as one, treating every one Of
Russia's internal disorders, from the
beginning Of the century, as one long
drawn out disaster, about 100 disas
ters, more or less terrible, have held
the eye of the reading Public from
timc to time since the new century
was ushercd in with all sorts Of mer-
ry-making. In addition to these,
there have been other scores of dis
asters that, because of their remote
ness from the Occident, or lack Of un
usual features, have attracted little
or no attention.
A glance over the list shows that
this country seems to have come IN
for more than it's fair share Of the
disaster Beginning with the coal
mine explosion at Red Ash, West Vir-
ginia, when 100 lives were lost, and
ending with the destruction Of San
Francisco, at least two score OF no.
table disasters have afflicted As.
OF this number fourteen have been
disasters of magnitude to our cities
tornado and tidal wave at Galveston,
yellow fever at New Orleans, first fire
and then food at Paterson, destruc-
tive fire at Baltimore, Jacksonville,
Hoboken, Little Rock, Waterbury,
Conn.,. Rochester, N. Y; the Iroquois
fire in Chicago; the General Slocum
fire in New York, death-dealing heat
in the summer of 1901 in all our
eastern cities, and earthquake and
fire in San Francisco. The god Of
disasters seems to have taken denomi-
mated delight in laying his blighting
hand on our centers Of population.
No one can say for certainty how
many lives and how much wealth
have been lost to the world by reason
of these five score disasters. Yet we
know of hundreds Of thousands of
human beings killed in one way or
another, Of hundreds Of millions Of
property destroyed in one way or an
other. Only the blacklist pessimlst
would care to delve far enough to Sc
cure the exact figures, if such were
possible.
Volcanoes and earthquakes have
been exceedingly active natural agents
of the god disaster.
Greatest of volcanic eruptions in
loss of life was that Of Pelee, on May
8, 1902, destroying the city of1St:
Pierre and 10000 lives. The day be-
fore La Soufrierre, S. Vincent's
claimed 1900 victims, and nearly
three months after it's first eruption,
Pelee again Nbreathed forth death and
destruction, this time robbing 5000
persons Of the breath Of life.