Evening bulletin., 1911-03-29
1000 KILLED IN
TAAL ERUPTION
Manila Bulletin Tells of the
Frightful Loss of Life
From Volcano.

over seventeen hundred persons
killed and several hundred seriously
injured, many MANNED for life, is the
frightful toll in human life claimed
by Taal Volcano, during the recent
eruption.
Many towns wiped out of exist
ence, hundreds of acres of fertile land
laid waste and many large municip-
alities entirely deserted, the inhab-
itants fleeing in fright for their lives
hundreds of thousands of dollars dam
age. that it will take years of toll
and labor to replace, is the addition
al toll demanded by the angry vol
cano
While the society satalites of Ma
Mia were being thrilled in their
kimonos along the beach of the fash
ionable section of Manila, by the re-
verberations from the explosions at
Taal, another and entirely different
scene was being enacted there by the
Americans who are not such society
lights
| Even while the eruption was TAX
| ing place the provisional treasurer
i MUM and the Division Superintend-
ent OF Schools in Batangas We're
hiking from Batangas to Taal on
their way to the lake to see if the
people in their province needed as
sistance. On the other side of the
lake was Major Sweet and few
constabulary in the midst of the rain
and mnd and ashes, and as soon as it
was possible they secured a banca and
went to the volcano islands to render
assistance to what living they might
| find.
| Buck arrived at the lake and start
ed up the country towards Subig
| while NUM- went back to telegraph
Manila for assistance, which was i'm
perative at that time.
| Hiking through the hot ashes and
still warm mud while Manila society
folks had thrills on the beach watch
ing for more death-dealing explosions,
Buck came upon the barria of Subig
and there in the half light of early
dawn he tore up his shirt and under
clothes in his zeal to render the
wounded the small aid which was pos
sible.
Later in the day he brought down
sixteen wounded and forty dead and
the next morning they were taken to
the military hospital at Batangas and
| the dead buried in the town of Lem
cry
| MUM came to Manila on an early
| train and left in few hours and i'm
mediately returned to the scene of the
catastrophe
Major Sweet started around toward
the north and northwest to ascertain
the damage and do what he could,
travelling in the clothes he had con-
stantly worn since Sunday and which
were besmattered with hot ashes and
mud thrown from the volcano.
On Monday crowds of tourists and
sightseers came to see the horrible
spectacle which the volcano had left
naked in the glaring tropical sun.
From the time the first explosion
took place until the mud and ashes,
the noxious gasses and the wall of wa
ter had transferred the the fertile and
productive countryside into a mud
crusted devastated waste the people
were trying to protect life
Tho fircf +l,..4 A..
tunates had that the volcano really
meant business was when the first ex-
plosion in the air took place. Hun
dreds crowded into the small bancas
that lined the volcano island In their
efforts to flee from the monster that
was vomiting up its bowels. OF all
the people trying to escape from the
island only five succeeded in reaching
the opposite shore, burned and almost
dead
The other bancas that had started
out with their human freight were
either destroyed by the conclusions
of falling mud or were dumped into
the lake and swept on to their death
by the awful rush of water made by
the settling of the land.
Those on the west shore close to
the volcano islands Jared no better in |
escaping the death dealing element
which had been turned loose as they
slept in their bed after happy Sun
day.
Within ten mile long zone which |
extended back into the country five |
miles along the west shore of the lake
the people were awakaned by blind |
ing flash of light accompanied by an
ear splitting crash. Crash followed |
crash as the noXious gasses thrown |
up by the volcano exploded overhead |
and swirled the mud, ashes and sand |
in all directions. Houses were hit by |
the force of the pent up hot air and |
men, women, children and every other |
living thing endeavored to dig the
suffocating mud and ashes out of their
eyes, mouth and nose.
The concussion of the air from the
explosions of the gases took its toll
of life and the swirling mud and
gases which descended with the mud
also exacted life from the stricken
while the hot air blasts suf-
fooated those who were already suf-
fering from that which went before,
and finally came the big wave which