Norwich bulletin., 1913-03-12

chain of rescuers. His familiarity with the neighborhood of the village enabled
 nm to feel his way with some degree of | certainty in the direction of the cannery. I But when half the Journey had been | traVersed and a great hallooing had been | set up, a dreaded avalanche was en- countered It Is probable that the vie pratlons of air caused by the shouting
 started this avalanche from a hillside. Is Sruck only the advance portion of the 1 party and Davis suffered particularly. Hs
 was ooWIed over, carried down the hills
 esneS' Ills comrades hauled vigorously on on the rope and he was brought to ths
 s9rIace before being completely smothers GU. eventually the cannery was reached | the rescued men were looped into tha cham and the entire party found its way | back in safety to the Manning.
 A Desolate Waste.
 Tt was 2:30 on the afternoon of the | Sth that the darkness began to give | way to a reddish glow from above. Soon
 objects began to be dimly visible. Tree | shapes festooned fantastically with their | ash burdens began to loom out of tha | darkness and the hillsides to snow forth | In an ashen pallor. The landscape all abous l revealed the dead monotony of it's all- enYelop1ng blanket where, few days bee fore, there had bloomed flower gardens and fields of potatoes, this crop being th0 chief subsistence of the natives, aside from their fish. Nothing but the trees
 now showed through the sh covering. Occasional great scars in the hillside re- Vealed the course of the aValanchea which had demolished or submerged whole houses in the village.
 With the coming of the light anotheR consultation was held. Here was an ops
 portunity to make a run for the open
 sea, and the residents of the town had
 become so subdued by the terror of the
 elements that all were anxious to
 scramble aboard. When the Manning
 loaded itself with every individual in thif
 community it partook indeed of the ap'
 pearance of an excursion steamer carryf
 ing picnic party. Every available tncG
 of space was occupied.
 '"The wives and daughters of the Amers jean residents had been quartered in the
 cabins below and were doing yeomag service as nurses in assisting the dOetor( in their treatment of those who were ilL
 The native men were working busily iE cleaning up the ship, and the mess crew was turning out such supplies of biscultG and corn beef as would rival any work4 ingmans eating house in the factory district during the meal hour
 Capt. Brown, old and skilifu1 pilot of the waters, steered the ship tArough the channel as she got under way. LooF- Ing back toward this ash-coVered and de~ serted village of the northland, there waF but one figure to be seen, that of United States Marshal Armstrong, who, whil9 he sent his wife aboard, maintained that his post of duty was with the stricken town. and refused to leave it,
 Arriving at the outer harbor,s where the ship might clear into the open sea at moments notice We made anchor and sent a boat ashore on Woody Island. where had stood the wireless station of the government, and where missionaries had established an orphanage for parent less children of this far northern race. Here were found 103 inhabitants almost famished for want of food and water and they were brought aboard to add to the already numerous population of the ship. This raised the number of our pas- sengers to 4S6, exclusive of the crew.
 'fThe people from Woody Island we aft erward returned to their homes, but the men and women of Kodiak we planted in 8 new village providing shelter and food for them until they could adjust them selves to their new surroundings and find way of providing themselves with food. Their potato crops were gone, the salmon streams had been filled with ashes and the running of the fish conseqLently sus- pended The food for their live stock had been so covered up that all the cattle and horses were threatened with starVa- ton It was indeed hard season that faced those people, but government sup plies were shipped to them and helped them to tide over the months that fol- owed.
 he disturbance was not to be resumed we manned all the small craft we had available, and immediately began to SCOUT he nearby island and the coast of th9 fishermen who might have been brought nto suffering because of the ash fall. So ,parsely settled is this country, however, hat but two or three camps were found, md it is believed that there were no oCh- ITS the existence of which was unknown
 "The expedition to the mainland re- ported a fall of ashes some five feet deep m the level, with drifts twenty or thirty eet in depth. I estimate that the ash all at Kodiak. SeVenty-fiVe miles from t would seem that the old man of the nows had not emptied his ash can for tome time before this occasion of hiS ROs ng on mighty rampage"