The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-02-08
Loss Of Life Conserva-
lively Estimated at
Several Hundreds.
ISLAND FLOODED
BY FLAMING LAVA
City of Kagoshima Partly De-
stroyed and Other Towns and
Villages Sorely Stricken Dur
ing Recent Eruption of Sa-
kura Jirna-Thousands
Are Still Destitute.

San Francisco, Cal. February T.
The first detailed account of the erup-
ton of Sakura lima. on the southern
coast of Japan, as received here to-
day by mail from the Tokyo correspon-
dent of the Associated Press, places
the loss of life, conservatively esti-
mated. at several hundred"
Not only was tho island OF Snkura
Jima Itself, with its dozen villages,
Hooded by torrent Of flaming lava
and buried under n hail OF moan
descent rocks, but the beautiful city
OF kaEoshima, overlooking tho Golden
Gate of Japan, was partly destroy ed.
severa! towns and villages on the
mainland to the east were sore hit, and
the villages of Akam!dzu. Yokoyama
and Koike literally were swallowed
up by the molten lava. Until they are
dug out no specific count of lives lost
viii be possible. The account fol-
lows:
while n Tokyo audience of Japan
was assembled at the Imperial Theatre,
viewing moving pictures of tho last
days of Pompeii. the subterranean
hres Of their own empire, imprisoned
Tor more than century, were surg
ing upward beneath the island OF
Sakura Jima, in the southernmost part
OF the realm
Flee in All Directions
The $4,000 inhabitants of Sskura
Jima fed wildly In all directions, in q
pitiful quest for food and shelter
From thickly settled villages and from
houses embosomed tx groves of
oranges. peaches and plums, the farm
ers ran to tho shores OF the bay.
Horses neighed and snorted In tor
ror, and all manner OF domestic cattle
beloved and cried to be let loose.
Many freed themselves and began a
wild stampede through and over their
human companions
Many old men refused to try to
save themselves. and had 70 be dragEed
along by the younger. Women and
children were sent Off first, the women
carrying their infants slung Japanese
fashion across their backs their hands
filled with portable household goods.
some shielded themselves with mat
tresses: others wore metal and earth
en- pots for helmets. 1t was wild. n
pell-mell rush, a flight of indescrib-
able panic and confusion
There had been preliminary warn
ings. Two months before, a traveller
reclining leisurely on the summit OF
Long Mountain Ridge OF YoshinoCa-
hara. which plunges abruptly down
into the water of Kcsoshlma Gulf, was
surprised to see smoke drifting from
new gullies in the side of the open
Peak of intake, on Saltura lima
Another Warning.
THE next warning came on Sunday
January IL, IN the form of severe earth
quakes, accompanied by resonant, deep
cannonadinS from the heights of Sa-
kura Jima. With increasing violence
came shock after shock. Houses top
pied. brick. walls crumbled, and from
far beneath, seemingly as from some
vast cave Of echoes. rose a horrible
sound of grinding and roaring up
through the quaking crust OF the earth
BY Monday morning the midnight
glow that had spread like scarlet
canopy over the vent of the volcano
changed to an immeasurably lofty
column Of twisting smoke. laced with
flames and shot with the trail of fiery
missiles.
Dawn changed to twilight Ashes
rained on the panic-stricken popula-
ton. The ashes became flaming elm
ders and the cinders flaming rocks.
Sparkling lava, gushing from the
mouths of tho several orators. Ieaped
down from cliff to cliff and ledge to
ledge.
Volcanoes. long supposed extinct In
other portions of the realm, leaped into
sympathetic action, and ashes fell like
snow, as far north as the cities OF
Osaka and Kobe, as far south as the
BONN Islands, and as far west as
Dniren. while the air was Weighted
with sulphurous fumes, and distant
Tokyo itself was mantled in sinister,
yellow cloud, carrying terror to tho
masses and producing among oven
the most intelligent and courageous an
Understandable sense OF impending doom.
Houses Burst Into Flames.
by this timo the cascades OF lava
and the ceaseless, merciless rain of
meteors had set fire to the sugar cane
and bamboo forests Houses burst into
fire as If from spontaneous com bustion
at every step.
arrived at the shore, tho villagers
and peasants flung themselves into
samrans on the beach, or plunged Into
Continued On Sixth Page.)