Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1914-01-23
RESCUED FROM
SMOKING LAVA
80 Saved b Warst;;p From
Foot Of Volcano.
Think ALL OTHERS DEAD

SURVIVORS leli 1FdpIiS Sho'y VI Nv"
People We're Killed by Volcanic
Rocks and Others Caught In Boiling
Lava.
Thirty-ti.rcc persons, men and Wo-
men, terror-stcicken and nearly starV-
inc. were rescued from cave near
the shore 3n the island Of Sakura, ia
pan, devastated by The Sakurashima
volcano.
Their rescuers, a band of sailors
from a japanese warship, had to dig
their way through hot ashes and warm
lava six feet deep.
So far as is known these are the
only people caught on Sakura when
the volcano burst into eruption VINO
escaped death There were $4,000 in
habitants. Five thousand of them es-
caped to the mainland during the day
Of Jan. II, before Sakurashima burst
into full eruption. A few hundred are
Supposed to have escaped In small
boats during the first hour of the dis
aster, although many of these boats
were swamped:
The sailors had to dig and Waded
their way to the caves entrance
where those rescued had taken refuge,
and carried the men and women back
to theboat.
From these survivors came the first
graphic stories Of men, women and
children overcome in their attempted
flight. Many, they said, yeFe struck
down by volcanic rocks, and hundreds
were caught in rushing streams OF
boiling lava and seen no more. Tney
themselves had taken refuge in the
cave until the rain of ashes and lava
had ceased. They were then unable tG
venture forth, being masooned by half
cooled lava and ashes
A refugee gives a graphic picture Of
the overwhelming of villages by the
earthquake an deruption. "The earth:
auakes began on Sunday" he said,
.iand the people spent fearful night
IN the gardens. In the morning flaming
boulders descended and set fire to the
houses. Women and children fed and
were followed by the men. Red hot
ashes blinded and burned them.
There were no boats on the shore.
and most of the refugees had to 9ait
for the coming of rescuers; others
with lamentations flung themselves
into the sea, crying that they preferred
to die in the home of their ancestors:
One by one swimmers were drowned
or killed.
nPumice stone and lava spurted
from the craters; scarlet vapor OBJ
scured the heavens; the roar of the
volcanoes was like the sound Of q
thousand thunders. The whole island
shook and oscillated like swinging
paper lantern. Plants and trees with.
cred and whitened mounds Of ashes
formed before US:
1.-THE earth itself reared like q wild
horse and knocked US down; poison:
Gus gases choked cur nostrlls and
crazed cattle charged, instinctiveiy
seeking the sea-"
Kagoshima, last week q prosperous
town of $4,000 inhabitants, is in ruins.
Even stone buildings collapsed under
the weight of the hot ashes.
simultaneously with the eruption OF
the volcano of Sakura-Jima, there oc-
Cured an eruption of Yarisatake,
which threw cloud of ashes over Mat
sumoto, but did no serious damage.
The entire island of Kiushiu, an
area of 5000 square miles, is covered
with volcanic ash in varying depth.
At Kumamoto, north Of KagQshima
ever 1000 refugees have arrived and
the authorities are faced with the diff
fculty OF housing and feeding the suf-
ferers from the disaster, the full ex-
tent of which has not yet been told:
Kagoshima, the nearest large city to
Sakura, while it suffered great DAM
age from the earthquakes, does not ap-
pear to have sustained a severe loss
of life. H. Tiuin. former Japanese min:
lister to China, who lives in Kago-
shima, sent a dispatch to the foreign
office, in which he said ten persons