Evening star., 1923-06-20
Thousands Continue Flight
! Before Lava and Clouds
of Gray Ashes.
LINGUAGLOSSA SEEMS
DOOMED BY HOT FLOW
Peasants Brave Death to Chant
Prayers for Deliverance-Crater's
Mouth Widens.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press
CATANIA. Italy, June o0.-Some of
the latest reports from the country
side stricken by Mount Etna's erup-
tion give rise to the hope that the
fury of the mountain may have
passed its period of greatest inten-
sity. However, the situation is gem
orally regarded as being practically
unchanged. with the mighty stream
of lava bearing slowly. but inevitably
! upon Linguaglossa.
During the night the mouth of the
crater was enlarged by a renewal
of the terrible convulsions. and its
.lips slipping into the seething in
terror. were hurled to the skies. tum-
bling down the sides of the mountain
with tremendous clatter.
Country Looks Dead.
The lava has now submerged the
station at Cerro and blocks the road
between Castiglioni and Lingau-
gIossa.
The quantity of ash emitted by the
crater is now more abundant than
ever. 1t resembles gray face powder.
covering everything. penetrating ev-
landscape under.a powdery blanket.
Indeed. the whole region has taken
or note of mourning and sadness.
which, together with the oppressive
heat, gives the country the aspect
of dead land.
One by one the little towns that
Gin to the mountains outermost
TANKS have been evacuated. their in
habitants fleeing with such of their
household possessions as they can
carry. However, the roads to the
towns more remote from Etna are
strewn with the possessions of the
feeing villagers, who, weakened b.
fear and by the heat, have been COM
PEELED to abandon their treasures.
Red Cross Aids Many.
Thousands of the homeless refugees
are already being cared for by Red
Cross courts.
Five great tentacles of molten rock
and several smaller ones are stretch
Ing out to gather in Linguaglossa and
the town seems helpless. In fact it
seems already dead in its mantle of
black, suffocating ashes.
Up through the heavy smoke and
ash curtain an airplane occasionally
works its way. reporting back to the
threatened villages the progress of
the eruption.
The only life in the town is pro-
rided by the troops and the occa-
0ional professions of townspeople in
voking the mercy Of Heaven to save
them from the impending disaster
Try to Deviate Lava.
Between Linguaglossa and the on
coming lava there is scene of great
activity. All the engineer troops in
Sicily have been gathered there and
are digging deep trenches on the
mountainside by means of which 1T Is
hoped to deviate the lava stream to
the right and left of the town, turn
ing it down the steep slope into the
valley below. This work could
hardly be more difficult for the heat,
dust, cinders and sulphurous fumes
attacked the lungs and eyes OF the
workers to an extent that makes
their labors almost impossible
Green fields, orange groves ana
vineyards have been swallowed up,
and for miles around the atmosphere
is suffocating with volcanic smoke
which is covering the countryside
like a pail. Several smaller houses
in Linguaglossa have been shaken
down by the frequent earth shocks
which. until the last it was thought
might be spared, is directly in the
line of the lava and is doubtless
doomed to destruction.
Moves Forty Yards an Hour.
The molten stream is travelling
about forty yards an hour and Lin
guagloosa Is confronted by lava
bed 500 yards wide and nearly thirty
feet deep. Smaller torrents of lava,
diverted from the central stream.
threaten the villages of Randazzo
and Bronte. from which so many
tourists make the ascent of Etna,
Francavilla. Castigione, Giardini and
Fiume Freddo.
The work OF clearing the threat
ened towns is being carried out with
the greatest energy and admirable
organization. Discipline is necessary
to induce the terrified inhabitants to
abandon their beloved homes, but
their removal Is carried out with
sympathy and kindness.
A new stream of lava on the west
ern side of Etna menaces the Giarre
junction on the Etna railway. Ac
cording to leading volcanologists six
new craters have opened only two
of which, however, are of the first
Importance. In these can clearly be
seen the lava in frightful turmoil
being elected in irregular spurts
amid vast clouds of fumes and ashes,
forming two streams of liquid
death, one of which is rolling down
on Linguaglossa, the other moving
toward Sciaro pass, but threatening
no inhabited points. though causing
immense damage to the vineyards
and nut plantations which consti-
tuted the wealth Of the countryside.
The speed of the latter stream
is so slow, however, it is hoped it
will not advance far but rather form
a kind of lake in one of the valleys.
Numberless heart-rending episodes
are being enacted in this theater
around Etna- The affection of the
peasants for their homelands renders
their evacuation a difficult and deli
cate task. In one case woman
refused to abandon her vineyard, de-
claring that her whole life had been
given over to it's cultivation, that
it's existence was her existence and
its death her death. They endeavored
to carry her away, but she rushed
back to the trees anu embraced and
kissed them singly. calling them her
children. When finally she was re-
moved 1t was found she had lost
her reason.
Many mothers carrying their chill
aren or crowded upon little hand
carts are among the fugitives, and
in numerous cases stalwart peasants
carry on their shoulders aged rela-
tive1 unable to walk, who otherwise