WORST IN WO
Comprehensive History of Volcanoes
in the Past.
WASTE OF LIFE AND PROPERTY
Account of the Greatest Disaster of'
Recorded Time?A Little World Is
Blotted off the /lap.
Volcanoes and earthquakes have al >aye
been the most dreaded by humanity
of all calamities that could befall
a community.
The causes producing the two geological
disturbances so prolific of fear
and terrible havoc are practically the
same.
They result from the fact that the
interior of th's globe is still intensely
hot, radiating heat into space and consequently
contracting in bulk. Portions
of molten rock are from time to time
ejected and sudden seismic disturbances
occur which cause destruction like
that at St. Pierre from?volcanic erup- <
tions, or the earthquakes which have
recently Kinea nunareus 01 peopie m
several of the Central American countries.
During the existence of this world
many important geographical changes
have been made throughout this natural
phenomena.
Scientists have found traces of this
la many quarters of the globe where
there have been no heavy earthquakes
or volcanic eruptions for ages and
ages.
Volcanoes range in size from a diminutive
cone to a huge mountain. In
x both cases they are formed from material
which has been belched forth
from the earth's interior.
They can break through any kind of
geological formation, and have come
through granite of immense depths,
and also through Silurian rock, such instances
of their awful power being demostrated
by extinct volcanoes that
have been discovered in France and j
r? ?
ixuuuiu.
Those known as Etna and Vesuvius
emerged from beneath soft marine
6trata.
They are generally classed as active,
dormant and extinct. In many cases,
however, it is impossible to distinguish
the latter two, and many that have remained
quiescent for hundreds of centuries
have been known to suddenly
break forth in the most violent manner.
Such a one was Sornena, which after
being domant almost beyond time ira,
memorial, became active in the frst
century of the Christian era and ultimately
produced Vesuvius.
The latter in 79 A. D. vomited i
forth lava and deadly gases in such gigantic
volume and so rapidly that tue
inhabitants of the city of Pompeii and
several other adjacent towns were destroyed
as were the people of St..
Pierre.
But Pelee, the volcano which so
quickly ended St. Piere and its people,
was another one which was always
considered extinct.
Mt. Epomeo, on the island of Iscbia,
finishes another illustration of the
' ' uncertainties of these dread creatures
of the earth's hidden mysteries. It remained
dormant for about seventeen
centuries and then, in 1802, burst forth
with the utmost violence.
In operation a volcano emits gases, !
vapors, ashes, boulders and lava.
.Sometimes the acids are as destruc- '
tlve to life as is the lava and ashes. J
The erator of Idjen, a volcano in Ja 'a, I
turned loose a huge lake of acid water,
which rushed down the mountain side, t
and the poisonous proportions of the j
liquid caused widespread destruction 1
among human beings, cattle and birds.
The ashes sent form by a volcano are '
will nnno. 1
peiierauy so uuc mai mcj f
trate a house through the smallest ;
creeks and crevices. They are generally
so hot that the Inhalation of the
smallest amount will cause death.
Ashes have been known to fall over
a country covering a radiU6 within 160
miles of the volcano from which they
were discharged. That occurred when '
Vesuvius broke loose in 1822.
On another occasion, when the Cose- 1
<juina volcano in Nicaragua became j
eruptive in 1835 utter darkness prevail- 1
-ttMThiTi a rircle of thirty-five miles, j
and eight miles away they covered the
ground to a depth of ten feet. Four
days later some of the ashes, which
had been caught in an upper-air cur- |
rent, fell at Kingston, Jamaica, 700
miles away.
Huge stones have been sent hurling
through space for great distances by
volcanoes in violent activity. Many
were found in the ashes which burned
Pompeii.
A volcano at Antuco, Chill, is said to
have sent stones thirty-six miles, and ,
Cotopaxi is said to have hurled a 200- i
ton boulder nine miles,
%
RLD'S HISTORY.
Molten lava can rush down a mountain
side at a faster rate than a milo
an hour.
Alter it stops nowing a crust. win
form over the top of the bed, which becomes
hard and cool, while the body of
it will retain a fiery heat for years.
When Mauna Loa, the terror-creating
volcano of Hawaii, had its lwful
eruption In 1852, it belched forth a
solid fountain of lava which was 1,000
feet wide and spouted 900 feet into the
air.
Other fiery fountains of the viiiie
country have been known to perforin
similar feats and have continued to do
so uninterruptedly for several weeks.
The output from one of them travelled
fifteen miles in two hours and continued
to creep along for months, destroying
everything in its path.
Lava is as variable in its moods after
settling down on top of the earth as it
is in getting there. Semetimes it quickly
becomes good soil, while on other
occasions it always remains barren.
As a rule, volcanoes are located on
mountain ranges in the neighborhood
of the sea. Most of the oceanic islands
are volcanic. Very seldom is a volcano
found far inland, and when it is so situated
it is generally in the vicinity of
a lake or where a body of water has
at some time existed.
The largest ones are on the Hawaiian
Islands. In ages past their terrible upheavals
must have convulsed the
world.
Besides them, Vesuvius, which has
a base circumference of thirty miles, is
a pigmy.
The largest volcano in America is
Popocatapetl, in Mexico. It rises to a
height of 19,643 Spanish feet above the
sea level and the circumference of the
crater is 14,000 feet. For many years it
was dormant, but in 1894 it spit a little
fire and created a great deal of fear.
Since that time it has been quiet.
In the United States the most immense
volcano is Mt. Rainier, near
Tacoma, Wash. It is more than 15,000
feet high and is supposed to be extinct.
Volcanoes on the American continent
and contiguous islands have never
caused any enormous sacrifice of life
through eruptions since white men set
tied the country until tne at. x-ierre occurrence.
There are a large number that have
always caused more or less uneasiness,
however, through their tendency to
break out, and not a few In Mexico,
Central and South America have caused
the deaths of considerable numbers
ol^ peopie.
On Islands In the Paclflc, China, Japan
and many Asiatic and European
countries the loss from this cause has
reached an enromous aggregate.
On islands in the Pacific,
The mest violent disturbance ever
known to have resulted from an eruption
was that which destroyed Krokatoa,
an ialand in the Straits of Sunda,
on August 27, 1883.
It was also the most disastrous In
Hootni^tinn r>f llfp sin^A Pnmneil
was buried until St. Pierre was destoryed.
The explosion buried the island and
about 20,000 inhabitants at the bottom
of the sea in the course of a few minutes.
The vibratory effects were felt around
the world.
It caused a tidal wave which reached
San Francisco and wiped out many
villages on the Island of Sumatra,
while it was on the way.
The noise of the explosion was heard
in India, it was heard in Australia and
it was heard in the Island of Roderiquez,
2,968 miles distant.
The seismic wave of sea was seen at
Cape Horn, 7,500 miles from the scene
of the calamity, and at a point in Sumatra
it carried the Dutch mar?-of-War
Benow two miles inland and left the
vessel high and dry thirty feet above
the level of the sea.
An air wave was created by the explosion
which travelled three times
around the world before it became dissipated.
While erupt.ons of volcanoes always
cause the most dread, the earthquakes
cause the greater loss of life and property
by an overwhelming amount.
It is estimated that the destruction
of human beings through this medium
is greater than any other agency but
riiaoaso
From first to last during human occupancy
of this planet it has been figured
that 13,000,000 people have become
moribund as a result of earthquake
disasters.
On this continent they have been
tuost disastrous on the Pacific coast, in
Mexico and the countries south of it.
Below is a list of the great disasters
from this cause during a period covered
by mediaeval and subsequent history:
Year. Number.
Catania 1137 15,000
Cilioia 1268 60,000
Naples 1456 40,000
Lisbon 1531 30,000
Lisbon 1755 60000
Naples 1623 70.000
Schanaiki, Russia 1667 80,000
Sicily 1633 iuo.uuo
Jcddo, Japan 1703 200,000
Abruzzi, Italy 1706 15.000
Algiers 1716 20,000
China 1731 100,000
Lima, Peru 1746 18,000
Grand Cairo 1752 40.000
Kasehan, Persia 1755 40,000
Syria 1759 20,000
South Italy 1S51 14,000
Peru 1868 25,000
Java 1882 170,000
China and Japan 1891 30,000
Thousands have lost their lives from
the same cause in Mexico and other
South African countries during the
past few months.
j
ERUPTIONS OF iMT. PELEE.
The volcano of Mont Pelee was la3t
i in eruption during the month of Auj
gust, 1851. Previous to that, in 1767,
about 1.C00 people were killed by an
earthquake in Martiniqi e. In 1S39, the
then capital, Fort Royal, now Fore de
I France, was visited by an earthquake
which destroyed about half the town,
caused great damage throughout the
island and killed about seven hundred
persons.
Mont Pelee is the loftiest mountain
on Martinique and is 4,450 feet high.
When it was in eruption in 1851 flames
| and volumes of black smoke and fine
aslies burst suddenly from the crater
, and threw the people of St. Pierre into
j a panic. They fled from the place,
; many taking refuge on the ships in the
roadstead. The eruption on this occas!
ion was not serious only covering some
hundreds of acres with sulphurous debris,
but it was enough to show that
Mont Pelee was not dead, but sleeping.
The terrible volcanic storm in which
: ages ago Mont Pelee was uplifted
j crumpled her summit and rent and Assured
her sides, and sent her foothills
sprawling all over the northern end of
i the island of Martinique, less, perhaps,
' by her enormous bulk than by her
, pyramid summetry of her outlines.
; nrp^a Dolrl Mmin4nSn '' r Vin tt? o o PolloH
iuc uaiu muuuiaiu, n?o
, but never was adjective so misapplied,
for La Pelee was fully clothed from
the edge of the sea to the very summit
in the most extravagant luxuriance of
tropical vegetation.
Within twenty years the great mountain
has sounded its warning?rumb- '
i ling and growling and muttering like
some uneasy giant in his sleep?but
' the gay people merely shrugged their
shoulders and laughed at the menace,
for they knew that the crater had been
turned into a lake by the rains and
that it had been many years?hardly
' within the memory of the oldest inha!
bitant?since the volcano did anything
; but threaten. The presence of the lake
! in the crater they accepted as proof
I positive that the fires had been drowned
out, never to be lighted again.
1 Interesting Facts About St. Pierre.
The part of St. Pierre on the slope
i was known as the "upper town" and
n.-aB rUoan and well hllilt. The lower
town situated along the roadstead front
was dirty and unhealthy. The town
was divided into two parts by a small
river over which there was a handsome
bridge.
Five newspapers were published In
St Pierre. They were Las Antilles,
founded in 1842; Les Colonies, founded
in 1878; La Defense, founded in 1881;
Le Propagateur, founded in 1852 and
L'Unlon, founded in 1891.
The principal commerce of St Plerr9
was the exportation of sugar, rum, soffee
and cocoa. Remarkably fine cologne
water was manufactured in St.
Pierre and exported to France. France
took most of the exportations. The im portations
of St. Pierre were textile
fabrics, grain, flour, wine, oil and meef
cattle.
The climate has been described as
very fine and healthful, resembling
tnat 01 Lower Lanioraia iu a rcmaiaable
degree. An abundance of clear,
sparkling water from the mcuntalus
helped keep the town in a fine sanitary
condition.
One traveller, writing of St. Pierre,
said :
'The visitor to the island is reminded
on every corner that the Empress
! Josephine was born in Martinique, at
| Trois Islets, enar Fort de France. 1
i went to see both her birthplace and
| the statue which Napoleon III. erected
! to her memory in the public square In
Fort de France; but it is no reminder
I of Josephine that is uppermost when I
i think of Martinique. It is one of the
i most beautiful and quiet spots in the
I world that presents Itself.
"Just to *.he southward of St. Pierre I
is a point of rocks, half way up of j
j which a large white cross has been
I erected. Beyond the point of rocks the
; sea sweeps inward in a gTeat semiciri
cle, making a bay, with another point
I - i nut- - * iLt- L...
in a distance. ine snore ui inia uay
i is a broad yellow beach, smooth as a
| carpet. Where the beach ends and the
| grass begins a thousand cocoanut
palms, all giants, stretch around the
semicircle. Under thw palms nestle a
score of little stone houses with red:
tiled roofs. In the back yards of these
houses, a hundred feet back from the
water, the mountain begins, and goe3
up, almost straight up. till its summit
Is lost in the clouds. Such a beautiful
! nook I fear I shall never see again."
Some Idea of the formation of the
island of Martinique may be obtained
I from the fact that, although It is not
i quite forty-five miles loig and only
I about nineten miles wide, it has 404
' mountains, at least six of which, including
Mont Pelee, are volcanoes.
Most of the mountains are so heaviy
wooded that their ruggedness is hidden
| beneath the verdure, but is filled with
. uc<rij iauuo, auu iu LUC uiuuuiaiuo ar. ?
! high precipices, canyons and similar ;
i formations, showing the volcanic for- j
! mation of the island.
To Merge Lines.
I Baltimore, Special.?The board of di;
rectors of the Atlantic Coast Line Railj
way met in this city to perfect plana
for the merging of the Plant Sy3tem
: with tfie former company. The consolj
idation of the Savannas, Florida &
[Western Railway. Company which is
; the major portion of the Plant System,
i was accomplished today hy the liling
1 with the Secretary of State in each of
the six States through, which two propi
erties run a copy of :he merger agreei
ment adopted at the stockholders
: meeting in Richmond. These papers r
j were filed in Virginia, North Carolina,!
South Carolina, Gjorgia, Alabama and j
' Florida- M
\
ARP AND HORRORS.
0
i Bill Says the Accounts of Disasters
Make Him Sad
THEY SEEM NOW TO INCREASE.
Says AH Hearts Shobld Open in Sympathy
For Those Who Are Mourning
For Dead.
It is utterly impossible for a nuin to
grasp the horrors of' Martinique. Every
individual case has its heartrending
anguish and there are 40,000 of them,
and 1,600 more at St. Vincent. Here are
300 in the coal mines near Knoxville
! and 3,000 mourners outside, and every
day tells of some new disaster. The
world seems to be getting used to calamities
and terrible things. They are
now a big part of the battle of life and
if we are not reconciled to it .we do
not stop a moment to ponder the suffering
and crime that is going on. No,
we cannot take it in and the head lines
in tne ciauy papers are an mat ?c ua.t
time or inclination to read. Last night
my wife and I read the pitiful story of
Captain Freeman, of the Roddam, as
he told it at the hospital at St. Lucia
while tenderly lying upon pillows his
face and hands charred and blackened,
his flesh raw aqd his eyo balls bloody,
and how one after another of his crew
sank in a fiery death until there were
seventeen of them dead upon the deck,
and this was the only vessel of the sixteen
that brought away a living soul.
Oh, it was horrible and filled our hearts
with sorrow and our eyes with tears.
But this was only one case and there
are thousands who would have had as
pitiful a tale to tell if they had lived
to tell it. It is good for us that we
cannot know but a small part of the
horrors of Martinique and St. Vincent
and on the seas and rivers?one case
Is enough. One case of a mother trying
to save her child on a burned boat on
the Mississippi river a few weeks ago
saddened us all, but the memory of
such things soon passes away and we
forget It until another comes. Only last
week the papers told of a man, a brute,
Who got angry with his little boy of 6
years and after slapping him to the
floor picked him up bodily and raised
hl&i above his head and dashed him
diwn and crushed the life out of hli
little body and his mother picked him
up a corpse, while the life blood
Bpouted from his mouth and nose. The
recital made me sick and sad. The little
boy, I believe, is in heaven, but the
poor heart-broken mother has to stay
to Keep guard over me omer mree.
Merciful Father, when will these things
cease to be; when will woman learn
that it is better to live and die single
than to chain herself to a man whise
character for loving kindness has not
been established in the community.
Girls, let me beseech you to take no
chances. Be a shop girl, a typewriter
a seamstress, a book agent or anythini
that is pure and honest rather than th?
wife of a heartless brute and the mother
of his children. Take no chances.
The young men of this generation are
a hard lot?not more than two in ten
are fit to marry. Count them up in
your own community and ask youi i
brother about them. How many does he
know who he would be willing for his
sister to marry.
But I was ruminating about these
horrible disasters and the grief that
follows in their wake. Death Is not so
terrible a thing. Very often it comes
in morcv and is a hlessine. A neacefci
death to the aged is a triumphant
change?the end of trouble and the beginning
of happiness. But it is the time
and the manner of death. Fitz Greene
Halleck never wrote a more beautiful
verse than this apostrophe to death:
"Come when the blessed seals
That close the pestilence are broke
And crowded cities wail its stroke;
Come in consumption's ghastly form,
The earthquake's shock, the ocean's
storm;
And thou art terrible?the tear
The groan, the knell, the pall, the bier;
And all we know or dream or fear
Of agony are thine."
It looks like some of these awful
things are getting close to us. These
Windward islands are on our side of
the world, and not so far away. Even
now the wind is blowing their ashes on
our coasts, and the earth 13 quaking
under Florida. The explosion of the
coal mines at Knoxville is the first horror
of that kind in our Southland, and
no pen can picture the scene of those
imprisoned men writing their last lovESEEEMH
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Evans Building;,
ing words to wives and children as
they gasped for breath?may the Lord
have mercy upon them and temper the
wind to the shorn lamb. To all wha
are in peril and all who are bereaved,
we would breathe the poor fisherman's
prayer: "Oh Lord, good Lord, I am a
broken down poor man?a fool to speak
to Thee?I am too old, too old?my lads
are drowned?I've buried my poor wife
?my little lassies died so long ago that
I forget what they were like. I know
they went to Thee, but I forget thelf
| little faces, though I missed them sora
Merciful Lord, pleace comfort those
who have heavy hearts. I cannot pray
with finer words; I have no learning?
too old, too old; but, good Lord, have
pity on them all."
It is sad to have to write of sad
Luiugs, oux toe wise man said: "It i?
better to go to the house of mourning
than to the house of feasting." It is
good for us all to stop and think and
let our hearts open wide in sympathy.
Man is to blame for most of his qwn
troubles, and "man's inhumanity to
man makes countless thousands
mourn;" but that is not the darkest
side of the picture. It is man's Inhumanity
that brings most all of the distress
that women and children suffer.
If everybody was good and kind, what
a blessed world we would have. May
the Lord pity us all is my prayer, and
we all die the death of the righteous
and our last end be like His.?Bill Arp
in Atlanta Constitution.
i RAM'S HORN BLASTS.
"* "\ '
^ _ a -j,' rp. ME builds the
I houses of ternl-'
No sainthood'
without service.
f God wants
f . lights principle,
t * moro than lamps.'
u VYC<y the boy you canV
A^. not devel?P t*10
man.
To put out
* T5* another's sua
will not increase your own.
The steeple will last no longer than
the foundation.
The highest family connection is la
being born from above.
They who wait on tne ju>ra win not
keep the Lord waiting.
. God's estimate of us will not be in*
fluenced by our advertising.
He who is false to his regiment
cannot be true to the army.
The Lord must be wery of the servant
who is never weary.
The life of the church depends on!
the living of each Christian.
To God's child the heaviest sorrow,
is lighter than the least sin.
If you are trusting in the love o?
the Father, you must live the life
the brother.
Love will be a voice rather than!
an echo. They
who rest in the Lord work ia
the world. ; 1
Practice builds on the plans Iaicfi
down by principle.
The ffcars of adversity water tha
buu ui prutn/vrujr.
The god of science never hears 08
answers prayers.
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I