SCENES OF HORROR.
The greatest depth of ashes encountered was in the vicinity of Ottajano.
Here large areas were buried to a depth of several feet. Soldiers had
been sent there with military carts, carrying provisions and surgical
appliances, with orders to lend their aid in the work of relief. They
found it almost impossible to make their way through the deep fine dust,
and the tales of horror and heroism they had to tell resembled those
that must of old have been borne to Rome by the fleeing inhabitants of
Pompeii.
Efforts were made to remove the children and old persons in the carts,
but when these had gone a few hundred feet it was found that, although
there were four horses harnessed to each vehicle, they could not pull
their loads through the ashes. This caused a panic among the children,
who expected to be buried in the incessant fall from the volcano, and
they fled in all directions in the darkness and blinding rain. Searching
parties went after them, but in spite of continuous shouting and calling
no trace was found of the little ones, and numbers of the children were
undoubtedly smothered by the ashes and sand.
Many of the inhabitants had been buried in the ruins of their houses,
and the scenes when the victims were unearthed were often piteous and
terrible. The positions of the bodies showed that the victims had died
while in a state of great terror, the faces being convulsed with fear.
Three bodies were found in a confessional of one of the fallen churches.
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