Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 September 1883 — Page 3

FRIGHTFUL DISASTEH.

tar* ni Islands Bean* latod by a Volcanic Out* break. Showers of Hot Rocks and Ashes Turned the Day Into Night. Streams of Lava and Snlphnrio Had Swept Away the Surrounding Tillages, N "'■■'■■■ While the Earth Yawned and Caught the Fleeing Peasants ia Deadly Embrace.

[Cable Dispatch from London.] The latest advices from Batavia, the capital of Java, show that the volcanic eruptions in that Island axe much mare serious than at first Indicated. The disturbances began on the island of Kntkatoa/ln the strait of Stuido, about fifteen miles off the eoaatof Java. The deep rumblings were distinctly audible at Surakerta and Batavia, about forty-five and twenty-two miles off, respectively. Little alarm was felt at first, bat within a few hoars showers of stones began to fall at Jokiokerta, Surabaya and. Zerant All through the night showers of red-hot rocks and ashes fell, making complete darkness in all these towns In Batavia there was an occasional fall, and it was difficult to keep the street lights burning in the European part By the next morning all communication with Ahjer was out off, all the bridges having been destroyed by the descending rocks and ashes, and the road rendered impassible. The first eruptions were on Saturday night On Sunday morning the disturbances had extended beneath the waters of the strait, and they were soon boiling and hissing violently, while great waves dashed upon the Java near shores, and the temperature of' the sea went up nearly 20 degrees. Even as far-away from the original point of disturbance as Madura the furious waves were lashed into mountains of foam as they came rolling in. The threatening rumblings gradually become more and more distinct, and Dy and by the Malta Meru, the largest of the volcanoes of Java, was belching forth dames at a very alarming rata This eruption soon spread to the Gunung Guntur, the crater of which is the largest in the world, being nearly four miles in diameter, the Gunung Guntur and many other minor mountains, until more than a third of the forty-live craters of Java were either in active operation or seriously threatening it Just before dark a great luminous cloud formed over the Gunung Guntur, and tbe crater of that volcano began to vomit up enormous streams of white, sulphurous mud, beside small quantities ofVlava. There were rapid successive explosions, followed by tremendous showers of cinders, and enormous fragments, which were' hurled high into the air and scattered in all directions, to fall after tbe foroe was spent upon the valleys below, carrying death and destruction. With these terrible eruptions came sympathetic demonstrations from the sea The overhanging clouds were so surcharged with electricity that at one time over fifteen huge waterspouts were seen. Men,- women, and children rushed in terror from their tottering dwelling-places, filling the air with their shrieks of horror. Hundreds were unable to get ouGbefore the houses fell, and were buried beneath the great masses of huge rcfcks and mud, which were piled up where a few hours before all had been peace, happiness and fancied security. The Gunung Tengger has not had an eruption before since the year 1800, when an extent of land seventeen miles long and ■even broad was completely covered with the white sulphurous mud so peculiar to the eruptions of Java.

The peak; of Gaming Tengger is 6,000 feet high, and the monument of itame on top of this made a sconce of very impressive grandeur. Every moment a huge bowlder, at a red or white heat, would be hurled from Tengger's crater with terrific force, and after going hundreds of feet into the air would fall back with a whirr, perhaps crashing through the thatched roof of some Chinese fisherman’s hut, or' crush beneath its huge mass the form of some native peasant Fissure after tissue appeared in the sides of the mountains, and here and there in the valleys there came a great yawning chasm on the elevated plains of Kediri and Bandong. The showers of stones, mud and lava were not so frequent as in the lowest portions of the island,' but were still quite destructive. Much of the northern portion of the island, which was covered with traces of forest, was soon'in one great blaze of flame. The red hotvoml ing from the craters had set the trees on lire, and as the giants of the woods fell one after another like bo many sheaves of wheat before a gale, the scene was one of awful grandeur, as the eruptions Increased In frequency and violence the disturbance of the water surrounding the barren coast became more and more violent Here the waves rushed with terrific force up the steep, rocky incline, breaking upon the overhanging crags and receding rapidly leaving a Java fiof r cooled just at the moment when’lt was about tq/fall over a precipice and there quickly hardened bv contact with the waters and forming a distinct strata of blaok and bright, red, purple, and brown lava, all thrown about in the most eccentric manner, while huge peaks of basalt rose at frequent intervals. Then the waves came whelming over a marshy plain along the shore, suddenly engulfing a hamlet of fishermen's rude houses, and, turning suddenly back, swept away almost every vestige of what had a moment before been a scene of bustling activity, where family after family had been rushing around in the vain endeavor to save their effects and get away with their lives from the awful combination of elements threatening them. What a teyv hours before were fertile valleys, covered with flourishing plantations of coffee, rice, sugar, indigo, or tobacco, the staples of the island, were soon but mud, stone and lava-covered fields of destruction and ruin.. Probably not a single crop of Java will be saved. At the entsanoe to Batavia was a large group of houses extending along the shore and occupied by Chinamen. This portion of the city was entirely swept away, and of the 25,000 Chinese who lived on the swampy plain, it is hardly probable that more than 5,000 managed to save their Uvea They stuck to their homes till the waves that washed thpjn away came, fearing the torrents of toe flame and lava of the interior more than toe torrent of water from the exterior. The population of Europeans and Americans in Batavia suffered a loss of perhaps 600 souls out of the 3.500 whites living there. Many of the bazaars,in the higher por.ions of the city were demolished, and It is Impossible to make any estimate of the neat pecuniary lo a The Exohange and the Military Hospital suffered great damage at Anjer The European and American quarter was first overwhelmed by rocks,

and, aad lava from the craters, and than the watts came up end swallowed the rains, leaving nothing to mark the site, and the loos of somewhere in the neighborhood of 80,000 fives of the inhabitants, and those who had triad to find a refuge there. Bantam, onoe a prosperous and flourishing native city, but practically abandoned many years ago, was entirely oovered several times by toe waters, and there mast have been from 1,200 to 1,600 people drowned. Tbe Island of Serong, just off the ooast was completely inundated, and not a soul remains to tell the tale bf disaster and death. At Gheribon there was no great flood of waters, bat the leas of fife ami property by the falling of recks and the flow of lava must have been very considerable. Burtenaarg suffered very seriously, as did Samarang. Johjokurta, Surakerta sad Suraboya, while the meager reports from the leaser towns indloatS that their loas was great in proportion. The Thousand Temples, at Brambardm, were very mnoh damaged, and some of them totally destroyed. Some of the towers of the noted Temple of Borabrodo were crushed by huge falling rooks, while there can be no accurate estimate formed at present of tire loss of fife, it must be apparent when it is considered that the island nas a population of over 17,000,000 people, that the death list will foot far up Into the thousands At the last advices the eruptions were still continuing, although their vloleuoe had abated somewhatand it is feared that the pnd of the disaster will show it to have been one of the most frightful ever known in the history of volcanic eruptions.

The Island of Java, the “American Encyclopedia” tells us is one of the moat densely populated countries in the world. It is tbe most important colonial possession of the Netherlands in the East Indies, and the most fertile and prosperous tropical island on the earth. The Inhabitants are almost entirely ooonpied in agriculture, coffee bring the chief product. The length of tbe island is M 6 miles. Its breadth varying from fifty-five to 186 miles. The population In 187 a waa 17,298.200, being 987 persons to the sqasxe mile. Of these, 28,926 were Europeans, 185,758 Chinese, and 22,032 Arabs and other foreign Orientals, Batavia, the chief city and metropolis of the island, has a population of 100,000. It has a stadt house, exchange, hospital. numerous ohurchea, a morgue, a gymnasium, several Chinese temples, a botanical garden and street railways. The harbor forma an open but small roadstead of great beauty, and may be entered by the largest vessels. Batavia la the great commercial emporium of the Malay Archipelago and absorbs by far the greatest part of the trade of Java and Madam. The exports consist mostly of coffee, sugar, Indigo, hides, cloves, nutmegs, mace, tea, rice, rattans and arrack. The geological formation of the Island of Java is highly volcanic. A range of mountains runs from one of the islands to the other, with peaks ranging in height from 4,000 to 12,000 feet. Among these’peaks are thirty-eight volcanos, some of which are in constant activity. The most remarkable of these is In the Tenger mountains, lu the east part of the island. The crater Is more than 1.000 feet below the highest point of the mountain. Ic Is said to be the largest crater in the world. A volcano In this range threw out in a single night, in 1772, ashes and scorl® spreading over an area of seven miles radius a layer fifty feet thick, destroying forty villages and 8,000 lives. A few miles northeast of this, on the Bth of July, 1822, a volcano destroyed everything within a radios of twenty miles. Five days -later a second eruption followed, and. the total loss of life in both was 20,000 persons. In 1843, Mount Gunter flung forth ashes and sand to the extent of 30,000,000 of tons. In 1867, an earthquake oauscd the death of over a thousand people in the town of Jokjokurta alone. In 1878, there were sixteen different earthquakes on the Island, and in-each of the succeeding years there,were several shocks.

MARINE CASUALTIES.

The Loss of Life Larger in 1888 than in 1882, and Accidents Fewer. 4, [Washington Telegram.] The Supervising Inspector General of Steam Vessels reports that during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1883, the total number of accidents resulting in loss of life was thirty-four, of which twelve were from ex plosions, five from fire, eleven from col listens, and six from snags, wrecks and sinking. The total lives lost by accidents from various causes during the year were 284, of which sixty-nine were from the explosion or accidental escape of steam, eightytwo from collisions, forty-five from fires, fifty from wrecks or founder, thirty-tree from accidental drowning, and five from other causes. As compared with toe previous fiscal year the number of accidents to steamers was less, while toe loss of life was greater, as the following tables will show: Total number of accidents to steamers resulting In loss in 1882, 41; in 1883, 34; decrease, 7. Total number of lives lost in 1882, 205; in 1883,'284; increase, 7V. The main increase occurred in accidents caused by collisions, forty-eight lives being lostin excess of toe number lost In 188$. The next greatest was in loss by shipwreck, being forty-four more than toe previous yean The increase by explosions was eighteen. The loss of life by fires, accidental drowning, eta, was less than the previous yean The most serious single accident of toe year was caused by toe collision of the steamer Scioto and John Lomas, which occurred on the Ohio river near a place called Mingo Junction July 4, resulting in a loss of fiftyeight Uvea A sad reflection in connection with toe loss of life on the Scioto is the fact that notwithstanding the sinking of that vessel very few lives need necessarily have been lost, as the saloon deck of the steamer, where most of the passengers were, was only submerged to the depth of probably not exceeding two and a half feet, while toe hurricane deck was from four to five leet above the water’s edge. The great loss incurred must therefore be attributed to the fright and panic natural to such accidents. causing the passengers to throw themselves overboard.

FASHIONS IN DRESS.

Hat,‘gloves and stockings should match Peaked brocades are becoming more and more numerous. Fans are covered with the dress material and- hand-painted. Bonnets and hats are as varied as the most capricious can wish. High sleeves and short shoulders are indispensible for a perfect lit. Bleached, colored and plain silk girdles will be largely worn on white dresses. Amono sash-ribbons, which are revived, are brocades representing peacock feathers. Bbxgmt-obeen parrots of dazzling hue are placed upon imported bonnets of crimsonplush. Shbphbbd-plaids will again be in favor in ribbons, and also in Loulslne and taffeta silks, for evening wear. All-wool fabrics are the rage in this season. Very little silk is used, even for the dressiest toilets. A. simple School dress consists of a plaited woolen skirt attached to a lining waist and an elastic Jersey bodice. The new shades of red for autumn wear are Indian and magenta, used only for Jackets or oontrast trimmings. , Madras muslin for evening wear are gorgeously decorated by having the pattern darned in silk and gold thread/

ILLINOIS AFFAIRS.

Omus W. Horuur, of Madison county, pleaded guilty in the United States Court, and was fined #BO for defrauding the United Statee malls. A Moocaanr snake snooeeded in biting a young eon of James Campbell, of Dixon Spring, Pope county, recently. The patient is not expected to reoover. Tbs patents issued one day recently to residents of the United States numbered 414, of which thirty-three were issued to residents of Illinois. Boswell Abel, of Springfield, who was born on Sharon Mountain, in Litchfield, Ct, on July 23, 1785, and served all through the war of 1812, has just died in Springfield. The coal companies of the Wilmington district of Illinois have taken active measures toward the construction of a drain twenty-five feet wide and one to five feet deep, for a distance of eight miles, to the Mazon creek, in Grundy County. Thebe is an unusual amount of sickness around Mattoon at this time. Dysentery and flux are especially prevalent Quite a number of deaths is reported. R W. MoQuown died at the age of 78. He ba 1 been a resident of Coles oounty for thirty years or more, and was one of its most respected citizens. During a heavy storm at Marshall the school, a large three-story brick, was struck by lightning and rather badly used up Tbe spire was knocked into splinters, a shutter wrenched off, and one side of the cupola oaved in, the boards Deing sent in every direction. Things were tumbled around at a lively rate inside also. The shoe.; was distictly felt for some distance around. Intelligence has been received of the suicide of Joseph Dawson, a young man aged 22 years, living two miles east of Melrose, a little village several miles south of Marshall. The young man went ont to feed horses, and his brother becoming alarmed at his long absence hurried to the barn, and was horrified to find him lying on a pile of oats shot through the heart NA cause is known for the act Thebe was something of a disturbance in the African Methodist Episoopol Conference, which ‘is in session at Springfield. G. J. Hamilton, of South Carolina, who is said to possess some medical ability and is also a member of the conference, arose to a question of personal privilege. An article had appeared in one of the city papers which took occasion to criticise him, and he tried to repel the charges. The conference was in the midst of a discussion as to the propriety of allowing him to proceed, it being contended that the matter was foreign, to the business of the conference, when the Bishop appeared and peremptorily ordered Hamilton outside of the door of the church. The episode occasioned a good deal of feeling. The business of the conference was principally hearing reports of committees. C. 8. Smith and M. W. Beekey were elected delegates to the general conference, which meets in Baltimore in May. . The next meeting of the Illinois Conference will be he d at Bloomington.

The Rival Lovers—A Fayette County Tragedy. Ixmis Phillips and Jacob Kosenbrook, two young men residing in the northern part of Fayette county, got into a difficulty and decided to settle toe matter with pistols One was killed, while the other lingers at toe threshold of death, being badly wounded in the chin The scene of toe affray was at one of the churches in London township, fifteen miles north and east Vandalia. The two young men, Louis Phillips and Jacob Kosenbrook, met at the church by accident For several months previous neither had entertained a very exalted opinion of the other, and this ill feeling was attributed to the misfortune of both becoming enarmored of toe same faindamseL In pressing their respective suits with the fair one no opportunity was lost by either to poison toe maiden’s mind against the other. On an occasion when PhlUlpe • would have the honor of gracing the presence of the beautiful maiden he would impart such Information concerning Kosenbrook as was not the least complimentary to* toe latter. Possiily toe next company the lady was called upon to entertain would be that of her admirer, Kosenbrook. Kosenbrook was slow in expressing his mind freely concerning bis antagonist, Phillips. His expressions would become threatening should the young lady Inadvertently quote some of toe remarks of Phillips, and so toe courtship continued. The young men came frequently and loved toe girl more and more, and learned tb hate one another more intensely. This continued verbal rehearsal of their respective grievances to toe maiden, grew monotonous and resulted In neither seemingly gaining ground in toe affections of the girL Finally, to bring matters to • focus and attain some decisive action on the part of all, one of toe wobers resorts to the pen. He indulges in a letter to the lady. He records a great many utteranoes purporting to come from, his rival, reflecting upon her character. This letter toe young lady carefully preserved until her visitor called, at which time she presented it to him for his perusal. The charges he stoutly denied, and begged to have possession of the letter tost he might oonfront the writer with it This request the lady granted. The next Sunday evening the two gentlemen met at church. The party bolding toe letter called the other’s attention to it and charged him with perverting the truth repeatedly on every page Bitter denunciations were indulged in on either side, whereupon revolvers were drawn and .four shots were fired, Phillips receiving one shot in his chin and Bosenbrook a shot in his neck; After toe shooting Kosenbrook walked half s mile, became weak and stopped at a friend’s house, where he lingered through the night and died early in the morning. Phillips retired to a friend's house, where he. lies badly wounded. His recovery is thought improbable.

THE BAD BOY.

“What are joe sitting there like s bump on a log for ?” asked the groceryman of the bad boy, as the youth had sat on a box for half an hour with his hands in his pockets, looking at a hole in the floor until his eyes were set like a dying hone. "What are yon thinking of, anyway? It seems to me boys set around and think more than they used to when I was a boy,” and the grooery man brushed the wilted lettuee and shook it, and tried to make it stand up stiff and crisp before he put it out doors, but the oontrary lettuce, which had been picked the day before, looked so tired that the boy noticed it. “That lettuce reminds me of a girl. Yesterday I was in here when it was new, like the girl going to the pionio, and it was as fresh, and proud, and starched up, and kitteny, and full of life, and as sassy as a girl starting out for a pionio. To-day it has got back from the picnic, and, like the girl, the starch is all taken out, and it is limber, and languid, and tired, and can’t stand up alone, and it looks as though it wanted to be laid at rest beside the rotten apples in the alley rather than be set out in front of a store to be sold to honest people and give them the gangrene of the liver,” and the boy put on a Health Commissioner air that frightened the grocery man, and he threw the lettuce out the back door. “You never mind about my lettuoe,” said the grocery man. M I can attend to my affairs. But now tell me what you thinking about here all the morning,” “I was thinking what a fool King Solomon was,” said the boy, with the air of one who has made a statement that has got to be argued pretty strong to make it hold water.

“Now look a-here,” said the grooeryman, in anger, “I have stood it to have yon play tricks on me, and have listened to your condemned foolishness without a murmur as long as yon have confined yourself to people now living, but when yon attack Solomon, the wisest man, the great King, and call him a fool, friendship ceases, and you must get ont of this store. Solomon in all his glory, is a friend of mine, and, no fool boy is going to abuse him in my* presence. Now you«dry up 1” “Sit down on the ice box,” said the boy to the grooery man. “What yon need is rest. You are overworked. Your alleged brain is equal to wilted lettuce, and it can devise ways and means to hide rotten peaohes under good ones, so as to sell them to blind orphans, but when it comes to grasping great questions, your small brain cannot comprehend them. Your brain may go up sideways to a great question, and rub against it, but it cannot surround it, and grasp it. That’s where you are deformed. Now, it is different with me. I can raise brain to sell to you grocery men. Listen. This Solomon is credited with being the wisest man, and yet history says he had a thousand wives. Just think of it You have got one wife, and pa has got one, and all the neighbors hawe one, if they have had any kind of luck. Does not one wife make you pay attention? Wouldn’t two wives break you up? Wouldn’t three cause you to see stars? How would ten strike yon? Why, man alive, you do not grasp the magnitude of the statement that Solomon had a thousand wives. A thousand wives, standing side by side, would reach about four blocks. Marching by fours it would take them twenty minutes to pass a given point. The largest summer resort hotel only holds about 500 people, so Sol would have had to hire two hotels if he took his wives out for a day in the country. If you would stop to think you would know more.” The grocery man’s eyes had begun to Btick out as the bad boy continued, as though the statistics had never been brought to his attention before, but he was bound to stand byhis old friend Solomon, and he said, “Well, Solomon’s wives must have been different from our wives of the present day.” “Not much,” said the boy, as he saw he was paralyzing the grocery man. “Women have been about the same ever since Eve. She got mashed on the old original dude, and it stands to reason that Solomon’s wives were no better than the mother of the human race. Statistics show that one woman ont of every ten is red-headed. That

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would give Solomon an even hundred red-headed wives. Just that hundred red-headed wives would lie enough to make an ordinary man think that there was a land that is fairer than.<£his. Then there would be, ont of the other 900, about 800 blondes, and the other 600 would be brunettes, and maybe he had a few albinos, and bearded women, and fat women, and dwarfs. Now, those thousand women had appetites, desires for dress and style, the same as all women. Imagine Solomon saying to them, ’Girls, let’s all go down to the ice-cream saloon and have a dish of ioe cream.’ Can yon, with your brain muddled with codfish and new potatoes, realize the soene that would follow? Suppose, after Soloman’B broom-brigade had got seated in the ioe-creamery, one of the red-headed wives should catch Solomon winking at a strange girl at another table. ¥ou may thmk Solomon did not know enough to wink, or that he was not that kind of a flirt, but he must have been or he oonld never have succeeded in marrying a thousand' wives, in a sparsely-settled country. No, sir, it looks to me as thongh-Solomon, in all his glory, was an old masher, and, from what I have seen of men being bossed around with one wife, I don’t envy Solomon his thousand. Why, just imagine that gang of wives going and ordering fall bonnets. Solomon would have to be a King *or a Vanderbilt to stand it. Mu wears $5 silk stockings, and pa kicks awfully when the bill comes in. Imagine Solomon putting up for a few thousand pair of silk stockings. I am glad yon will sit down and reason with me m a rational way about some of these Bible stories that take my breath away. The minister stands me off when I try to talk with him about snoh things, and tells me to study the parable of the Prodigal Son, and the deacons tell me to go and soak my head. There is darn little encouragement for a boy to try and figure out things. How would yon like to have a thousand redheaded wives come into the store this minute and tell you they wanted you to send carriages around to tbe house at 8 o’clock so they could go for a drive? Or .how would yon like to have a hired girl come rushing in and tell yon to send up 600 doctors, because 600 of your wives had been taken with cholera morbus ? Or " “Oh, don’t mention it,” said the grocer/ man, with a shudder. “I wouldn’t take Solomon’s place, and be the natural protector of 1,000 wives if anybody would give me the earth. Think of getting up in a cold winter morning and building 1,000 fires. Think of 2,000 pair of hands in a fellow’s hair! Boy, yon have shown me Solomon needed a guardian. He didn’t have sense.” “Yes,” says the boy, “and think of 2,000 feet, each one as oold os a brick of chocolate ice-cream. A man wonld want a back as big as the fence to a fair ground.- But I don’t want to harrow up ydur feelings. I must go and put some arnica on pa. He has got home, and says he has been to a summer resort on a vacation, and he is all covered with blotches. He says it is mosquito bites, but ma thinks he has been shot full of bird shot by some watermelon farmer. Ma hasn’t got any sympathy for pa because he didn’t take her along, but if she had been there she would have been filled with bird shot, too. But you musn’t detain me. Between pa and the baby I have got all 1 can attend to. The baby is teething, and ma makes me put my fingers in the baby’s month to help it ont teeth. That is a humiliating position for a boy as big as I am. Say, how many babies do you figure that Solomon had to buy rubber teetliing-rings for, in all his glory ?” And the boy went ont leaving the grocery man reflecting on what a family * Solomon must have had, and how' he needed to be the wisest man to get alon£ without a circus, afternoon and evening.— Peck's Sun.

You can hear the whistle of a locomotive 8,300 yards, the noise of a train 2,800 yards, the report of a musket and the bark of a dog 1,800 yards, the roll of a drum 1,600 yards, the croak of a frog 900 yards, and a cricket’s chirp 800 yards. In' the State of Mississippi only 1,236 women said their ages were 31, while no less than 10,619 declared they were jnst 30.