A Japanese Horror.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 12, 14 January 1914, Page 5

A Japanese Horror.

OUTBREAK OF A VOLCANO.

"SAKURASHIMA IN FLAMES.

INHABITANTS PURSUED BY LAVA STREAMS.

BIG SEAPORT TOWN DESERTED.

[By Electric Telegraph—Copyright] LUnited Press Association. 1 (Received 9.0 a.m.) Tokio, 'January 13. The first eruption of Sakurashima occurred on Saturday morning. Enormous blocks of stone were thrown 2700 feet in the air, and some were carried a distance of twenty * miles.

Streams of lava overwhelmed three villages, killing many. The remainder fled in boats to Kagoshima, but the fire spread across the bay to the mainland.

Further eruptions carried the lava to Kagoshima, which was ignited. The inhabitants fled, but hundreds perished. The refugees crowded the freight trains leaving for the north, and by the evening Kagoshima was deserted. The sole occupant was a plucky telegraph official, who telegraphed yesterday that the whole place was covered with ashes and smoke, and that* earthquakes were increasingly horrible. *

Further reports show that Sakurashima is in continuous eruption, and is now enveloped in flames.

ACTIVE AFTER 130 YEARS.

THOUSANDS PERISH.

(Received 12.10 p.m.) Tokio, January 13. The Sakurashima volcano has been dormant for 130 yeajrs.

The island, which contained 10,000 inhabitants, is now unapproachable. Fugitives state that half the population perished.

(Japan is noted for the number of its volcauoes. There are slight earthquake tremors daily perceptible only by instruments; several severe shocks occur yearly; and at intervals of from 40 to 5"0 years there comes a terrible catastrophe, causing widespread destruction. One of these occurred at Yedo in 1855 and another at Nagoya in 1891, while over 27,000 people perished in the Sanriku upheaval of 1896. Destructive "tidal waves," produced by submarine earthquakes, are frequent. All these seismic movements may be largely traced to the fact that the shores on the side of the Pacific Ocean are slowly rising, while those bordering on the Sea of Japan are sinking.)

Kagoshima is a town and seaport of Japan, on the south of the island of Kiusiu, near the head of a harbour 40 miles long and 12 miles wide. The population is over 50,000.