The great loss of life was due to the vast fall of
ashes, which crushed in hundreds of roofs and buried
the occupants within the ruins of their homes.
In all the neighboring towns buildings were destroyed
in great numbers, an early estimate being that fully
5,000 houses had been partly crushed or utterly destroyed.
On the Ottajano side of the mountain, where the ashes
fell in greatest profusion, all the houses of the
villages were damaged, and Ottajano itself was left
a wreck, several hundred dead bodies being taken from
its ruins. In Naples the ash fall was so incessant
that those who could afford it wore automobile coats,
caps and goggles, while the people generally sought
to save their eyes and faces by the aid of paper masks
and umbrellas. The drivers of trolley cars were
obliged to wear masks of some transparent material
under the vizors of their caps.
There were two special disasters attended by serious
loss of life. On the 9th, while a congregation
of two hundred or more were attending mass in the
church at San Giuseppe, the roof crushed in from the
weight of ashes upon it and fell upon the worshippers
below, few or none of whom escaped unhurt. Fifty-four
dead bodies were taken from the ruins and a large
number were severely injured. The Mayor of the
town was dismissed from his office for leaving his
post of duty in the face of danger.
The second disaster, one of the same character, took
place at Naples. This was on Tuesday, April 10th.
Just previous to it the people had been marching in
religious processions through the streets, to render
thanks for the apparent cessation of the activity
of Vesuvius. Motley but picturesque processions
were these, headed by boys carrying candles, which
burned simply in the full sunshine and bearing aloft
images of the Madonna or saints, clad in gorgeous
robes of cheap blue or yellow satin. Their joy
was suddenly changed to grief by tidings of a frightful
disaster. The roof of the Monte Oliveto market,
fronting on the Toledo, the main thoroughfare, had
suddenly crushed in, burying more than 200 people
beneath its heavy fall.
The market had been crowded with buyers and their
children, and it was the busiest hours of the day
in the great roofed courtyard, covering a space 600
feet square, when, with scarcely a tremor of warning,
there came a frightful crash and a dense cloud of
dust covered the scene, from out of which came heartrending
screams of agony. The volcanic ash which, unnoticed,
had gathered thickly on the roof, had broken it in
by its weight.
