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IBOONE COUNTY BOYTells of Some Tfcrillisg ExperiencesIn the Philippines-Saasel H. Shera tries to Take a Teep Is a Vofcaeoe aid Has as CxcUisg Tisi Goes 800 Yards Too Close.Ij“Samuel M. Shera, who joined the regular army and left here six yearsago for the Philippines writes home an interesting account of his visit to the Taal volcano. Mr. Shera is a son of James Shera, living at Ward, and was previous to his departure from Lebanon, for two years a student in the local high school. He has been out oi the army for two years and is at present in the photographing busluess in the Philippines. His letter is addressed from S. F. de Mala bon. Cavite, and bears date of December 27, 1903. It is written to bis brother Ben Shera, a student in high school here, and narrates the trip to the yolcauo as follows:“To begin with I’ll quote a few lines from a history of the Phillipines: ‘Taal volcano is about 40 miles south of Manila. It has been active fromtime immemorial. There were five eruptions during the 18th century. In 1754, during the worst eruption, the town of Taal sank into the lake. Property fifteen miles away was entirely destroyed, and flying cinders fell in Manila. The eruption lasted eight days. The inhabitants of Manila dined at midday with lighted lamps and thought the end of the world had come. Smell of Bulphur lasted six months. Malignant fever followed carrying off half the inhabitants oi the province (Batangas.) During the last eruption the Volcano blew off its bead and now stands less than 900 feet in height—the lowest actiye volcano in the world.*“The volcano is on a small island in the center of Lake Bom bon, a fresh body of water about 12 miles square.teMmttetrthrTiiHitke is Taal river which empties Into a sto?1* bay along the China sea. I could ge*but one soldier to go with me as the lJU1 cav* airy was haying field exercises ,anlt;* the captain could spare no more mPD* We hired an Indian to carry our luff’ gage which consisted of two cameras. two loaves of bread, two umbrellas and two canteens of water. Starting from San Tomas on the public highway, we had to follow a muddy trail a distance of eight miles to the shore of the lake. There we stopped over night at a small barrio and hired a party of Indians to take ns across the lake the following day.“We arrived at the volcano island the next morning at eight o*clock and, after securing two guides—a few people inhabit the place—we commenced our ascent. It was in the neighborhood of ten o'clock when we reached the top and beheld the volcano. There it was, several hundred feet below ut, shooting up great volumes of smoke and roaring Itke an ao-p roachIng storm. The crater is at the bottom of a circular bowl, probably a mile wide, with perpendicular walls several hundred feet in height. In order to view the crater at short range It is necessary to descend to tne bottom of the bowl.“Now, it was my ambition to walk up to the edge of the crater, peep over Into it, stick my camera down a few feet and take a picture. But I’ll have to admit that upon first viewing the volcano from the topr my ambition took a back seat. When we told our guides it sas onr intention to go to the bottom they held up both hands and exclaimed: ‘Mucho smoke, mucbo smoke, masama, masama.’ It is true there was a great deal of •moke and we had been instructed to be careful as It-would suffocate one in a very few minutes.“After reaching ^ place wherejdes-ceot could be made, we watched the •moke for some time and soon discovered that the current, kept it go lug in one direction. So we decided to descend and trust to the god of wlnds.QAs the walls of the bowl are almost perpendicular, the bottom of course, is nearly as wide at the top. In the bottom and about the center la the Crater. Around this are two large boiling pools of water, lava and hills, ranging from fifty to two bun-red feet la height. J .lTbe guides set up a bowl about deacendibg and when at the bottoi they refute# point., blank to ahow m: aroeud. = WhropHed that ws wouldiFTvBrisworth. Some ot my courage returned, as it did pot look so bad from the bottom as it had from the top. We tried to approach the crater from one direction but were driven brek by the smoke. The only route left open was to' walk around the side of the bowl and take the direction the wind was blowing. In order to do this we had to cross a large field of soft lava. We did not knowlt;ait was lava at the time—in fact we did not know what lava looked like. But we thought if other people had peeped into the crater surely we could do the same thing.“The soldier did not seem much concerned and struck boldly out, but I had a ‘sneaking idea* that from the hollow sound under our feet, we were not on very safe ground. Having a long stick in my hand I jobbed it through an inch of crust and sand and was horrified to discoyer that be neath was a soft, white sqbstance not much thicker than water. There seemed to be no bottom—at last I could not reach it with the stick. It did not take me long to turn about and advance with eaBy, quick steps to the rear. Upon reaching a place of safety, I yelled at the soldier to come back and step lightly. When I told him that wp were on thin ice he said: “Aw you’re bluffed.” I had to admit that I was.“We went farther around the side of the bowl ahd tried crossing where the crust seemed to be thicker. The soldier went first and occasionally gave the cruet a vicious kick to see if he could break through. When he was two-thirds of the way over he called back that it was all right and I advanced with cautious, cat-like steps, fearifift every one would be my last. We reached the center of the bowl O. K. We wege now between the two boiling lakes, with the crater a few hundred feet farther on. It was getting time tor me to commence taking some of the pictures I had long boaBted I could take with a camera on a tripod. I scorned using a kodak. While setting up my camera, thinking my footing -was at least good and strong, I broke through a soft, sandy loam and steam commenced to blow out, singing like a tea-kettle full of boiling water.“Our main object in trying to reach the center was to peep into the grater. I don’t know how the soldier fflt, but I was beginning to feel decidedly uncomfortable and only a little* fluttering courage left. We approached to within fifty feet of the crattr t'fcteh wa* blowing out smokeand ttam wlth great violence. I had nodesire to go further. Peeping down irit° the k°le and taking a picture was'cn*lrcly Not sowith theas the next one and jumping down from a little pmbankment where we stood he strode boldly forward and had advanced* about ten steps when he broke through the cru»t of lava. He had the presence of mind to throw out his arms oq either side and thereby saved hlmseU from going under.Ed1inLaciihacoUDcoNlt;thbrlisW2CawctbMiWEsa.Mipllthwceu;foim;byintounreifedeonsalmelalthiinjLuJogrve;to1th*anfifihehapo!rojei|roiNeth!tiohemjI was unfastening the camera tothrow him the tripod, bat in someway he managed to*scramble out. He Indignantly exclaimed that if anyone told him about taking a peep into the crater, be would call him a liar.“With the crater in front of us, a boiling lake on either side, a field of laya behind us, the smoke to watch and a possible chance of an eruption —Oh, yes, I thought of ail these things quite seriously. I got one picture at that place and fled. It took us about ah hour to get back to our blace of ascent. There we' stopped to have a drink but we found that tbe Indian who had been carrying our canteens had drank the last drop, although be 8tontly denied, it. There was no drinking water nearer than three hours hard ‘hiking’ and we would haye enjoyed so much giving him the ‘water cure’ then and there“The soldier was standing the trip much better than I. We had already tramped* about ten miles and I was getting ‘dead tired*. My rate of speed out of tbe bowl was to take ten steps and rest twenty minutes.. The soldier reached the top before I was fairly started. Then he commenced to jeer me about being down there. He spoke of the breese and said he h»d found a clear spring of water. This was encouraging I must say. He keptop pitying me and jumping about until be succeeded In jarring loose rook Which came crashing down in my direction. Of course1 Imagined It was making airtight^ for me Add fold domn aod mite up. The rock struck the side of the cliff somewhere andmethlt;grsheheor;WO)meWlt;souttuI lt;Thfor iha a rlt; tha son wi'sue Job Pa’ you pic ihe 4 twocarUthathrlt;thlineckeedanyoubellNo*dopklttofiaftiwant staging oner m* hdndr Theatre soldier tfaftugbt it a huge
Newspaper Details
Lebanon Patriot
Lebanon, Indiana, US
Thu, Feb 18, 1904
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Lebanon P.
Indiana, USA 30 Mar 2018
Other Publications Near Lebanon, Indiana
The Boone County Ledger
Lebanon Boone County Pioneer
Lebanon Daily Reporter
Lebanon Daily Herald
Lebanon Patriot
