A Night of Horrors.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XX, Issue 144, 18 June 1886, Page 2

A Night of Horrors.

Auckland, June 14. Mr Mcßae, hotelkeeper, states : — A'.ou' 2 30 a.m. the earth began to shake, and shook continuously for an hour before the eruption hroke out. When this was fir.-t son it was just like a small cloul on the mountain, with flashes of lightning of great brilliancy. Ail were got out of bed und we went up to the old Mission Station to ascertain th-i c;ui»e of the occurrence, and we th-n saw a sight that no man who saw it c_n ever forget. Apparently ibo mountain had three craters, and tbe flames were shooting up fully a thousand feet high, and there seemed to be a continuous shower of balls of fire for miles around. As a storm appeared to ho coming on wo returned t> the hotel, aud .-borily afterwards what seemed to he heavy hailstones eatne pouring on tbe roof, which continued for about a qu irter of an hour. This was succeeded by a t* «ll of heavy stones. and fire balls, mud nud lava, f.-diiug after the manner of rain. The weight, of th-BP. substances upon the roof soon began to 'ell upon it. The first portio » that gave way was the detached kitchen and pmtry, aud then we all collected in the smoking room. Those pr. sent were, Mr and Mrs Humphries, Minne it of the Terrace Hotel, Mr Siubbe, a gentleman staying at the Terraces hotel. Mr Bainbridge, a young t juris-, F.llon, a storekeeper, George Baker, Cook, Mary Kean, Mary Bridan, and John and William Bird, my brothers in law, one of whom arrived on the previous night from Rotorua with a waggon load of goods. There were also some Ma::ri* in the houße. The roof of the hotel gave way about half past four with a loud cri«h, and the whole upper storey collapsed, the debris falling into the rooms klow, We left the smoking room and went into the drawing room, which, as i r . was tho urwest part of the hoa?e, s\e thought would stand the longt st, but it was with th<- greatest difficulty that we got there, going through falling stones and mud which impeded us when we went outside. Everybody without exception was cool and self-po.-s esed. The hack part of the house iv which was the dining room gave away n xt, and all of the sf-ttlers heard a fearful crash and a roar as if a tbousind tons of stuff were falling, and we heard the balcony come down. The danger of our position was now perfectly apparent. Mr Bainbridge remarked on the fact, and suggested that we should engage in a religious service. He remarked with awful calmness that he expected to be before his Maker in an hour or so. We acquiesced, and Mr Bainbridge read a portion of Scripture and said a prayer in which we all fervently joined. At the same time we agreed that we should make an effort to save ourselves, and with this object we determined to leave the hotel and make for the first Maori whare we saw standing. At this time there was a terrific gale, and the hot stones and mud were still descending incessantly. We agreed to stick together. Mr and Mrs Humphries aud Mr Bainbridge went out first, and I and the two girls followed with the rest. It was then so dark that we could not see our hands before us, and we directed our way by instinct, calling to one another frequently to ascertain our relative positions. One of the men, myself, and two girls arrived at Sophia's whare, where we found that Mr and Mrs Humphries, Minnett, Stubbs, Bainbridge, and Baker were missing. In a shower of stones and mud I went out to try and find where they were. I found Baker against a tree and took him to the whare and went back to find the others. I found Stubbs and Minnett, who, having groped about for some time returned to the drawing-room. I directed them to the whare and then went towards Wharepuni. My delight was great when I heard the voice of Mr Humphries answering my shout. He and his wife were making for the carved house, and they reached there and remained all night. I went back to the whare looking for _>ain bridge but could get no answer, and I have not seen him since. My belief is that he was stunned by the falling stones and buried under the mud, which now lies five feet deep all over the settlement, covering everything up. At half past six I got a candle in a bottle and went up to the residence of Hazard and family. It was still pouring mud and stones and I was knocked down three or four times. I had previously been struck down many times when looking after the others. When I reached the school residence I found the two eldest daughters, a maori girl, Mr Blythe, the Government Surveyor, and his assistant Lundon sheltering in the fowl house. The others were under the lee part of the house, the wall of which was standing. The house was in ruins and in flames. I could see no sign of Mr or Mrs Haszard and the other children. I took the party down to Sophia's whare, and thence, as soon as a glimpse of daylight came, which was about 8 o'clock, all the party with the exception of John Bird and myself started for Rotorua. We looked again for Bainbridge and made search for Mr and Mrs Haszard, but were unsuccessful and we then collected the horses and started for Ohinemutu. When we got a couple of miles on the road we met Humphries, Minnett, and Blythe returning with Douglas and Constable Maroney who had ridden from Rotorua. We all returned to Wairoa and commenced to dig for the bodies of Haszard, and to our great astonishment found Mrs Haszard alive. Two children were found dead beside her, but she was not greatly injured. We continued operations until we were quite exhausted, but found no more bodies. We carried Mrs Haszard to Sophia's whare, and applied restoratives, brandy and port wine, which were the only things we could get. [From various sources.]