the portland daily press (portland, me.) 1862-1921 — sulphur smell
- Date of account
- Newspaper page published 1886-07-13
- Location
- portland, maine, united states
- Source
- Chronicling America paranormal and anomalous-report excerpts
- Reference
- the portland daily press (portland, me.) 1862-1921 · 1886-07-13 · page 1
- Rights
- public_domain
- Language
- English OCR
- Record updated
- 2026-08-24
Record summary
A 1886-07-13 newspaper page contains wording relevant to “sulphur smell”. This is historical reporting or commentary preserved by the Library of Congress; it is not treated as verification that the described event occurred.
Published source text
Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.
Source passage
Source text · mention only... the dust emitted a strong sulphuric smell. Numerous small villages were totally destroyed. Wairoa was covered to a depth of 10 feet with dust and Clauca· XVlVUliUUiaiKtau nuu W gulfed as were also several other small vil lages. Twenty-one persons are known to have lost their lives, among whom were sev eral English residents. The number of cattle starved to death on account of the destruc tion of pasture land is very large and great distress exists throughout the Auckland lake district. One old Maori chief, Ratama, was dugout alive after having been buried in ashes 21 hours. Every effort was made to save the lives of others but in most eases where bodies were ...
Historical context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyThis OCR excerpt may mix reporting, humour, folklore, syndicated copy, editorial comment and witness claims. Newspaper title, date and original page remain available for source-critical reading.
Modern context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyLattice can compare reported features across periods while preserving uncertainty, OCR limitations and the possibility of conventional explanation, exaggeration, copying or satire.
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