, 1880-02-14

The uSt. Thomas Times" reprints an ac-
colnt of the food from the st. Christopher
Gazette of 9th Jan. from which we take
the following extracts:
.The weather had been wet during the
week previous, and a good deal Of rain had
fallen at intervals, when on Sunday the
18th. the Barometer was observed to fall
remarkably low, and had it been the hurrl-
cane season some apprehensions might
have been felt, but, as it was not, no regard
was Maid to it. About sunset on that eve
ming. a meteor of extraordinary size and
brilliancy was seen to fall, and after burst
ing into myriads of sparks, there renamed
in the place where it appeared what seemed
to be q luminous column for a considerable
time-these no doubt were indications OF
the coming catastrophe.
Shortly before midnight, rain commenced
to fall in a constant and heavy down pour,
almost deafening, and Ill less than two
hours after torrents OF water, SAID to have
been ten feet deep in places, suddenly
rushed down from the surrounding noun
tains. converging as they approached the
Town of BaSseterre into a focus, sweeping
along massive stone walls, trees, houses
and everything else with irresistible force
to the sea. The suddenneSS OF the APP
proach of this fearful torrent gave no
time to the unhappy people who hved III
houses lying within its course, to escape !;
it was not a gradual, or even a rapid rise OF
water, as happens in England or on the
Continent sometimes, but the accumulated
water pent up no doubt and temporarily
Obstructed in the mountain gorgeS, sudden
Nv burst forth with overwhelming force
upon the devoted Town in a concentrated
volume, hurting huge boulders against
houses, overturning some, and Whlrliilg
others with the people In them through the
Street in it's rapid course towards the Sea.
The night being pitch dark rendered the
horrors more APPALLING, and the chance OF
escape still less probable. The piercing
screams of m and children as they
were hurried along to their doom by the
raging waters was truly heartrending, and
ali the moro so because it was beyond
human power to render them any assist
ance. In some places, houses were seen
rushing past with lights burning, and the
people in them screaming for help. With
the approach of daylight, the rain stopped
falling, and the flow of water abated; but
what a fearful spectacle did the Town Of
BasSeterre and the adjacent plantations
present on that dismal morning! All
seemed wreck and ruin, and the wailing
and lamentations of those who had lost
their family and friends, and in hundreds
of cases all that they possessed, was enough
to thrill the ~stoutest heart. Husbands
seeking their lost wives, and wives their
husbands, parents their children, and help
less babes their parents, none knowing
whether their lost and loved ones were
buried in the heaps of ruins OF had been
washed out to sea. The beach was strewn
with corpses, washed from their beds in
the dead of the night, many without cloth
ing, and others with but what they had
slept in. The sight was horrible in the
extreme. Added to this it was hardly pos
sible to move about in the Town except on
foot, for the streets were blocked up with
houses, or parts of houses, which appeared
to have been suddenly stopped In their
way to the sea by meeting with some OBJ
struction or by the subsistence of the water
and there were large heaps of ruins and
debris each covering more or less Of man.
gled bodies which have since been recov-
cred.
TheIe are numerous cases related. of hair
breadth escapes, but one marvellous pre-
Pervation from death is worthy Of note.