Evening star., 1898-07-23
Victim of Violence.

ticular spite, it would seem, on the part of
| o.d Aeoius, and it was perhaps owing to
tfat destructive hurricane and tidal wave
iE 1867, when we were negotiating for the
acquisition of the island. that our legisia-
tcrs changed their minds and voted against
its purchase. AT that time hundreds Of
houses We're leveied, and one of our war
ships swept high and dry ashore,
amidst the wreckage of warehouses and
dwellings.
The West Indians guard as much as pos
s'ble from the hurricanes by building their
ECus-s of stone, in the main, with massive
walls and providing strong bars for doors
end windows. When the barometer gives
notice of the approach of a storm these
bars are brought out and everything is at
once made fast. Doors and window shut
ters are closed. barred and double-locked
anG the town looks as 4 it were deserted
by all human beings. The state of sus-
penSe. while the hurricane RACES is simply
awful, for one knows when the house
| may fall and bury all beneath its ruins.
Add to this the bowling of the blasts the
crash OF falling trees, the piercing cries for
help from wounded and dying, and one may
| family picture the terrible scene. To VEN
ture out Is almost certain death. the air is
so filled with flying missiles such boards,
! branches OF trees, tiles, bricks and stones.
Dreadful viaitations.
Some hurricanes have passed into history
for their destructiveness and attendant loss
of human life. From the time of Columbus
to the present day West Indian chronicles
are replete with allusions to the dreadful
visitations. In the year I76G. for example,
the Island of Martinique was devastated by
hurricane that destroyed the dwelling OF
Josephine, the beautiful Creole who SUBJ
sequently became the wife of Napoleon.
She was then but three years old. but the
terrors of that dreadful storm were such
that she remembered it all through her
eventful life Josephine's house lev
eled to the ground. and her family
forced to take refuge in cave, an artificial
construction called "case-a-vent,' or hGr-
r1cane house. This is usually built into or
under the side of Il hill with walls of stone
several feet in thickness. and, far
PC Cssible, in a sheltered situation. The door
IS of thick plank, there are no windows,
and, as may be imagined, the air within,
If the storm last long, becomes most OPP
presslve. To such shelter fled the father
of Josephine, and for hours he and his
family remained in this living tomb, until
the force of the storm was passed, when
they emerged to witness the total desola-
ton Of their plantation. For ten years
thereafter this illustrious woman lived,
child, in the upper rooms or the old sugar
mill. the walls of which were standing a
few years ago.
"Twenty-e!ght French and seven English
vessels were wrecked during that storm,
besides scores of canoes and small craft.
Ninety persons perished under the ruins of
their own houses, and twice that number
were wounded in the capital, st. Pierre
acne"
Great Loss of Life.
In the year 1880, during hurricane in
the southern islands, French fleet con-
tanning sixty merchant vessels and trans
ports with 500 soldiers was wrecked, only
ten vessels escaping. Two British men-of-
war sank in the Mono passage, and 1t is
said that 5000 people perished, in Mar
Unique, St. Lucia and Jamaica. In 1SoS
the coast of Cuba was swept by hurri-
cane, and in the town of Sagua la Grande
alone 1,U00 persons periShed. In 1916 1,SI2
houses were demolished during a hurri-
cane and PIG vessels sunk
One of the most destructive hurricanes
occurred so recently as 1891 when the Is
land of Martinique was Frustrated by a
terrible tornado, fl ON the effects of which
it may never recover.
Early on the morning of the 18th of Au-
gust" writes the United States consul in
his report, the sky presented a leaden ap-
pearance, decidedly threatening, with oc-
casionai gusts of variable winds, mostly
from E. n. E The temperature was very
oppressive during the day. The barometer
varied only slightly. but little higher
than usual until afternoon, when it conf
menced to fall, at first gradually, then
very rapidly. 1t is stated by fishermen who
We're in the vicinity of Caravel Rock dn the
sea channeD that an immense wave about
hundred feet high passed from the direc-
ton of St. Lucia, closely followed by an
vicinity was quite calm at the time.
Made Clean Sweep.
THE storm struck the east side of the
island at about 6 pm, rushing through the
ravines with terrible force and destroying
everything in its path. On the elevated
plains the ruin was complete. One very
peculiar feature Of the hurricane was the
deafness experienced by every one during
the storm-possibly the result of the re-
h. 8 nreS rlU he
cyclone the wind veered from Z. n. Z. to
s. S. E., from the latter point being the
most destructive. During the storm there
were fnceSsant flashes of sheet lightning
unaccompanid by thunder, and immediate
ly after the storm there were two distinct
shocks of earthquake al intervals of about
five seconds. Early in September follow
ing visited La Trinte and noted that all
the way the destruction was most complete
the trees and all vegetation looking as
though there had been forest fire, al
though without the charred appearance
The sugar cane suffered least and the loss
with favorable weather, will not amount
TO more than one-ffth its normal value
The factories and distilIeries appear to have
been more completely destroyed than any
other property. The thermometer ranred
from 90 to 100 degrees during the storm.
and there was a deluge of rain one ac-
count stating that over four inches fell
in few hours that evening.
My own residence was unroofed and
flooded with water, as was the case with
nine-tenths of the buildings of St. Pierre.
and throughout the island. The loss of life
was comparatively small in the capital, but
large in the interior towns, notably in
Morne Rouge "a mountain resort back of
St. Pterre), where eight in one family alone
lost their lives The total loss Of life, SO
far as reliable information can be obtained,
was 100, and the loss of property was enor-
nous. All the fruit, the main reliance of
the laboring classes, was DESTROYED, and
prices of provisions at once advanced 300
per cent. Every vessel along the coast was
either wrecked or badly damaged about
fifty sail in all. The scene the island pre-
sents would be difficult to describe, and the
Inhabitants are sorely stricken and demor-
allied. Such night of terror the imagina-
ton can scarcely picture
Personal Reco11ections.
This account, valuable from being an Of
fetal report by an eyewitness, the writer
Of this article can attest as being authentic
and moderate in its description, as I was
at the island within four months of the oc-
currence, and saw the effects Of that ter
ribie storm. in the hundreds of un-sefed
dwellings and the alrnost, ,totar destruction
Of 1the shade and forest trees.
During residence in the West Indies of
several years I experienced but two hur-
rfcanes. but have no desire to extend my