The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-05-17
SCOFFED AT THE WARNING.
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I'm the morning we saw the French
cruiser Suchet. and went near the
shore. The ashes became dense as we
approached and many dead bodies
were floating on the sea. They were
burnt and swollen and floating in
groups. in some cases of ten each. The
dead hands were knitted and the limbs
were cramped.
Rain Of Ashes.
Nearly all the bodies were those Of
white persons. AS we approached St.
Pierre we saw the town was covered
with ashes. We then joined the cruiser
Suchet and the cable repair ship Pou-
yer-Quertier and together went toward
lie Precheur. The rain of ashes was
heavy, and shrouded the Suchet. As
soon as the atmosphere cleared up and
we ran close to lie Precheur and then
to HameaU des Sabines The boats
from all three ships were put over
board. and the rescue of people from
the shore commenced at II o'clock in
the morning. We were all covered with
gray ashes, our eyes We're weeping and
the heat was intolerable. Some of the
negroes came to us in small boats.
they were nearly naked and some of
them were laughing while Others. We're
crying Some of them carried chairs
with them, while others brought dogs
and kittens as all their property. Their
WoOlly hair was thick with ashes Sew
eral big pans on board our ship were
filled with cooked food and placed on
deck; they were soon surrounded by a
crowd Of chattering natives
Negroes Jump Into the Sea.
1.-THE negroes were all saved by
o'clock in the afternoon except a few
who refused to leave the land At this
hour the Suchet signaled the opera
ton is over; thank you The Suchet
then steamed away in the direction of
Fort de France. But our boats had
not yet all returned to the ship.
we were still waiting for the last
one when there was a tremendous re-
port from the crater of Mont Pelee,
quickly followed by a second report.
These explosions caused great excite
ment on shore and our last boat re-
turned to us bringing the remainder
of the negroes, including those who
had previously refused to leave They
had been frightened by the reports and,
jumping into the sea, had swum out to
the boat.
we saved bUU people from the north
side, where, on account Of the wind,
there were not so many ashes. We
take great pride in the fact that the
Danish flag was the first foreign one
at the scene Of the disaster. We pro-
ceeded to Fort de France and landed
there the people we had rescued, as
well as some provisions. At the latter
port a government official came on
board the Valkyrien and thanked us
all for what we had done. The Suchet
returned to st. Pierre and secured the
gold from the Bank of Martinique. The
coins had melted together.
Last Wednesday. May IA. the Off
GERS of our ship attended mass at Fort
de France, and we left there to return
here the same day. We passed st.
Pierre at noon. The British steamer
Roraima was still burning; she ap-
peared 10 be aground. Mont. Pelee was
still smoking. and the town of St.
Pierre now resembles Pompen. We
saw a blackened wreck which we
thought to be the cable repair ship
Grappler.
1T is estimated that the volcanic
dust from Mont Pelee was thrown
seven miles into the air.