The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-06-10

1 "4-Sl lAr+ AIi0eEloOk the burning OF TIE
| dead Piles of half-consumeG faggots.
now almost buried beneath the ashes OF
May %. mark their progress through the
city, and they have done amazingly well.
II IS only in rare instances. in the Rue
Percee. for example. that one comes upon
a prye which still holds an undestroyed
body. There are three in the prye OF the
Rue Percee.
At the end of the Rue Percee house
wall rises as a barrier. and II is neces-
sary to crawl through cluttered door
way 10 make progress northward The
building thus entered was undoubtedly a
| tinware shop. for countless tin platters.
kitchen utensils, and battered cups are
| banked high in one corner and sprinsIed
| with dust. In the only adjoining rooms
| are a pair of grccers' scales, a sewing
machine, and a tangle of piano wires:
! three feet beyond the threshold is the
| head of a china doh. One brush with
! the coatsleeTe and the hectic cheeks the
perpetually blue eyes. and the mathe-
matically penciled eyelashes are revealed
combined in persistently inappropriate
smile We prop it upon wall for some
one else TO find. and turn toward the
! harbor through the Petite Rue de Versal-
| les. Once this street bore the name OF
Empress Josephine; Martinique so low
ingly treasures the romance Of this beau
tful woman it is strange the name vas
ever changed.
Behind Us. on the slopes Of Morne Par
nasse. are the gray-brown ashes OF the
! Jardin des Plantes. at one time one of the
most luxuriant natural gardens in the
world. Mans handiwork there had been
turned TO aid Nature. not 10 mortify her
nor supplant her and by far the greater
| part OF the gardcrs was as she intended
i II 10 be. Much has been written OF the
glory OF these gardens. Of their cool. frag-
rant twilight into which one might step
| from the binding glare OF MONDAY. As
We look back upon the rising ground
which held this natural elfin-land the
ground is bare. utterly bare. the tangle
| Of tropical vegetation. the riot Of frond-
! ed. branching. creeping. swaying green.
has been withered to dust and showered
upon the ground which bore it, Water
falls are dry. their basins dust-beds; the
Jardin des Plantes is scared hillside.
and once a man would have spent week
hewing his way through 1t.
The Riviere Roxelane, of the River Of
which you viii, is on our right as We face
the harbor. its bed mud-gorged. Under
the shadow of the military wall is a
masonry bridge which rises several feet
above the mud mass and has not. there
fore, been carried away. The river bed
below is filed with crusted, putty-colored
mud. which rises TO the second stories
Of the houses along it's sides and extends
from house-line to house-line. more than
fifty feet. Its depth varies from thirty
FIVE to forty feet. The walls which line
it here. the walls upon which strangers
and idlers. used TO lean TO watch the
black washerwomen ply their interesting.
If somewhat destructive, trade are not 10
be seen. The story of the northern part
of the city is the story of the southern
part. save that in the north. toward the
Riviere des Pers and Fonds Core and the
Riviere Blanche and the site OF the Gurin
sugar factory the mud-fiow is~the most
pronounced destructive agent Beyond
the Riviere des Peres and the distilHeries
which occupied its southern bank the
view is across sticky mud-felds. from
which great fumes Of vapor continuously
arise to the parched. sun-swept slopes of
Mont Pelee.
We stand for a time gazing about US
and wondering. 1 speak for myself at
least. at the sublime wantonness Of the /
destruction. Not one moments chance
for fight has been accorded these thous- |
ands. as they stood or walked or lay at !
ten minutes before o'clock on the morn !
ing OF May S. The city rested in the hal |
low Of a rock hand. in a cul-de-sac: had
It been founded thus TO be destroyed, its
site could not have been better chosen /
The horror which filed the the hearts Of /
the people when the blast swept down /
upon them is beyond understanding The /
mind fills with an inefable sympathy in I
contemplation of that morning.
We have turned TO one another. and |
are deploring the heat. and thinking Of (
the time oday. when a series OF short
booming blasts reach our ears. First our /
eyes sweep across the blue harbor TO the /
Potomac and the steam Ruttering from /
her whistle. and then, instinctivsly. 10 I
Mont Pelee. which. during the last hour T.
we have entirely ignored. The white 4
cloud above the crater has increased IN i
volume, and is blue-black and threaten /
ing below; it looks like a thunder-cIoud 1
with its head in the sunshine The black i
under-side pillows sway horizontally and 4
grow deDser every nomen. Down the
slopes OF the mountain innumerabIe :
vapor jets perforate the gray crust. one
appears and spurts upward. another APP
pears a few yards below IT, and another
below that. and yet another as a cavern
&C dragon. digging its way 70 the sea.
might thrust forth its nose 10 expel its
steaming breath. The dimness which.
during the early Dart Of the day had
hung like a veil below the cioud-clap.
has become bluer and less transparent
Pelees wrath Is rising; the mud-rivers
are sending up their gray vapors Rain.
traceless in the dust. begins 20 fall
All this we see 10 a hasty. comprehend
ing glance. and then. without word. we
turn and run. run like all-possessed The
Potomac seems miles away. with iaby-
rinth betwixt It and us. We had been
long time reaching our last coien u van
tage, but fleming volcano. an especially \
uncertain volcano. Is an unparalleled ir-
centive 70 great speed. How re Eos from /
house 10 house. from street 20 street. f.
mainly - gravity. The whistling II TIE
Potomac continues. and on We dash. now
losing sight = one another. now hignder-
Ing into a street from which there r. NJ
egress. lespinE hack again. failing.
scramhIing up. plunging on once az We
run IN Indian file along wal. W see
sight which. under other conitcors
would b. ridiculous. u may ~ described
3s TIE flight extraordinary from TIRE
-uias y s. Pierre IN every part q THE
city there are Httle figures. sorue white