The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-06-15


ing and one or two injured men, the
coal was thrown on the boilers, and
the fireman gave instructions TO Jones
as to what to do with the valves 10
start the engine. With the captain
at the wheel ii was started. Jones got
some -four and sprinkled it over the
raw surfaces of the living men; then
he put sweet oil and a coat OF four
on the captains burns, while the ship
headed for st. Lucia. Three or four
men died of their hurts and the shock
on the way Other bodies were thrown
overheard. to rid the ship of the un-
bearable stencil of burnt flesh. About
sunset they reached st. Lucia, where
al were taken to hospital. There were
no upper works left upon the Roddam
except the chartroom.
What did you Think" Jones was
asked by my friend the prospector.
Il thought God had saved me. 1 was
calling on him, sir, to save me and he
did"
DO you know that you were one Of
a very few to come unhurt out OF
place where 10000 or more were kill
ed?" l inquired.
Il do-by kilograms. I don't be-
lieve that any one in the town es
capped; 1 don't see how they could es-
cape. it was so sudden"
Said the cynical -prospector.
who had had close relations with fever
and death up the Orinoco river: do
you mean to say that God singled out
you, and Fleming, and the English
captain, and half-a-dozen others on
another ship as the only persons to be
saved out of 40,000?"
1--WE We're saved, and God saved US.
When 1 went on deck the captain said,
We are in Gods hands; but we will
do what we can. Go down and see If
you can run the engine The soles
of the firemen's feet had dropped off,
but 1 lugged him below, and he told
me what to do. The captain was talk
ing of God all the time. 1 had, here
in Grenada, a wife and eleven chill
dren, for whom He preserved me. No
one will be a better man than l here
after"
You did much toward saving the
ship" the prospector went on, calcu-
latingly What did the company do
for your"
"The cmpany was very decent, sir.
They paid me my wages for all the
time 1 was aboard ship responded
the negro, gratefully. They knew 1
had a large family. The captain
praised me, and the agent wrote to
London"
What were your wages"
Sixty cents a day, sir"
looked at the prospector, expecting
to see him show the only outward sign
of sympathy which is natural to him
give the man some silver and tell him
to go and buy a drink. Instead, he
said: Everybody in the tropics is a
liar. Always remember that"
But no man would lie after passing
alive through what Jones has"
We went TO the hospital, when David
are being cared for. Watts story is
credited as the most exact. This was
his experience at the first eruption:
Watts Plain Tale.
He saw huge rosy balls shoot up
from Mont Pelee; simultaneously, a
quarter of a mile distant from the
crater, the land opened and spat out
fire. This latter flame increased in
size, and ran down upon sugar fac
. tory, engulhng it, and overwhelming
the cable-ship Grappler in the harbor
Watts lied down into the hold with
Yudie Jones and Fleming and Pig.
where they stayed till the sulphur
fumes had almost suffocated them. He
saw a seaman trying to climb to the
deck and tried to give him a boost
The mans legs, when he touched
them, crumbled in his hands, and the
another man to give him a drink. but
the man was dead, and Watts hand
sunk into his body. After the fierce
white heat, men were turned to pale
ash, and though they held their hui
man form, like the ash on the end Of
good cigar, disintegrated at a touch
or sudden jar. Going on deck for air
he found corpses half covered with
lava. There were shrieks from men
CT Of I'd ;o hA
water many were crying out in agony,
clinging to life uoys. They had jump
ed to water to escape burning, but the
water was boiling-those who jumped
were boiled to death. So great was the
temperature of the air that the anchor
chain was heated red, and stretched
and snapped easily when the tidal
wave came.
Character of People Saved.
When this recital was finished 1
knew it was all right, for the prospec-
tors hand went slyly down into his
pocket and then conveyed something
to the palm of the bandaged black
man on the cot.
Soon afterward we saw Fleming, an
unhurt survivor. He. could add very
happened at Martinique, and we asked:
Did Yudie Jones run the engine to
port?"
NO" he declared. THE fireman ran
the engine; we lifted him about, as his
feet were burned off. Jones does not
know how to speak the truth. He
comes of a common family. Two of
his brothers are in Jail"
This was true. The Joneses for gen.
erations have been lawless and dis
| reputable people, so the Scotch minis
| ter told us.
80" remarked the prospector, zone
of the attendant marvels of the catas-
| trophe is the character of the persons
not destroyed The only one saved in
the town was a convicted felon in pris-
on; in the harbor there was Jones, who
was shown the gates of hell, yet can
come back and remain a liar. And
yet, at yesterdays memorial service,
ths Anglican rector's text was Sodom
and Gomorrah, and he said that the
| disasters at Martinique and St. Vim
cent were heavens visitations on the
sinful"
$2S.4O