The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-05-16
DEATH and DESOLATI0N
4 Description of the Scene Wit
messed by Those Visiting the Is
land Three Days after the Erup-
tion-Dead Bodies Everywhere.
Houses all Gone-The Place Cow
cred with the Horrible Mass
Thrown up by the NO1cano-The
Stencil SicLening-How the De-
%ructio wa Wrought.

dated May 11II, from Consul Ayne, dl
GuadeIoupe, who went to Fort de
France, Martinique, by instructions
from this government:
The disaster is complete. The city
is wiped out. Consul Prentis and his
family are dead. The governor says
thirty thousand have persisted, $4,000
are homeless and hungry. He suggests
tina the Red Cross be asked to send
Goldfish, flour, Leans, rice, salt, meats
and biscuits Us quickly as possible.
Visits of wal vessels are valuable"
An important feature of Consul
Ayme's cablegram is the reference by
him to the governor as an authority
for the estimate of the loss of life. Pre-
ceding dispatches, including the official
messages received at the French colo
NAL office in Paris, reported tht there
was no doubt tht Gov. Mouttet. as
we'll as Colonel Dain, the military COM
mander at st. Pierre, had persisted.
Fort de France, Island of Martinique.
May 12.-It now seems to be generally
admitted that about 10000 persons los.
their lives as 4 result of the outbreak
of the Mont Pelee volcano. at ST.
Pierre. on Thursday last. Careful in
vestigations BY competent government
officials show the earlier reports Of the
Associated Press were accurate.
Briefly put: Last Thursday morn
ing the city OF ST. Pierre disappeared
within ton F1oJpItac in n ub;r1inr Gro
vomited from Mont Pelee; thirty
thousand perscns were instantly and
horribly killed and the volcano, whose
ancient Greater for more thar fifty
years had been occupied by a quiet
lake in which picnic parties bathed.
suddenly discharged a torrent of fiery
mud. which TOiied toward the sea en-
quilting everything before it. Then the
last of cable communication was
broken and the doomed city was iso-
lated from the world.
The American consul at Guadeloupe,
Louis II, Aynle, has reached the desc
late spot where st. Pierre stood and
confirms the d~ful story in all its es-
sential details.
From an Interview with Colonel
Ayme, who Is a trained American
newspaper nan a correspondent of the
Associated Press learned the follow
ing facts:
Thursday morning the inhabitants OF
the city awoke to find heavy clouds
%shrouding the Mont Pelee Crater. AL
day Wednesday horrid detonations had
been heard. These were echoed from
St. Thomas on the north to Barbados
on the south.
The ~cannonaCing ceased on Wednes-
day night ana fine ashes fell like rain
on st. Pierre. The inhabitants were
alarmed. but Governor MOuttet, who
had arrived al ST. Pierre the evening
before, did everything possible to allay
the panic.
Eye WitnesSeS OF the Destruction.
The British steamer Roraima reach
ed st. Pierre on Thursday with ten
passengers, among whom were Mrs.
Stokes and her three children M Mrs.
H. J. Ince. They were watching the
rain of ashes, when, with a frightful
roar and terrific electric discharges, a
cyclone of fire, mud and steam swept
down from the crater over the town
and bay, sweeping all before it and
destroying the feet of vessels at anchor
off the shore. There the accounts Of
the catastrophe so far obtainable cease.
Thirty thousand corpses are strewn
about, buried III the ruins of st. Pierre.
or else floating, gnawed by sharks, in
the surrounding seas. Twenty-eight
charred, half dead human beings were
brought here. Sixteen of them are al
ready dead and of the whole number
only four are expected to o
The Associated Press steamer. char
tered in Guadalupe, neared Martinique
at $50 o'clock Sunday morning. The
island with its lofty hills, was hidden
behind the hus ( veil OF violet, or lead
en- colored haze. Enormous quantities
of the wreckase of large and small
ships and GUS strewed the surface
of the see. Huge trees and too often
bodies with locks Of sea gulls soaring
above and hideous sharks fighting
about them, were floating here and
there. From behind the volcanic veil
came blasts OF Lot wind, mingled with
others, ice cold
At Leprecheur five miles north of st.
Pierre. canoes with men and women,
frantic to get away, begged for a pas
sage on the steamer.
The whole north end of the island
was covered with a silver gray coating
of ashes resembling dirty snow. Flu
rious blasts d. fire, ashes and mud
swept over the steamer but, finally St
Pierre was reached.
The Cry of st. Pierre
The city of St. Pierre stretched near
Iy two miles along h water front and
half a mile back to a cliff at the base
of the volcano. The houses OF the
richer families We're built of stone. The
stiu smoking volcano lowered above
IA ash coKer~d hills. The ruins were