Milford chronicle., 1902-05-16

DISTANCE.
slightest danger. On that day q
stream of boiling lava burst through
the top of the crater and plunged into
the valley of the river Blanche. over
whelming the Guerln sugar works and
killing % work people and the son OF
the proprietor.
A commission was appointed by the
governor to investigate the outbreak,
and 1t returned a reassuring report on
Wednesday evening. But about
o'clock on Thursday morning shower
of fire rushed down on st. Pierre and
the coast from La Carbet, which had
a population of $500, to lie Pecheur,
which had a population of 1000, burn.
ing up everything in its path.
Throughout Thursday the heat IL
the vicinity of st. Pierre was so in.
tense and the stream of flowing lava
was so unremitting that it was i'm
possible to approach the town during
the early part of the day. AS evening
approached the French cruiser Suchet
after a heroic battle with the heat
suffOcatiOn and sulphur fumes, sue
ceeded III making a dash toward the
shore, nearing the land close enough
to enable her TO take off 80 survivors
of the disaster. all of whom were hor
ribly burned and mutilated. St. Pierre
at that time was an absolute smoking
waste, concealing 10000 corpses,
whose decomposition necessitated I'M
some cases instantly completing their
cremation, which was only partially
accomplished by the lava Not a house
in st. Pierre is standing, the entire
city being consumed and buried.
The inhabitants of Fort De France
were panic-stricken the morning of the
disaster when the sky suddenly black
ened and it was at dark as at mid
night The sea shrank back 80 yards,
and hot rain begain to fall, while
gravel the size of walnuts, poured
down on the town. This lasted about
IS minutes.
Briefly put last Thursday morning
the city of st. Pierre disappeared
within ten minutes in a whirlwind OF
fire YOmited from Mont Pelee; 10000
persons were instantly and horribly
killed, and the volcano whose ancient
crater for more than 80 years had
been occupied by a quiet lake, in which
picnic parties bathed, suddenly dis
charged torrent of fiery mud, which
rolled towards the sea, engulfine
everything before 1t. Then the last OF
cable communication was broken. and
the doomed city was isolated from the
world.
The Associated Press steamer near
= ed Martinique at $50 Sunday morn
4 ing The island. with it's lofty hills
5 was hidden behind a huge veil of vic
/ let or leaden cOlOred haze. Enormou.
quantities Of the wreckage of larg,
e and shall ships and houses streweC
the surface of the sea. Huge trees
4 and too often bodies. with fiocks of sci
? gulls soaring above. and hideou
# sharks fighting about them. wer,
floating here are there.
The city of St. Pierre stretches
h nearly two miles along the waite
a front and half a mile back to a clit
q at the base of the volcano. The still
q smoking volcano lowered above tn
4 ash-covered hills. The ruins wer
!. burning in many places, and frightfu
q odors of burned flesh filed the air.
:, With great difficulty a landing wa
e effected. Not one house was LEI
!, intact. Viscid heaps of mud. of brigh
=, er ashes or piles of volcanic stones
were seen on every hand. The street
= could hardly be traced. Here an
y there amid the ruins were heaps O
cOrpses, almost all the faces bein
downward. In one corner % bodies G
- men, women and children were mil
: gled in one awful mass, arms and leg
E. protruding as the hapless beings fe
- in the last struggles of deaths agon,
= Through the middle of the old PlaC
~ Berth ran tiny stream, the remain
I's Of the River Gayave. Great trees, wit
~ roots upward, and scorched by fir
nc were strewn in every direction. Hug
!" blocks and still hot stones were sea
ne tered about From under one larg
W. stone the arm of a white woman pr
Oh truded. Most notable was the ute
ne silence and the awful. overpowerin
an stencil from the thousands of dead.
eI Careful inspection showed that I'll
is. fiery stream which so completely d
wv strOyed St. Pierre must have bee
e composed of poisonous gases, while
go instantly sufiocated every one wi
inhaled them, and of other gas
] burning furiously, for nearly all Il
. victims had their hands covering the
G mouths or were in some other at
y A~5e. showing that they had sOug