Adams County news. [volume] (Ritzville, Wash.) 1898-1906, 1902-05-21
AFTER RECENT ERUPT|ONS
ST. VINCENT SETTLERS RETURN
Most Horrid Details Are Revealed
Thousands of Bodies Have Been
Buried-Lava Covers Balance of
Bodies-Lava Covers an Area 10
Miles Square.

Kingston, St. Vincent. May l9.-In the
absence OF symptoms of further eruption,
OF the volcano OF Soufrlere, the inhabitants
Of ST. Vincent are gradually becoming set
tied.
Most horrifying details of the condition
Of the Carib country, where thousands Vi
cattle and human corpses lay in "a stat.
Of decomposition for several days dur;
ing the agitation, are revealed. Although
the number of deaths in the island due
to the disaster is estimated, judging from
the missing inhabitants, at 1000, up to the
night of May l3 only l2ls bodies had been
buried.
The undiscovered bodies are probably
covered with lava. In small shop
which was opened three days after the
eruption, 81 decaying corpses were dis
covered, and not one of them was rec
ognizable. In the dwelling house of the
manager of one of the estate 80 corpses
were found in a similar condition, and
other sickening discoveries have been
made. The district is being rapidly
| cleared.
number of patients have been brought
to this city. Many are suffering from
fractured skulls, caused by stones thrown
from the volcano, and a majority of them
we're burned by the lava thrown up with
the vapor.
Toward evening yesterday there was ii
slight convulsion, followed by small
| discharge of smoke, but this caused no
| alarm. The weather is fine and the ex
element is abating.
The bed of lava in the Windward dis
trict is still hot. The abyss, 1900 feet
deep and 200 feet wide, which existed be-
tween Langley Park and Rabacci, is
| filled with lava, and the principal features
of the mountain on either side are appar-
emily more beautiful than before the erur,
| ton.
A curious circumstance connected with
| the eruption is that the earthquakes
we're not general, notwithstanding the
smallness Of the island While at Chat
eau Belair the commissions preceding the
| eruptions of May were almost conlinu-
GUS every few hours, in Kingston and
Georgetown only 60 shocks were felt in
| four hours.
Although attended with smaller loss y.
life, the eruption of La Soufriere was
not less violent than that of Mont Pclee.
in the island of Martinique. The area
covered by lava comprises l6 square
miles. The fact that the loss of life and
damage to property in st. Vincent were
smaller than in Martinique is due to the
position of La Soufriere and the smaller
population of the district, the mountain
overhanging sugar and arrow root {:
tates and a couple of thinly populated
villages, whose inhabitants were given
warming of the approaching disaster ard
He'd for their lives. All the villagers who
remained were killed.
The officials of st. Vincent are busy
relieving the suffering and housing the
sick and homeless. The problem now
facing the government is how to provide
permanently for the natives who lost
houses, lands and everything they pos
sessed. The peasant settlements may be
formed on the estates, the lands of which
the government possesses the legal ma
chlnery to appropriate, but money Is
needed to assist the settlers to build
houses thereon, and to provide them with
sustenance during the cultivation of their
lands.