The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-06-08
He ALONE SURVIVED
Only Man Who Went Through
Destruction of St. Pierre.
POOR IGNORANT PRISONER
His Experience in the Dungeon
Beneath Sidewalk.

New York. June s.-The New York
World says:
Raoul sartout, sometimes called Pelino.
viii live in history as the sole human be-
ing to escape from St. Pierre when the
Martinique city was obliterated from the
face Of the island by the shower Of death
from Mont Pelee.
Beautiful women sweet children, brave
soldiers and the honored fathers Of the
city, leaders in trade and the professions,
perished- Not one OF these was saved,
but a coarse negro. jet black and stupid,
with little more mind than an animal,
was strangely preserved to continue
worthless life.
The very fact that Sartout was unfit
TO be at large among the people was bis
salvation, for the poisonous gases and
red-hot rocks and ashes DID not penetrate
TO the far depths Of the dungeon in which
he was a prisoner.
Sartout has told, slowly by degrees.
as "a little child might tell, Of mis- four
horrible days and nights in the dungeon,
with the silence of death above him. a
stiffness that terrified his untaught mind.
and that his instinct rather than his intel
ngence ed him to feel was the result Of
some terrible happening,
The negro's sunerings were like those
of a dumb animal and it is doubtful if
he could have lived through the fright
ful ordeal had he been of finer nbre.
AS it was, his brute strength was
proof against foul air and the burns he
received when he tried to escape from
his tomb, and the same element in his
nature, stubborn and hercely contending
for life, sustained him until the rescuers
came.
The real story of the destruction of
St. Pierre win never be told All that
is known Of the awful affair. except as it
was seen through smoke and dust from a
distance. is the story told BY the faces
and positions Of the dead. and by the
character OF the debris into which the
whole city had been turned.
There were no eye-witne sses.. none who
escaped from the cyclone Of gas and
fame to tell of the horrors Of the mo-
ment
sartout's privilege in this respect is
greater than that of any other person,
FOR if he could not see. he could hear.
Thousands died and an entire city was
destroyed just a few feet above whore
he stood wondering what had happened.
If he had been man of an average
Intelligence. he might have made for his
tory, one of its most wonderful chapters;
nevertheless, despite his darkenod mind
his experiences, as told to the New York
Worlds staff correspondent crudely re-
lated and without one touch Of magma
ton thrills with the terrible tragedy it
pictures. and stirs with pity for the mis-
cradle black.
SaItout WAS weak mentally and ignor-
ant not vicious lie haa been arrested
for a trivial oTense the week previous 10
the eruption of Mont Pelee and was
serving out a short Jail sentence on the
DAY of tie disaster.
He behaved SO badly in jail that to
subdue him he was placed in q dungeon
underneath The jail and located almost
beneath the sidewalk. There were graf
ings looking into the cellar from the
sidewalk for purposes of ventilation. bue
the dungeon was so placed for discplin-
airy purposes that Sartout was i'm dark
ness The grating was one cell removed
from him.
Old Mont Pelee. so long regarded with
benignaut approba ton by the people
Of Martinique, much rs family might
regard a. pet dog that did great deal
of barking. but that could not be induced
70 bite. and been rumbling and growl-
ing for some time.
Sartout could plainly hear, he says the
noises by the mountain early on the
morning Of the disaster. and he felt the
trembling of the earth
He was not frightened in the least for
he felt. like many another native of the
place. that no harm could possibly come
from Mont Pelee, upon which he had
looked every day since he was little
child
The tau sharply cut mountain had stood
as long as The memory and longer. Ike
a guard over the city. 1t was like an old
friend.
Suddenly. as he sat alone in his dark
cell. there We're noises. terrific crashes.
and such quakings Of the earth as he
had never known before.
He al once realized that something
extraordinary was happening.
He could NOT see anything, but the
thick stone walls Of his prison could not
prevent him from hearing the deep rum
bic and cvclonic tearings of the cyclone
of death through the city in which he had
lived an his lie
He was panic stricken and beat with
his hands against the walls.
He succeeded in getting open door
leading into cell a little larger than
his own. over which was the iron grating
looking ND through the sidewalk. He
stumbled into this department TO find
II half aued with sitting mass Of hot
ashes and dust
It burned him severely and he was not
slow TO retreat to the inner cell from
which ne had just escaped
Then came the awful silence which
seemed to paralyze him with fear mere
than the hrst roar that had awakened the
keenest sense Of danger In his simple.
untaueht soul He has since said that he
lag on the floor Of his cell for hours.
scarcely daring 10 breathe oppressed
hv the terrifying silence. He does not
know how many hours he lay there.
Finally DE summed up courage enough
10 oneu the cell door and look into the
other apartments. He VAS met 10y
nave of dust that choked his mouth and
nostrils and baif-blinded him.
II had cooled. and he was to wade
through the SOFT Gaky-iize mass toward
the iron gratiags through which descend
ed a constant volume Of smoke and al
most Invisible dust
He cried aloud again and again. and az
every echo his voice seemed 10 increase
the shower through the grating.
He went TO tho door which SHUT on his
escape 70 the stairs leading 70 the floor
shove and pounded at 81 until his asts