The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-05-13


consul at Barbados. Captain Davis and
the SOlent were placed at his disposal
by the Barbados government The So
lent arrived at about the same time as
the Associated Press steamer, and
brought to St. Pierre the colonial sec
rotary. two civil doctors, two military
officers and DR. W. E Aughinbau Of
washington. as we'll as a corporal and
four hospital orderlies three trained
nurses and a full field hospital OUTFIT.
The Barbados government also sent
700 barrels of prOvisic8s. one ton of ice
and a full supply Of medicine. These
were useful. but the dead needed only
quick burial.
The stories OF the survivors added to
the awful details of the particularly
narrowing account of the loss Of the
British steamer ROraima.
G. G.. Evans OF Montreal and John G.
Morris Of New York. who are now at
the military hospital at Fort de France,
say the vessel arrived at O'Clock. AS
bells was struck, a frightful eXplo-
sion was heard up the mountain, the
cloud Of fire. topping and roaring,
swept with lightning speed down the
mountain and over the town and bay.
The Roraima was nearly sunk, and
caught fire at once.
II never. can forget the horrid. fiery.
choking whiriwind which envelOped
me-" said Mr.. Evans.
Mr. Morris and / rushed below. We
are not very badly burned. not so bad
as most Of them. When the fire came
we were going to our posts 1--WE are
engineers) to weigh anchor and get
out. When we came up we found the
ship aiire aft and fought it forward
until 3 o'clock, when the Suchet came
to our rescue. We were then building
a raft"
Ben Benson. the carpenter Of the
Roraima, said:
II was on deck amldships when
heard the explosion. The captain or
dered me to draw up the anchor. got
the windlass but when the fire came
went into the fOrecastle and got my
buds.
when 7 came out 1 talked with
Captain Mauggah. Mr.. Scott. the first
officer and others. They had been on
the bridge. The captain was horribly
burned. He had inhaled flames and
wanted to jump into the sea. I tried to
make him take a life preserver. The
captain. who was undreSsed. jumped
overheard and hung onto a line for a
while. then disappeared"
Stories Of Survivors.
Gus Under. the quartermaster Of the
steamer. who is horribly burned and
can hardly talk. confirmed this.
Francisco Angelo. who speaks poor
English. vividly described the Onrush
Of the fire. He says the captain was a
very brave man. too brave to be burned
to death Angelo further asserted that
the storm of fire lasted not more than
1--WE minutes. Joseph Breckels, a sea-
man, 80 years old, is so frightfully
burned that he cannot live, having in
hailed flames. Other men of the RO-
raima who were rescued are Salvador
Acello and Joseph Susino.
From the Italian ship Teresa Lovice
several men were saved, but they are
in a frightful state. except Louis
Prudent Of St. Pierre. Although on deck
and unprotected. he was little burned.
Prudent says there was first an awful
noise Of explosion. and then. right
away, a cyclone Of smoke and fire, but
such was the poisonous. choking nature
Of the smoke that it burned worse than
the FIRE. The cyclone of gas tore the
masts out Of ships, blew others up and
sunk some of them. soon afterward
came a wave Of fire bigger than the
smoke cloud. THAT cloud" continued
Prudent. was bigger, it seemed, than
the mountain.
The FIRE burned the city everywhere
at once. Near me 1 only saw dead men
but on shore I saw men and women
rushing back and forth amid the flames
for an hour. They would not run long
Then came that choking smoke, and
they would drop ike dead flies.
'The explosion, smoke and fire al
came and went in three minutes. bal
the city burned for three hours Ther
every house was finished, and nothing
alive was left.
some men from the sinking ships
got TO the shore, but they we're burned
up there. At no time was there any
earthquake, but big stones were raineC
down and fell like rain for Ions
time"
In a hospital were fifteen injured
persons from Carbel village, four mile
from st. Pierre.
The village Of Urine. south of st
Pierre was almost entirely burned. ant
almost ali the inhabitants were killed
one Of the survivors Of Urine who vii
die. says the sea, boiling hot, invaded
the land. Six women. whose bodies ar
one solid burn writhed in another war;
Of the hospital Ten women severel,
burned from Urine were brought in
and four of them have died. It
doubtful If any of the six still aiiv
can recover.
An evidence Of the swiftness of tn
onslaught OF Ere is found in the fac
that none Of the victims was blinded
are nearly burned through. All thOS
saved. except the engineers of tn
Roraiuna. are poor sailors and Martin
ique negroes. No one knows how tn
passengers of the steamer persisted, an
it Is impossible 20 set a full list Of IN
vessels lost The cable repair shi
Grappler was lost. with all on board
as was the French vessel Tamays
There were eighteen or twenty vessel
in the rOadstead at the time Of tn
disaster.
Captain Was a Hero.
The British steamer Roddam had an
chored. but Captain Freedman, al
though horribly burned, managed
keep on the bridge Of his vessel. Every
body on the R0ddam's deck were in
stanuy killed. but with the aSsistanC
Of his third engineer and fireman
who were wounded. the capital
brought his vessel 60 st. Lucia. Man
persons tried to reach the Roddam bu
IN vain. The United States vice const
al ST. Pierre. Amdee Testart, reache
the deck Of the R0ddam. only to IA
back into the sea dead. Three hour
exploration Of the ruins Of St. PierI
resulted in the finding of no trace {
the American consulate Consul Thorn
as +. Prentis, his wife and two daugf
tiers are undoubtedly dead. That GUAR
ter Of the city IS still a vast mass