The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-05-16

| burning IN many places and frightful
| odors of burned flesh flied the air. With
| great difficulty a landing was effected.
Not n house was left intact Wis
! cid heaps of mud. of brighter ashes or
| piles of volcano stones were seen on
| every side.
The streets could hardly be traced
| Here and there amid the ruins were
| heaps or corIs,.s, almost all the faces
were downward. In corner TWEEN
ty-two bodies VI men. women and chill
| dren were Mingled in one awful mass.
| arms and legs protruding as the hap
| less beings fell In the last struggles Of
| Deaths agony
Through the middle of the old Place
| Berlin ran a tiny stream, the remains
| of the River Gsyave Great trees with
| roots upward end scorched by fire.
were strewn lii every direction. Huge
| blocks and still hot stones were scat
tered about. From under one large
stone the arm of a white woman pro-
| truded. Most notable was the utter
silence and the awful. oyerpowering
SICNGH ITOlh llis liOOSdhdo VI oCoN-
Careful inspection Shove h a the
| fiery stream which so flooded ST. Pierre
must have been composed of poisonous
gases, which instantly suffocated every
one who inhaled them, n of other
gases burning furiously, for nearly all
the victims had their hands covering
their mouths or were in some other at
titude showing that they a sought
relief from ~suffccation. All the bodies
were carbonized or roasted.
A. G.. Austen, the manager of the
Colonial Bank Of Barbados, landed at
St. Pierre with a party from the Brit
ish royal mail steamer Solent. He
found the bank clock stopped at some
minutes before S o'clock. A horse and
a buggy and a policeman were in a
dead groupe at the door.
The cable repair ship Grappler was
lost with all on board, ais the French
vessel Tamaya. There were eighteen
or twenty vessels in the roadstead
at the time of the disaster. The Brit
ish steamer Roddam had anchored, but
Captain Freedman, although horribly
burned. managed to keep on the bridge
of his vessel. Everybody on the Rod
dams deck was killed instantly, but
with the assistance of his third engi-
neer and a fireman. who were wounded,
the captain brought his vessel to ST.
Lucia.
Many persons tried to reach the Rod
dam. but in vain. The United States
vice consul at ST. Pierre, Amedee Tes-
tart. reached the deck of the Roddam
only to fall back into the sea dead.
No Trace of American Consulate.
Three hours exploration of the ruins
of st. Pierre resulted in the finding of
no trace af the American consulate.
Consul Thomas T. Prentis. his wife and
two daughters. are undoubtedly dead.
That quarter of the city is still a vast
mass of blazing ruins. Nor has any
trace been found of James Japp, the
British consul. Mr.. Japp had a large
family at st. Pierre.
Last Saturday. after ten hours work,
a captain and a detail of soldiers found
$500. 900 francs in the Bank of Marti-
nique. The vaults of the English bank
at st. Pierre were found to be intact
| and were not opened.
The coast villages near st. Pierre
| were destroyed, simultaneously with
that town. The entire island. up TO
within a few miles of Fort de France,
is covered with mud and ashes. The
cattle of the island are either all dead
Or dying. The streams have dried up or
! are polluted. Thousands of persons are
fockin: to Fort de France. Unless re-
lief is promptly sent, famine is immi-
nent, and there is urgent need for the
services of the Red Cross Society.
Great Destruction on ST. Vincent.
The British royal mail steamer Solent
brought awful news from the British
island of st. Vincent. May Sth and 9th
a volcano there, the Soufierre, broke in
two violent eruptions. Mud, ashes,
stone and fire were hurled into the
town of Kingstown, the capital of the
island, n over the country. From the
meagre reports obtainable here, it is
known that 500 deaths had occurred in
ST. Vincent up to Friday night, n
that the volcano there was still active
at that time. The volcanic d~enotations
were distinctly heard in Barbados, q.
hundred miles away and the fall of
ashes there was so heavy that it re-
suited in intense darkness for several
hours during the afternoon.
Hamilton de Lourey, a passenger on
the royal mail steamer Esk, reports
nat between IL and 1 o'clock of the
night of May Sth a huge, black mass of
vapor hung over the volcano on ST.
Vincent, and that the mountain was
raining ashes. while there was a con-
tinuation of electric flashes about the
mountain top. A boat from the Esk
went in toward the shore with mail
but had to return