The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1902-05-15

whelmed the Island of Martinique ore
that will go down in history among the
| worlds greatest disasters. In this little
| island there has been volcanic erup-
ton. followed by an earthquake, which
has destroyed st. Pierre, its principal
city. and all of the towns inhabitants.
II was one Of those terrible outbreaks
of natures forces which cannot be anti
cipated and which leave widespread death
and desoation behind them. Such a ca
iamity might come upon any of the adja-
cent islands in the long chain which
stretches in a southeasterly course from
| Porto Rico well-nigh to the coast of Ven
ezuela, beginning with Guadaloupc and
ending with Trinidad.
Destroyed Like Pompeli.
More than 10000 persons perished at
| st. Pierre beneath the avalanche of fire.
cinders and molten lava belched forth b.
the volcano Mount Pelee. st. Pierre
and its environs are buried beneath a
crust of seething. melted rock which sud-
denly overwhelmed that portion of the
island. Since the days of Pompeii no
more horrible volcanic disaster is re-
corded. Mount Etna, in Sicily, in 1854,
killed 5000 persons, and between co.
| 900 and 100000 persons perished- in the
earthquakes that followed At leddo,
Japan, 100000 perished by the earth
quakes in 1903. and at Pekin. in 17OS,
100000 met death. But the st. Pierre
horror was so sudden, so awful, that it
will go down in history linked with the
destruction of Pompeii. Stabae and Her
culaneum, in A. u. 80.
In all essential points they We're alike
Mount Pelee suddenly belched forth
thousands of tons of liquid lava. which
buried ST. Pierre and miles of territory
beneath Il bed of fire. Then the earth
Quaked. opened an awful chasm. and
swallowed thousands of persons. The
sea receded. and then a mighty tidal
wave swept over the harbor. enguling
the ships and their crews. a great cloud
of steam arose. tons of fire descended
from the sky. the waters of the bay min
Cling with the hot lava roared, the heav-
ems filled with smoke, vapor and ashes.
Quiet ensued. \ city had perished.
Series of Eruptions.
The first disturbance occurred in
Guatemala four or i've weeks ago and
was of a seismic nature. Although the
loss of life was comparatively small, the
earthquake was one Of unusual severity,
extending over n considerable area of
the country, running large numbers of
coffee plantations, doing much damage to
property in the cities. and killing nearly
1000 persons, 500 of whom persisted at
Quezaltenmgo. the second city of Guate-
mala. At the same time an extinct vol
cano in Salvador broke out again. but
without doing any damage at last ac-
counts. Upon the heels of this news
came the reports Of earthquakes and vol
canic disturbances at st. Vincent in the
British West Indies, which were so
alarming that the people were fleeing for
shelter in all directions. The flow of lava
from Mount Pelee volcano began on Sat
urday and on Monday 200 persons lost
their lives in the vicinity of St. Pierre.
Later the eruption increased in violence.
ending in the destruction of the city and
leaving but thirty persons alive.
That the eruption was one of almost
unprecedented severity and destructive
ness is shown by the fact that even the
vessels in the harbor could not get away
from the storm of fire and ashes which
descended upon them from the volcano.
1t was the story of Herculaneum and
Pompeii over again. And this may be
only the beginning of the end. Alarming
rumors come from Guadaloupe, Dominica
and other islands in the Antilles where
volcanoes, supposed to be extinct, are
beginning to be active again. That there
is some connection between the seismic
disturbances in Central America and
those among the islands along the east
ern limit of the Caribbean Sea is un-
doubtedly true. We can regard destruc-
ton of this kind in far-away Asia oil
Africa with complacency, but the near
ness of the horror, at our very doors
even, cannot but be regarded with appre-
hension.
Among the survivors ara eight passen-
gers from the steamer Roraima.. all of /
the rest having perished when the vessel |
went down. They ara horribly burned |
with molten lava that fe,! on the steamer |
in showers The Rorain.a's survivors |
say that there had beer earthquake |
shocks for days. and that ti.e volcano |
was sending up clouds of stem and ashes |
for some time. The great disaster did |
not come until Thursday morning., May s. |
Volcano Seems to Explode.
They say that between sni S o'clock
the volcano, Mount Pelee. seemed to ex-
plode. There was a terrible convulsion
OF land and sea. The upheav.l of the
waters seemed to pick the steamer up
throw il at the sky, and then dl.o it into
the seething waters of the bas. The
steamer was dashed to pieces, or " eight
persons surviving. They clung TO pieces
of wreckage in the water until IL ~ were
picked up by the cruiser Suchet
From the crater of Mount Pelee the
of the Roraima say molten
rocks and ashes belched out 70. about
three minutes. The great mass OF burn
ing lava poured out directly over the
town and covered the surrounding dis
iricts for a radius of four miles.
The Roddam only escaped by cutting
is cables and steaming away at full
speed. The captain was severely burn
ed. The chief engineer is dead All
the officers and engineers We're dead or
dying. Nearly every member of the crew
IS dead. Supercargo Campbell and ten
of the crew OF the RoGdam jumped over
board at st. Pierre and were lost.
At l O'Clock Thursday afternoon. when
he Suchet sailed away to carry the news
,f the disaster TO the nearest cable office
md to get assistance. the town OF ST.
Pierre was one mass of roaring flame.
Eighteen Ocean Ships Destroyed.
There were eighteen ocean steamers
md vessels in the harbor and all were
overwhelmed by the downpour of fire
rom the volcano. 1t is from these
,ishteen vessels that the Suchet picked
- the thirty survivors,
The clouds of ashes and smoke which
,oured from the crater of Mount Pelee
'overed the sea for a distance of four
IL five miles from shore. The town of |
4. Pierre itself. as well as the sur
ounding country, was shrouded in al ,