Woodville Republican. (Woodville, Miss.) 185?-current, 1902-05-17
THE DESTRUCTION OF ST.
PIERRE.

MOI since the destruction oil
SodOm and Of Gomorrah, and OF
Herculaneum and of Pompeii has
the Earth been visited by such an
awful catastrophe, as it has just
witnessed in the humiliation OF
the city of st. Pierre, in the Is
land of Martinique, French col
Ony. In a moment, almost in the
twinklinglof an eye, a city of forty
thousand inhabitants was utterly
destroyed, with every living thing
within its borders. An avalanche
of red hot lava and ashes, and su-
perheated air poured down the
mountain side upon the devoted
city, aud instantly encyclopedia in
a fiery pail of death. Even the
sea afforded no protection. Of
the many vessels in the harbor all
were overwhelmed by the fiery
torrent, save one, which escaped,
on fire, with three-fourth of its
crew charred corpses on its burn
ing deck. The survivors say that
the destruction of tho 0ity vvoe in
Simultaneous, as by a rain of fire
from the heavens. 1t was at least
merciful dispensatlon that the
keen agony of such an appalling
death should have been short
lived.
In the island of st. Vincent, a
British possession, another volca-
no is in eruption, and the entire
northern half of the island is laid
waste, and two Thousand victims
have been added to the horrible
list of the dead. Nor is the end
yet, as both mountains are still
active, but their fury can only be
spent upon inanimate nature, as
they have left nothing living with
IN their reach.
The whole civilized world is
moved by this appalling cataclysm
and supplies are being rushed
from all directions to save those
that survive from the starvation
which is already upon them.
One of the saddest features of
the loss of life at St. Pierre (if
reports be true) is that the in
habitants, warned by the agita-
ton of Mount Pelee, wished to
escape, but the Governor forbade
this and surrounded the city with
Gordon of troops to prevent the
proposed exodus. Certain scien-
titic asses had assured the Cover
nor there was no real danger, and
believing them, be held forty
thousand people to meet an awful
death. But this story seems too
horrible and too unreasonable to
be true.
Men of science, or more proba-
bly, charlatans, are already ex-
planning the causes of this dread
full upheaval of natural forces,
though they differ widely, and
each has his own particular
theory. One declares that it was
caused by the deposits of the
Mississippi river in the bottom of
the gulf, for ages, thereby caus-
ing an immense pressure on the
earth's thin crust (it is only about
thirty miles thick under the Gulf
of Mexico) whereby the melted
matter contained beneath this
crust was squeezed up and out
through the crater of a volcano.
This solution has the merit of
simplicity. ANY one who has
squeezed a boil can understand
it. Still another theory is that
the great pressure from the con-
fined gases of the interior of
mother earth and caused the
crust to crack and let in the
waters of the sea, whereby steam
was generated so suddenly and in
such quantities that it tore its
way to the surface through these
extinct volcanoes, bringing with
it the vast quantities of lava and
mud which overwhelmed the
hapless city. There are other
theories but these will do for a
sample.
The gnat who rode upon the
elephants ear and lectured upon
the anatomical structure of the
huge beast, was both gigantic and
wise when compared to the hui
man Insects who pirate thus in
tho nrasanco Of suoh m ,,,,,.,