Omaha daily bee., 1902-11-23
ON VERGE OF DESPERATION
Frghtful Conditions Are Said to Be Pr q
vailiDg in Guatemala
THOUSANDS ARE STRICKEN WITH HUNGER
Fruitful Country IL Transformed Into
One OF utter Ruin and DesOla-
ton by the Eruption
Of santa Maria.
THOUSANDS ARE STRICKEN WITH HUNGER
NEW ORLEANS. Nov. 22.-The Picayune

NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 22.-The Picayune
today prints the following letter:
PORT BARRIOS, Guatemala, Nov. 16.-
Refugees who have arrived here this week
state Of AFFAIRS as a result OF the eruption
Of Santa Maria volcano. The country tor
a radius OF over thirty miles has been
made a desolate waste and every vestige
of life destroyed.
The loss OF nte Is estimated at over 1000,
the great majority Of the victims being
indians. Ten indian villages, each with a
population of from nifty to 1000 inhabi-
tants, were wiped cut, the rude huts being
buried beneath tons of volcanic dust debris.
All OF the coffee plantations in the vol
canlc zone are ruined and their owners
LETT pennies Inc greatest distress pre-
republic and even on the eastern coast Of
the country and the effect 1t felt in the
scarcity of money and the riseiin exchange.
Ten Thousand Are starving.
A famine prevails at Quesaltenango and
10000 people are starving. Even in Guate-
mala City, the capital, the inhabitants are
suffering for food. The government is
s%ufering and the people are on the verge
OF revolution The only thing needed to
start a formidable uprising Is the appear
Perfrio Herrera, whose valuable coffee
plantation was destroyed is among the
Tor Sicsragra' senior Herrera. in an inter
view discussing the situation, said:
L was in Guatemala City when the ter
TlDlt tTuDlhOh vi ANONtIilbtl v
The shocks from the explosions of the
volcano were plainly felt in the capital,
causing great excitement among. the peo-
ple. The next day the news of the fright
Iul havoc wroghs by Santa Maria reached
the city and / started for my plantation.
! l reached a point four miles from my
! home on November s, but l was unable
TO go any further on account of the sitting
fumes and gases from the volcano, which
was still active and emitting huge columns
Of fire and ashes.
Hurled Under Ashes.
The eruption ceased on the morning of
November y, when 1 Ventured to my plan
tation and found II buried beneath ten
, feet of ashes, mud and sand. Everything
on the place was in ruins. Out of III
laborers employed on the plantation all
except seven perished. The seven who
escaped happened to be visiting a farm
eight miles further from the volcano that
day and when they saw tne danger took
refuge with a lot of others In a cave.
My FAMILY was In Guatemala and there
fore escaped the terrible fate which befell
those 1 left at home.
ION the trip to my plantation l passed a
number of other coffee plantations which
scene along the route wac frightful. The
dead bodies of Indians and animals who
had been suffocated by the deadly fumes
were visible everywhere and the stencil
was awful.
4 passed through one Indian village where
over $50 had persisted. All of the bodies
had their HANDS to their %nostrils, showing
10 the country is beyond repair.
Two new craters had been formed In the
mountainside and were in eruption at last
accounts"