The Savannah morning news., 1902-06-08
! PIERRE HAD WARNING.
.z,VG DISREGARD OF PELEE's
RISING WRATH.

n-onhetic Inquiry as TO the C1ty's
- Miserable Jest About the
...,oauo,s Activity-ExcursiO to
Crater-The Record of the Last
navs of the City.
rom the New York Evening Post.
r.r+ de France, May 22.-The story
+be humiliation Of the city of st.
80 iz incomplete without one amaz-
80 chapter. This chapter, one of sad
,'.+ prophecy, is taken from the sole
.,oining record of this city of TWEEN
sly thousand souls; its newspapers.
,,a the keynote of the chapter is
.,rrck in this paragraph printed on
Nav E. two days before the catastro-
.ha IN Les Colonies. the Republican
organ of Martinique:
SWhat has tomorrow in store for
,,.q A flow of lava, rain of stones,
lets of asphyxiating gas? What sub
Merging cataclysm? Or shall we have
sin,nlv an inundation of mud? There
4 g. secret. and when it shall be known
-nanv men will not be able to keep it. "
This paragraph was written in COM
,rent upon the destruction of the Guer-
~ sugar factory the day before at
piviere Blanche Tin the northern part
~ tbe city,, where several hundred per-
cans. including Eugene Guerin, the son
NJ the proprietor, were killed. For
many days before this time Les Colo
Mes had chronicled the ominous do
ings of Mont Pelee, and, in the main,
scorned them, even going as far as to
caIl mad fools those who fled from
the outlying districts to st. Pierre for
safety.
Almost at the very last, to the 7th
of May, when this newspaper an
nounced: 1.-The Feast of the Ascension
will be celebrated tomorrow. AS our
printing office will be closed, our next
number will appear on Friday" it
sought in every way to allay the ris-
Ing fears of the people. 1t proclaimed
the safety of st. Pierre in nearly every
issue, and in the last number that
ever went to press is rounded off it's
news of the flight of many to Fonds-
saint-Denis, Morne d'Orange, Carbets
and other supposedly sheltered towns,
with vehement protestations of it's in
ability to understand the panic, the
foolish mistake"
ST. Pierre had ample warning of the
catastrophe in which it was over
WUtlutus Jul lAlG lIGW SPdpGIO ICluSSu
10 add voice to the cry, and Les Col
ones was so steadfast in this that
Il printed an ill-timed jest about Mt.
Pelee snoring in it's sound sleep. AS
far back as April rs the people knew
of the ominous condition of affairs at
the crater. On that day Julien Ro-
main, a guide of Morne Pavilion, went
to the crater and found it a caldron
filed with a boiling black mass which
rose and fell as he watched it, its sur
face putting" and liberating jets of
white vapor.
But the people of st. Pierre, to whom
Mt Pelee was a volcano fifty years
ago. saw no warning in the tale of
the guide What did they see in it?
The opportunity for a days outing; an
excursion, and forthwith jaunting par
ties were formed to climb the noun
tain and view the remarkable things
which were going on above. 1t was
no time for fear, they said among
themselves; Roman was a romancer,
as his name implied; he had got in
the fog which frequently shrouds Mt.
Pelee's hoary head and his imagina=
ton had done. the rest. They were not
TO be frightened, not they, no one
vouched for Romans veracity. And
later, when there was corroboration
a y
that Mt Pelee was in a state of I'M
rest, they ceased ridiculing the story
only to ridicule the danger This was
under the influence of Les Colonies,
which was giving it's columns day aft
er day TO dreadfully unfortunate dis
crediting of the peril.
On May ?, six days before the de-
struction of the city, Les Colonies
printed this in the column called
Echoes"
Toward Mt. Pelee!-We call to mind
that next Sunday, the 4th of May, the
grand excursion to Mt. Pelee, organ
lzed by the members of La Societe
Gymnastique ct de Tir, will take place,
Those who never have enjoyed the
panorama offered to the eye of the
astonished spectator at hight of 1900
meters; those who desire to see, close
at hand, the still yawning hole from
which in the last few days, thick
clouds of smoke have escaped, much
10 the CONSERVATION of the inhabitants
OF Precheur and Ste. Philomene, should
profit by this fine opportunity. They
should hasten to register their name at
the headquarters of the society in the
hue Longchamps, this evening, at the
latest
The meeting of the excursionists
~ at lllC Mai CllC US Il VI At y. IL
o'clock in the morning and the depart
ure for Mt Pelee will be at 1880 o'clock
sharp. The excursion will go to Ri
were Blanche and thence to .Isnard,
Where guides will be found waiting.
lhose who do not care to trouble
themselves about food should pay an
assessment of three francs They Will
not regret being relieved of the trou-
ole OF procuring food. According to
lhe lists at our command, the COM
pany will be large one.
II, therefore, the weather be fine,
tne excursionists will pass day which
uney will long keep in pleasant re-
membrance.
1t is understood that on the day
Of the excursion there will be no tar
set practice at the Botanical Garden"
This is the spirit in which the people
Of ST. Pierre went onward to their de-
srucuon. There can be no doubt that
mere were forebodings in many
minds because superstition prevailed
among a majority of the dwell
els there, the blacks, but those
9l influence among the French did not
osleVe and, actually, were not afraid.
me eXcursionists, according to the
account printed in the newspaper on
me following day (May 81, came home
rom Mont Pelee in disorder. The
mountain gave them ample return for
we Two or three francs they had paid
W see It, While the large party was
MAKING ready to return to st. Pierre,
mont Pelee awoke. A short time be-
ore dark what appeared to be flames
SHu smoke appeared upon the crest of
ne mountain and down its sides long
Na 'hery drifts of steam were discern
q The excursion party fastened
.naoneward, but was overtaken by
IAN OF "flinty- substance, and it be-