New-York tribune., 1902-06-04

aStat1On
| cent Is from q special correspondent Oh Inc
,r-,,,,,,,e ho went to those islands on the Dixie
THE RUINS ON MAY H-
No tonene or pen can adequately descrioe o.,
| Pierre as it appeared on May Il 'e' 49,
third eruutions Of Pelee had olo''eu 'N
| moro terrible scenes created by the hrst srea.
-.-,a.to. t,1+ those who had been at Pompeii
| and Herculaneum, and there were seNeiai III
+be 0fxfa,s uarty said ST. Pierre, even haii
drads of wears hence would be grander anu
mora innressive ruin OF the thirty thousdhu
popuIation and the thousand from 49,
Afacouba Basse Point and otner 'lilaseN' w
haa eo,ebt refuge in the fated city, not one was
left TO point out what had been' OF Ten us to g
All Law buried in the ruins OF the Vu-e ~
- the Antilles and we'll they kept their awtul
-. % o. oo,,d wander among the ruins and
find the sites of the more prominent ouliuiiiss
~, .ba old of q map for most of the streets We're
s+tI family traceabIe; but none VINO hau u"Ii.
thsre when the mountain burst were leIt u "Au
the news gatherer. The catastrophe hi'1en'
well have happened half thousand years
fore so far as the stories OF those on I-Ae o.
could avail. ,.s rod
The scene of desolation was AWFUL Lii0 "N
- a,Ibfated 4 thick coat of gray ashes
covered every object. There was pu' oie
IN all the vast landscape. The color OF asnes-
az. ,bost,v hue of death--veied everything
Tho c,ords that obscured the sun were asNen
rrbara was no shady side, no sunny sloe' no ie
lief The dead ashen hue was not only every
where. but was everywhere the same
walls of stone and mortar were only one STORY
or less high. There was not roof Vlsipie' "
basement windows of the Mouillage Church' oe'-
tsr known as the Cathedral, were sasnless anu
naneless and nothing save lew layers Vi
stone rose above them. The great military nos
Yto
Of the Rue d'Hopital was down to us 1ouiiua-
+ione The Hotel de Vile or City Hall, was gone
o,d of the clubhouse opposite, scarcely stone
WAS left above another. The fallen towers OF the
Cathedral had buried even its great chliiies anu
bell and the cemetery was as leVei anu oa' ie"
as the Sahara. Only here and there a tohlo-
stone was standing where 1t belonged leau
stones that marked the resting places Oh 'ile
dead of nearly two hundred years ago ana h"u
wfthstood the tempests and earthquakes VI ''7
,as+ as ~ in1perishable were prostrated, re-
duced to fragments. or themselves ehtoiiipeu
The Insular Bank of Martinique had scarcely
.., foot of wall left and even it's strong vault
bsd been broken open and rifed. The gold coins
ord tho silver had melted together but some
new banknotes had escaped unharmed Inc
Palais de Justice or courthouse, showed sun
one of it's massive arches, but beyond that i''te
WAS left to indicate the character OF the puld-
ing The jall. hard by, was 50 Dadly tutloAeu
in as TO AFFORD in its mere appearance ample
refutation of the escape Of one OF Its inmates
s+or,, widely circulated. but completely e%-
nIoded by subsequent searching inVesuSd''ol9-
The walls Of the lyceum for boys. just across
-, .-a., from, the iaf were standing 10 the
| to, Of the first story. but the floors had been
| t,-nsd avvay. as had the wooden parts Of all the
| other buildings.
| Tho Church of the Centre. Just back OF the
| PaIafs de Justice in Rue Abbe GresoHe' "aS
| dovn to the foundation stones. and the HoEet'l-
| rnent House on the waterfront at the loot %
| the same thoroughfare. had been razed 10 the
| ground part OF the massive walls OF 'hs
| government bonded stores in Place Bertin was
| standing. but only enough to make the rum
| more impressive. The custom house on 'he
| place FArtin between the Rue dHopital ana
| +ba F9ue rucfe was almost buried IN the wreck
| aqe of its own upper stories, and those OF al
| iacent buildings in the Rue Bouillet ana the
| cross streets
| The Bouillet the Rue Victor Hugo, the Rue
| d'Hopital and the Rue Lucie were plleo SO
| high with debris that progress was dlnlcu4t'
While most Of the walls had fallen inward IN
| the first explosion. many had fallen outward
| in the second and third eruptions.
| In the Place Bertin, next the sea- the wreck
age reached to the waters edge. In the Rue
! Iucie, well UP toward the military hospital
| stood the Treasury and the store of Mr.. Van
| Rornandt who went down from New-fork on
| the Dixie The strong walls of the Treasury
| were partly standing. but the van Kohald'
store was almost obliterated. The manager
| and five clerks died all the other people OF
| St Pierre lost their lives.
| When the siren OF the Potomac sounded the
| alarm The Tribune reporter had not yet Wis
tied the extreme southern end of the city, or
| pone further north than the Palais de Justice.
| At the south however, he could see the flames
| in the coal yards along the waterfront and the
| ruins of the little market. Up the hill. under
the high bluffs in the most hemmed in situation
in the CITY, the crumbling walls of Madame
Des Champs civil hospital could be seen ON
the top of the bluff, overhanglng the Preclplce.
by nearly half it's bulk lay huge rock How
| It could have stopped there in such a cataclysfn
| passes human understanding. Across the mud
buried Mouillage River, which divided the
| centre and Fort sections Of the city, high up
the hill toward the mountain could be seen
| the ruins Of the convent school for girls. Be-
| low was the Fort Church, of which not enough
| to disclose its character was left by the ex-
| plosion. The government storehouse in Rue
! Royale was a mass of wreckage, and the rum
distilleries and sugar houses beyond were buried
| from sight. The walls of the V1aduct leading
| up from the city to the aristocratic residence
| suburb on Morne NIirail seemed intact. but the
once teeming hills were as bare of vegetation and
| foliage as the sands of the seashore. The wave
| of burning gas which swept down the noun
tain had eveled the elegant houses to the earth.
| and had laid waste the beautiful botanical gar
| den still further up the road.
| The gas, with its deadly fumes and explosive
| force, seemed to have come down upon the city
| with a rush like that Of a tornado. Old trees
| were torn up by the roots. The hillsdes were
| cleft and denuded If torrent of water had
| rushed over them. The iron posts and brackets
for the electric street lights We're twisted and
bent as if by the hands of a giant of incon-
| faitr trai Ia