The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1902-05-15
100000 PEOPLE PERISH.
Whole Towns in Island of Mar
Unique DESTROYED bv VOL
caniC UpheavaI,
0uly a Few Of the Inhabitants Escaped
Death. ..-Congress Voted $4,000
Relief.

Relief.
Fort De France, Island OF Marti-
nique, May 11.-Advices received here
to-day from the vicinity OF st. Pierre
ten miles from here, contain further
details Of the volcanic upheaval,
which resulted in the destruction OF
that town and the death Of nearly
all of its inhabitants.
The crater Of Mont Pelee has been
wearing its ''smoke cep' since May
3, but there was nothing until last
Monday to indicate that there was
the slightest danger. On that day a
stream of boiling lava burst through
the top of the crater and plunged in
to the valley of the river Blan 'he,
overwhelming the Guerin sugar works
and killing twenty-three work people
and the son of the proprietor.
A commission was appointed by
the governor to investigate the out
break and it returned a reassuring
report Wednesday evening, But
about s o'clock Thursday mornipga a
shower Of fire rushed down on st.
Pierre and the coast from lie Carbet,
which had population OF six thou
sand, to LIE Prechaur, which had a
population of four thousand, burn
ing up everything in its path.
HEAT FROM FLOWING LAVA.
Throughout Thursday the heat in
the vicinity of st Pierre was so in
tense and the stream OF flowing lava
was so unremitting that it was i'm
possible to approach the town in the
early part OF the day. AS evening
approached the French cruiser Such
ct, after a heroic struggle against the
heat, suffocation and sulphur fumes
succeeded in making a dash toward
the shore, nearing the land clost
enough to enable her to take off thir
ty survivors of the disaster, all o
whom were burned and mutilated
st. Pierre at that time was an abso
lutte smoking waste, concealing thir
ty-thousand dead bodies.
The 450 survivors who wer,
brought here yesterday from th'
vicinity OF st. Pierre, by the Frencl
cable repair shop Pouyer Guertier
came from the town OF LIE Precheur
where, surrounded on all sides by
flowing lava, they were nearly roast
ed to death and expected momenta
rily to be engulfed.
Fort De France, Martinique, Ma,
| 11.-A landing has at last bee
made at st. Pierre, and the work c
exploring the ruins of the annihilat
ed city has been begun. While i
will be many DAYS before the fuI
magnitude of the havoc wrought ca
be ascertained, enough is already re
vealed toindicate that the very wors
anticipations are more than realized
Those who have come back here fror
st Pierre report that the streets an
all the neighborhood around what
few days ago was the largest an
most prosperous city in Martiniqu
! are now encumbered with heaps upo
heaps Of dead bodies in all direction
All the bodies thus far seen wei
stark naked, their clothing havin
been apparently burned from the
. bodies like so much tinder, while the
. themselves were roasted to dealt
J In the vast majority OF instances I'll
/, seems to have been the sole cause {
death. Greatnumber OF bodies hay
been burst asunder by the terrif
heat, and lie disemboweled. In man
. instances the faces of the victims al
r quite calm, as though they wei
/. stricken down instantly where the
, stood without a minutes warning c
Q with hardly time to appreciate fc
, an instant the deadly peril they wei
lin. Others have stamped on the
faces a look OF indescribable terro
: The entire city and neighborhoo
8 all about it reeks with a horrib
|, odor OF burned flesh. In one instane
! an entire family oi nine persons wei
Hound, all tightly locked in eac
others' arms, and the bodies in
horrible state of decomposition.
cREMATING THE DEAD.
! Almost the first thing done was I