The Jennings daily record., 1902-06-24
OLD ST.PIERRE WAS GAY
THE MARTINIQUE CITY FOND OF THE
MONSTER THAT DESTROYED HER.

NUNS ER HA 7 DES RO1EO HEX.
Her Inhabitants Went TO the Mountain to
Picnic and Religious People Celebrated
Feast Days There-One Village Where
the Rich Lived Was in Crater's Shadow
i. Chatenay. of the Seaboard Nation
al Bank, who knows every foot of old
st. Pierre. where he lived until recent
ly. and all of whose relatives are still
there. described the town. its sleeping
volcano. its suburbs of the rich and its
entire surroundings for the New York
World.
Many times have l been on old Mont
Pelee' said he. 1T was a scene of
gayety for the people of the town, the
place where they went for their picnics
and, forty days after every Easter. the
Mecca to which all the religious people
of the town repaired for the feast of
Pentecost.
See here" and he took up a calendar
printed at st. Pierre. There is the
date-May 1S-a red-letter date. It
Is great day in St. Pierre every year.
No one feared the old mountain. the
highest of the thickly grouped chain
of mountains which rise up behind the
town. Older people there tell of an
eruption, in August. 1851. when ashes
We're showered upon the town Since
| then little lake has formed right
where the eruption spouted out. and it
was there when l was last on the
mountain not long ago.
st. Pierre lies curving along the
water front. There is no harbor there.
just an open roadstead, and the sailing
vessels coming fasteu to a chain
brought from shore and throw an an
chor out to seaWard. There are no
piers big enough for big steamers to
! come up to and the cargoeS are dis
charged on lighters.
The town is picturesQuely beautiful,
| the streets away from the business
part being fringed with tropical trees
and flowers. Its houses are all of ce-
menU and stone. The highest building
there is just four stories. But there
] are many buildings of imposing archi-
| lecture in the town, like the ancient old
cathedral. where Bishop de Montfort
| lives with his household of priests: the
| bizarre theatre copied after the Grand
| Opera House in Paris. the Chamber Of
| Commerce, rectangular building with
| galleries running round on the inside
| and Il coniCal tower: the fine new office
| building of Caminade * Co. one of the
| WcalthieSt commission houses on the
! island: the old Custom House. fa acinc
| the ocean: the City Hall. of gray stone
| and many other buildings which add
| to the quaint charm Of the old French
| town.
st. Pierre is divided into three dio-
| ceseS. The first they call colloquially
| The MoOrage,' and the others The Old
| Town and The New Town The old
town is built on Il level with the sea-
Above it rises sheer up for several hun
| dred feet a rugged cliff, bare rock
| Further around the bend of the
coast is what is called the new town.
| 1t is built on slopin- ground and is the
| better and more modern part of the
| town.
mont Pelee rises up behind the
town, some two miles away. To get to
the top of it you must travel over TWEEN
| ty miles. Circutous roads leading
around the rugged mountains climb up
| to point on the mountain where the
| vehicles must be abandoned and the
| rest of the journey made on foot.
Far up on the mountain is the vii
| lage of Morne Rouge. the home of the
| ..
| 1t Is place of between 5000 and 1000
| people. 1t has many pretty homes, and
| Is very cool and pleasant in summer
| the sea breezeS reaching it without OBJ
| struction. 1t is right in the shadow of
| the deadly crater. 1t is here that per
| sons going up to the top must leave
| their carriages and walk the rest of the
way. 1t is inevitable that the beautiful
| village of MOrne Rouge was utterly
| destroyed if the eruption was anything
| like what it is described TO be.
IAN, the cool little lake on the top Of
Mont Pelee. High up there, 400 feet
| above the water, set amid luxurious
| trees, with vistas of the sea and of the
| town below i'll the distance there could
| be no more beautiful place. It was al
] ways n great place for picnics and out
| ingS and gatherings of every kind.
| There was plenty of room, much pretty
| scenery and it was cool ana delightful
mo one ever thought of fearing the
volcano, which all thought to be ex-
tinct. 1t never smoked and the only
evidence of its activity fifty years
| ago was the placid little lake, some
sixty feet in circumference, right at
the very top. The people crowded
about by thousands. never dreaming
that there was any danger.
But to return TO st. Pierre. AS you
come up to it from the sea it presents
a beautiful spectacle. nestled down by
the water, with the houses of the new
town showing on the slope and the
grim range of mountains walled up be
hind it.