The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-07-06


being what a cultivated man had OBJ
served and disproved the theory of lies
geologues,' and others. that the side
of Peiee had opened and shot the fire
thus upon st. Pierre. The fire had
come from the summit, had risen per
haps sixty meters high" then, explod-
ing all the way, had suddenly slanted
down and consumed that city, of which
Morne Rouge was almost a suburb,
the fashionable summer retreat
All the fields were blue and desolate.
Nearly all the dwellings were closed
the village was nearly deserted.
Where may we find lodgings?" we
asked, after hearing the now old story.
Pere Marye laughed. Come, IL is
now the time for the Angelus." he said.
You viii like to go to your room and
rest during the Angelus. Then we will
dine
He had an old black woman show US
TO rooms in a house the church.
We asked her to fetch some water.
1T is ready" she answered; when /
saw you arrive / knew mon pere would
have you stay; so prepared the rooms.
These are the rooms of the Seminar
ists.''
to rooms in house by the church.
There were clean, sweet beds, bare
walls and doors, a crucifix in each,
candle, a few religious prints and
book on Living a Good Life" The
Angelus commenced to ring, causing q
pause in the village.
We had a simple dinner of SOUP,
black bread, beef, claret. coffee and a
pousse cafe made of rum and syrup,
the drink of the country. And besides,
the kind old man hunted through a
closet and brought out one cigarette,
which some traveller had left there. 1t
was the best he had that he gave us.
Two nights ago. he said, smiling,
Il entertained two other Americans
geoIogues or j0urnalistes. I don't know.
We had but just taken soup when e
voican-boom, a new explosioni and
the Americans fed, got right up, and
ran back to Fo'-de-F'wuEce. They left
everything; threw away their. cameras;
abandoned their horses in the stableI"
We had heard about the fight. The
men FASTENED afoot, with several
guides. back thirty miles to Fort de
France. In fear Of the stored fer-de-
lance serpent one kept swinginga stick
in front of him to clear the way. The
cure was highly amused.
But why do you stay in so perilous
a place ?" we asked. Nearly every one
has gone"
"A hundred and fifty remain. They
are my people. I stay TO minister to
them, feed them. and to say to them be
not afraid"
DO you believe that st. Pierre was
destroyed for its wickedness2"
Then he told US of the extraordinary
immortality there, of the growth of the
worship of the devil, of the public bias
phemy, of the increase OF socialism.
And would you say the people were
destroyed for all that?" we pursued.
He shook his head and answered,
briefly:
'-Dieu punit!''-God Furnishes.
Tell us-is it true that the only per-
son in st. Pierre to escape alive was
a prisoner in jail?"
Yes, IL is true. He has eaten at this
table since. This is how it was: A
man named Leon Cypress, black, had
cut another with his machete at a fair
in Precheur, little way down the
coast beyond st. Pierre. While labor
ing on the road with other prisoners in
st. Pierre one day he ran away, ran
had been over a woman. Perhaps he
ran back TO her. But they caught him.
and on the day St. Pierre persisted he
had one more day to serve. Because
he had run away the jailers had put
him in a solitary, underground CELL
which had at the top q very small win
dow. He heard the explosions, he felt
the great heat, was burned little, and
the gases came into the little window,
but not enough TO suffocate him. He
could not imagine what had happened.
Rain came. and washed into his cell.
This gave him drink. but for four days
he had nothing to eat. On the fourth
day he heard voices outside. and called
loudly.
Leon D'Angeles and Theo. Hilaire
were outside looking through the ruins.
Yes. they may have been looking for
property; I don't know. They heard
the cries, it was SO very still every
where. They dug and pried until they
made an opening and he erawIed out.
There lay st. Pierre, scarcely one stone
on another, no living person except
those who had saved him. He won
dered, and asked what had happened
and was frightened, and wanted to go
TO Precheur. They told him not a
soul was left at Precheur They told
him to come to me, to Pere Marye, and
he did.
''He is now in our hospital. Last
Thursday concluded fere Mayre,
with satisfaction, he came 10 his first
communion"
The people he stays to watch over
had. the night we were there June u,
only food enough for eight days
But where is the food the Ameri-
cans landed 50 plentifully on May p? ?"
He shrugged his shoulders "The
politicians know" He had asked for
supplies; he had written letter to the
American consul. Mr. Ayme, at Fort de
FraNSe; but he had had no response.
The fact is, that the party IN power,
in a Tammany-like way, was sending
the supplies not to the needy districts,
but to the districts where the largesse
would bring to the politicians a direct
return in votes and power. One odd re-
suit of the effacement of ST. Pierre is
that the white party of the island was
there practically wiped out-St. PfeEe
party's voters. That catastrophe has
given the black party an immense ad-
vantage, which IL is using in q. way
singulariy repuisive, even for political
chicanery.
Today we hear that the city of Fort
de France has al last placed some food
for Merne Rouge in ruined house at
ST. Pierre. where the priests people
can go and get il.
After dinner the priest lighted us to
our rooms across the church yard. Pc
lee was throwing up a crimson glow
from its fires against the starlft sky.
In the morning. he remarked, as
he left us. you win find coffee IN the
refectory. I shall be at mass. and aft
erwards shall be busy about the par
ish. Good night"
do you know what Pere Msrye is"
said my comrade. as We turned in.
He's BRICK
We thought longer Of him. staying
there with lot OF blacks and few
destitute whites, than ne did of the
volcano whose red glare painted the
sky so inpressirely.
4. N.