The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-06-08


had almost despaired of deliberation
Finally marine from the French cruis-
er ,Suchet heard Soutouts wall, and trac-
ing it, rescued the one living creature in
the city
The bars of the grating had to be pried
open and Sartout was dragged out, more
| dead than alive. He was found to be not
only on the verge Of death from starva-
ton and thirst, but suffering from terri
bic burns about his legs and the lower
part Of the body.
Sartout is now in the hospital at Fort
de France, and viii soon be again on the
! streets, none the worse for one Of the
most remarkable escapes from death in
the history Of the world
So recently a despicabie negro prisoner,
representing the very lowest element in
the lonely island. Sartout has. through
his martyrdom. become sort OF hero;
at any rate a curiosity to be regarded
with interest for years.
It is quite possible that sartout viii be
snapped up by some American Snowman.
and that before he is fairly well over his
burns he will sit stolidiy on a platform
for the edihcation of those who would
look upon the only me Of more than
5000 persons to be saved from a his
toricaI disaster.
Francois Nautra, of the Triton. a boat
that traversed the waterway between St
Pierre and Fort de France, saw from
the sea the savage deluge of the city.
and the story of the fiery. poisonous de-
luge makes seem incredible the escape
Of Sartout, who was right in the center
of it.
Nautra. like sartout. told his thrilling
story TO staff correspondent. His
eighty-ton schooner was beating down the
wi1d around the western point. He was
just at the apex of this point, so that
he commanded view Of both the water
in front of st. Pierre on the north and
further away to the south the contour
of Port Royal Bay. in the bosom Of
which sits Fort de. France.
Nautra explains his departure from his
anchorage at st. Pierre. whore he had
besthed the night before by admitting
his fear of the noises that came from
Pelee
All the way down the coast he fastened
his eyes on the greater crater. He heard
the rumbIings as from a distance as Mr..
Clare but he trembled at the echoes OF
them. He agrees with Mr.. CARES state
ment that a great ball of what seemed
to him black substance appeared on the
top of the volcano. He describes the
same noise and movement as Mr. Clare,
though not so wildly or ninutely. as
he was then about six miles at sea.
He and his mate AnatQle Burger. differ
with Mr.. Clare in that they say the bah
broke the instant it left. the LIP Of the
crater. but it is probable that their
view was INSTRUCTED by the conhguration
Of the mountain.
There is no uncertainty, however, in
their description of what occurred 10 the
ships in the harbor ana the men on them.
Within less than a minute. according TO
Nautra the great ball had swept down
the four miles from from the lip of the
crater to the sea and had caused disturb
ances in the water. that rocked his dis
tant little boat like an eggshelI al
though it was close TO the shore and out
of range OF the wave that that great
mass sent Ieaping and shrieking with
the crescendo of a shrili steam siren.
He saw the waters racing upward and
out. higher than the tailest masts OF any
ships, saw the ships thrown over on their
sides. and far out at sea saw the waves
disappear westward and northward in
great whitecaps toward Dominica and
GuadeloUpe
Dominica folk say that the water raced
up the faces of the perpendicular cliffs,
and the simple people Of Roseau. Egglish
and negroes. thought the end of the
world had come.
Nduua says the great wave passed far
out at sea before he could count ten
breaths. his way of measuring seconds.
He says. too. that it came back thunder
ing with greater forcer and higher in
volume. shrieking louder than before.
He SAYS he saw two ships, both steam
ers, on fire. He thinks-he does not make
the declaration positively-that three or
four of the boats. including one steamer,
he does not know which. survived the
first shock. but were beaten down against
the chalky bottom of st. Pierre road
stead and submerged.
He and his crew of two bent all their
energies to get out of the range of dam
ger The water mounting in waves as
high as the rail of his deck. forced his
frail craft ahead at a greater speed than
she had ever shown beforehand in the
right direction.
He recalls seeing q vessel q mile or so
TO the westward of himself or at least
part of the vessel. with a single spar
sticking out Of the water. and part OF
that looked to him to be the boom. strip
ped clean of canvas and washed BY the
waves.
The sea had not claimed down before
Nautra steered his boat into the harbor
at Fort de France. He came ashore as
pale as a man of his complexion can be
come. but it took him half a DAY 70 re-
cover Sufficiently TO describe. with any
thing like an intelligent understanding.
the horrors he had witnessed.
lie adds a detail nov that he did not
recall at FIRST This is Nthat Vhen the
first great wave went out at sea il LEFT
the shore for half a mile beyo nd the end
OF the beach barren OF water.
He saw tumbled mass of living things
fish. sharks and other crea lures Of the
sea. Then came hack the water again.
to tumble against the beach and thunder
FAR IN into the streets of the city. buried
i'm ashes.
These moving things that he saw IN
that brief second were the only living
creatures 10 be seen from the time he
looked backward at the scenes of indus
try on the ships in the harbor before they
went 10 destruction
AS SWALLOW SAW IT
Gives a Cute Version Of Correspond
ent's Fen Name.
New York Times. Rev. Or swallow.
who has recently been vsry much ii the