The Irish standard., 1902-05-17
AN AWFUL CATASTROPHE.


ing, May s. is perhaps the great.
est calamity recorded in the his.
tory of volcanic eruptions. Not a
human being escaped alive from
the doomed city. Pliny the young
er, in a letter to his friend Taci-
tus, the historian. vividly describes
the destruction of Pompeii by an erup-
tion of Mount Vesuvius in a. d. 20,
and Bulwer-Lytton in his Last Days
of Pompeii" blends fact with fiction
in his account of the terrific event;
but it is doubtful whether either of
these famous writer's have given !,
grander or more graphic descrip-
tion of the ill-fated Roman city
after the ashes and lava from
Fesuvius had buried it out of
sight than has q newspaper man
given of the beautiful city in the island
of Martinique which was totally de-
stroyed by an eruption of Mount Pelee,
some four miles away, out from whose
crater issued thousands Of tons of
burning lava which fell down from
the sky and buried the city beneath
Il bed of fire.
An earthquake followed the eruption
of the mountain and opened chasms in
the earth which swallowed up thou
sands Of the helpless people. In the
IS nj ,,,I
fed; it receded from the shore and
then returned in a tidal wave that
swept over the roadstead or harbor
and engulfed the ships at anchor with
their crews. Tons of red-hot stones de-
scended from the sky on the ships, and
but few of the officers and mariners
escaped unlurt. The French cruiser
Suchet succeeded in saving about
thirty persons from the town; all but
these perished in the ruins.
One of the survivors who escaped
on the French cruiser told the follow
ing story Of the eruption to the news
paper correspondent referred to in the
preceding paragraph. AS it is graphic
ally written we reproduce part of it
editorially:
"And when the eruption actually did
begin, and the first puffs Of smoke
were followed by little showers of
ashes, we all hurried up to our upper
town along the south side of the har-
Dor to enjoy the sight. We were de-
lighted and grateful to Providence for
this splendid entertainment that every
one could see.
'"The next morning the ashes grew
thicker, and Il north wind drifted them
down towards us. AS they began fall
ing and powdering the green tree tops
a delicate gray white, as the ladies'
heads are powdered in the old portraits
in the palace ut Fort-de- France our
children pretended that snow was fall
ing. Iceland! Iceland! the little ones
screamed But though the white pow
too thick for comfort. 1t blew in our
eyes. siftcd down our necks. and was
carried into our houses. The goods in
the shops were ruined. the children
and sick people We're getting half suf-
| located. Some persons were frighten-
ed by Sunday morning. and they got
ready to leave on the first vessel going
southward. Indeed, Il number of fam
lilies. especially those that had invalils
in their household OF young children,
sailed down to Fort-dc-F France. and II
number of the poorer people that could
get away started to the interior.
"wednesday night the eruption III
creased somewhat. but not enough to
terrfy u.s. We could see now the
shoots of flame that the grandmothers
had spoken of and sometimes IL river
of golden lava would surge over the
side Of tho crater and throw sparks
high into the air.
Every vessel that could be induced
to go down the coast was filled with
passengers. and the country reads We're
crowded with carts. Yet big vessels
stayed off the roadstcad, nearly a
dozen Of them, should say. several
flying the American flag. Il large Eng
lish steamer. and the telegraph c2m-
pany's steamer that was ut work Just
off st. Pierre. The captains evidently
thought that if the eruption grew dam
gerous they could hoist anchor and
sail off.
"These vessels will not sail away
- o'clock in the morning and things