The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1902-05-13
DOOMED CITY WAS ALMOST INSTANTLY DESTROYED
Full Calamity
Eruption and the Ruined City Cannot Be Approached
Clouds of Smoke and Ashes Fill the Air.

Castries, st. Lucia, British West
Indies, May lint. Pelee, a volcanic
mountain about 10 miles north of st.
Pierre, the commercial capital of Mar
Unique, the mountain which made
faint show of eruption SO years ago,
on May 3 last, began to throw out
dense clouds of smoke. At midnight
of the same date flames, accompanied
by rumbling noises, lighted the sky
over an immense area, causing wide
spreal terror. On May hot ashes
covered the whole city quarter of st.
Pierre an inch thick and made Mt.
Pelee invisible. At nbon on May 5, a
stream of burning lava rushed 4,400
feet down the mountain side, follow
ing the dry bed of torrent, and,
reaching the sea, five miles from the
mountain, in three minutes. In it's
rush, the fiery flood swept from it's
path plantations, buildings, factories.
cattle and human beings over a
breadth of about half mile
At the rear of the mouth of the
Riviere Blanche stood the large Cue
rim sugar factory, one of the finest in
the island. 1t is now completely en-
tombed in lava. The tall chimney alone
is visible. One hundred and fifty per-
sons are estimated to have perished
there.
Into the Sea.
AS the lava rushed into the sea, the
latter receded 300 feet all along the
! west coast, returning with greater
strength. A big wave covered the
whole sea front of st. Pierre but did
little damage ashore or afloat.
Terrible detonations, heard hun
dreds of miles northward, followed at
short irregular intervals and continu-
ed at night. In the intense darkness
the electric lights failed, but the town
was lit up by lurid flashes from the
mountain. The terror-stricken inhab-
itants rushed for the hills in their
8,
wailing, mad with terror. The Pills
sono family escaped to st. Lucia in a
small steamer Thirty-five persons,
| mostly women and children, arrived
here in the forenoon of the 9Th and
furnished the details given above.
The men remained in Martinique
The same afternoon, later. tele-
graphic communication was interrupt
ed with both islands of Martinique
| and st. Vincent. During the after
| noon of the Sth the British steamer,
| Roddam, which had left st. Lucia at
midnight on the 7th for Martinique,
crawled slowly into Castries harbor,
unrecognizable, gray with ashes, her
| riggings dismantled and sheets and
awnings hanging about, torn and
| charred.
Wrapped in Flames.
Captain Whatter reported that hav-
| ing just cast anchor off st. Pierre at
p. M, in fine weather succeeding
an awful thunder storm during the
| night, he was talking to the ships
agent, Joseph Plissono, who was in a
boat alongside, when he saw a tre-
mendous cloud of smoke and glowing
cinders rushing with terrific rapidity
over the town and port, completely
and in an instant, enveloping the
former in sheet of flame and rain
| ing fire on board. The agent had
| just time to climb on board when his
boat disappeared. Several of the
crew of the Roddam were quickly
scorched to death.
BY superhuman efforts, having
steam up, the cable was slipped and
the steamer backed away from the
shore and nine hours later managed to
reach Castries. Ten Of the Roddam's
dead were contorted and burned out
of human semblance, owing to the
black cinders which covered the ships
decks to a depth of six inches Two
more of the crew have since died.
Roddam's Heroic Captain.
Two of the survivors of the crew
were loud in their praise of the heroic
conduct of the captain in steering
their vessel away from destruction
with his own hands, which were badly
burned by the rain of fire which kept
falling on the ship for miles after
she got under way. Beyond burns