Daily Kennebec journal., 1902-05-13
slow starvation
ADDED TO THE HORRORS
Heaped Upon People Of Martinique Food,
Clothing and Supplies Are Being
Rushed From All Sides.
United STATES CONGRESS APPR0PRIATES 100000.
Latest Advice Say $4,000 Peshed But Score Survive
---Erupdon Not 0ver-St. Vincent Still
in Great Danger.
United STATES CONGRESS APPROPRIATES S2oo,0OO.|

! rescued are Salvador Aillo and Joseph
Susino.
From the Italian ship Teresa Lovico
several men were saved, but they are
in q frightful state, except Jean Louis
Prudent of st. Pierre. Although on
deck and unprotected, he was little
burned. Prudent says there WAS first
an awful noise of explosion and then,
right away. a cyclone of smoke and
fire but such was the awful, poisonous,
choking nature of the smoke that it
burned worse than the fire. When it
struck people they fell dead. The
cyclone of gas tore the maStS out of
ships. blew others up and sunk some
of them. Soon afterwards came a
wave of fire bigger than the smoke
cloud
THAT cloud" continued Prudent,
was bigger. it seemed, than the noun
tain. The first burned the city every
where at once. Near me l saw only
dead men: but on shore, | saw men and
women rushing back and forth amid
the flames for an hour. They would
not run long. Then came that choking
smoke and they would drop like dead
flies.
The explosion smoke and fire all
came and went in three minutes, but
the city burned for three hours. Then
every house was finished and nothing
above was left.
Some men from the sinking ships got
to the shore, but they We're burned up
there.
"At no time We're there any earth
/ hiO rnina0
down and fire fell like rain for a long
time"
In q separate part of the hospital
were found several persons saved from
Carbet Village, miles from st. Pierre.
The village of Urine. south of ST.
Pierre, was almost entirely burned and
nearly all the inhabitants were killed
One of the survivors of Urine, who viii
die. says the sea, boiling hot, invaded
the land.
| Six women. whose bodies are one
| solid burn, were in another ward. Ten
women, severely burned, from Urine
| were brought in, and four of them have
| died 1t is doubtful of any of the six
| still alive can recover.
| An evidence of the Swiftness of the
| onslaught of fire is found in the fact
| that none of the victims was blinded
| although the eyelids of most of them
are nearly burned through. All those
saved, except the engineers of the Ro-
| raiIna, are Ioor sailors and Martinique
| negroes.
No one knows how the passengers of
| the steamers perished, and it is iInpos-
| sible to get q full list of the vessels lost.
| The cable repair ship Grappler was
| lost with all on board, as was the
| French vessel Tamaya. There were IS
or 20 vessels in the roadstead at the
time of the disaster.
| The British steamer Roddam had
anchored, but Capt. Freedman, al
| though horribly burned, managed to
| keep on the bridge of his vessel. Ev-
erybody on the Roddam's deck was
| killed instantly. but with the assistance
| of his third engineer and fireman,
who We're wounded. he brought his ves-
sci to st. Lucia.
| Many persons tried to reach the
! Eoddam but in vain. The United
States vice consul a st. Pierre. Ame-
den Testart, reached the deck of the
| Roddam only to fall dead into the sea.
Three hours of exploration of the
ruins Of St Pierre resulted in the, find
ing of no trace of the American con-
sulate. Consul Thomas 7. Prentiss, his
wife and two daughters. are undoubt-
edly dead. That quarter of the city is
Il vast mass of still blazing ruins. Nor
has any trace been found of James
Japp, the British consul. Mr.. Japp had
Il large family at st. Pierre.
Last Saturday, after 10 hours work,
a captain and a detail of soldiers found
2,500. 1000 francs (S500,000) in the Bank
of Martinique. The vaults of the Eng
| lish Bank at St. Pierre We're found to
be intact and We're not opened. The
first villages near st. Pierre We're de-
stroyed simultaneously with that town
The entire island up to within a few
miles of Fort de France is covered
/ with mud and ashes.
! Thousands of persons are flocking tC
Fort de France. Unless relief is
D promptly sent famine is imminent anC
7 there is urgent need for the services OF
4 the Red Cross Society.
4 The volcanic detonations We're distinct
s tly heard in Barbados. u hundred miles
away, and the fall OF ashes there was ;,
heavy that it resulted in intense dark
e ness for several hours during the after