Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1902-05-14
THOUSANDS OF LIVES LOST.
THE TOWN OF ST. PIERRE, ISLAND or
MARTINIQUE, DESTROYED BY VOLCANO.
ABGlT 10000 SOULS PERiSHED.
Martinique was the Birthplace Of Empress
Josephine--A yeritable Pompeii.

""e'"HHsV Woo uO puNIptdG0 VI GUpEeSS
Josephine-A yeritable Pompeii.
Paris, May 9.-The commander of the
French cruiser Suchet has telegraphed
to the minister of marine, NJ. DeLanes-
san, from Fort DeFrance, Island of Mar
Unique, under date of May 8, at 10 p. M,
as follows:
"Have just returned from st. Pierre,
which has been completely destroyed by
an immense mass of fire, which fell on
the town at about in the morning. The
entire population (about 10000 souls), is
supposed to have perished.. I have
brought back few survivors, ebout 80
All the shipping in tho harbor has been
destroyed by fire. The eruption con-
tinues."
st. Pierre, it was announced from st.
Thomas on Saturday last, had been COW
cred with ashes to the depth of quar-
ter of an inch as the result of the out
break of the Mout Pelee volcano, and
appeared to be enveloped in fog. The
town, which is the largest of the French
West Indies, has population of over
25 900 souls.
st. Pierre is one of the most pictur-
esque towns of the West Indies. 1t is
built along the seashore at the foot of a
high range of mountains. Its houses are
gayly painted and its cathedral is quantity
imposing. Its streets are clean and bor-
dered with trees and flowers, and it has
quite an extensive club life with q
French veneer.
The volcano of Pelee or La Pelee
dominates the town, rising to height of
4, 200 feet.
Martinique has a romantic interest
from being the birthplace of the Empress
Josephine, and the island on which
Madame de Maintenon lived when a
child.
FULL ACCOUNT.
Point-a-Pitre, Guadaloupe, May TO-
The first mate of the Roraima thus des-
cribes the disaster at st. Pierre:
"Between CSC and 7 o'clock in the
morning on Thursday, without warning,
there came sort of whirlwind of steam,
swept the shipping and the roads stead.
"There were some eighteen vessels
anchoring in the harbor, including the
Roraima, the French sailing ship Tamaya,
four larger sailing ships and five others.
All five vessels Immediately canted over
and began to burn. The Tamaya was
bark from Nantes, Captain Maurice, and
was on her way to Point-a-Pitre.
''All the boats except the Roraima
sank instantly and at the same time.
every house ashore was utterly dc
stroyed and apparently burned under
the ashes and burning lava. An officer,
who was sent ashore, penetrated but a
short distance into the city. He found
only few walls standing and the sti eets
literally paved with corpses.
''The Governor of the island, who had
arrived only few hours before the ca
tastrophe, was killed.
"Both the English and American con-
suls, with their families, were reported
to have perished. 1t is certain that no
have escaped"
The cruiser Suchet was here yesterday
buying provisions for the survivors in
the outlying districts. She sailed for
Fort de France last night with a large
quantity of stores, which was immedi-
ately put under military guard. Negroes
are flocking in vast numbers into Fort
de France from the surrounding country,
demanding food.
A telegram from Fort dc France saws
that hot mud and cinders have been fall
ing all night throughout the island and
still continue doing great damage, and
that when final reports are received it
will be found that many people have
been killed or injured in other parts of
Martinique.
The Quebec Line steamship Korona
arrived at the island of Dominica yester-
day, bringing number of survivors from
her sister ship, the Roraima. The cap
tain of the Korona says that the eruption
at st. Pierre was apparently from a new
crater and that accompanying the erup-
tion there seemed to be tidal wave
which overwhelmed the shipping.
a message from the island of st. Vim
cent says:
"The Soufere had been in q state of
eruption for nine consecutive mornings.
On Thursday morning the day broke with
heavy thunder and lightning, which soon
changed into a continuous tremendous
roar. Vast columns of smoke rose over
the mountain, becoming denser and
denser and the scorched-like hail chang
ing later to fine dust fell upon all the
adjacent estates, destroying vast
amount of property. At Chateau Belair
the ashes were two feet deep in the
streets. In Kingston they were fully an
incl deep and many large stones fell in
the parish of Georgetown.
'"The earth shook violently and at 4
o'clock in the afternoon midnight dark
ness spread over the country. Thirty
people are known to be killed and the
damage to property in the Windward
district was very heavy.
'"The Storm roared about Soufiere all
night without cessation, but on the fol-
lowing morning it became intermittent
and fainter.
"a report from Barbados says that
on the 7th the sky was heavily overcast,
the heat was excessive and there was
distant sound Of thunder Later, early
in the afternoon, dense darkness set in
and great quantity of vivid dust fell
and continued falling until a late hour
No damage is reported.
n