The Jennings daily record., 1902-07-28
The Gone OK
Of 81. Pierre

i
| awful work of destruction, there Is
| ~ nothing more grewsome and nerve
| racking, more uncanny or Poesque tham
| the tale Of ''The Lone OK of st. Pierre.
| which was told in an Off-hand manner IN
the news dispatches Of the disaster 1t Is
| not the narrative itself, but what II sue-
| gests that produces the creePiness ano
| arouses in the mind q sense OF indennapIe
| fear such as is felt in reading The Mur-
| ders in the Rue Morgue," and its sequel.
| or other such tales. 1t evokes strange ana
] foreboding voices such as the nlshly
imaginative or those afflicted with neural
| disorders hear in the silences of solitude.
| There is something sinister and por!en-
| tious about 1t, something wierd and spec
! trail. Literally, it may be prosaically con-
| densed thus After the catastrophe whlcn
| converted st. Pierre into modern POM
| peii or Herculaneum, and while the shlps
| We're compelled to remain in the onng
| some distance from shore in order TO
avoid the squirting of hot mud and the
| occasional shower of stones, there was
| seen coming down from the mountains
| huge black OK. The beast walked leisure
| ly to the surf, walked out some distance
| and around to where the discharge OF
small fresh water stream formed minia-
| ture estuary and, after drinking It's MI.
| turned about. and as ]eisurely walked
away the same way it came and was lost
| in the mountains. Under ordinary cir
cumstances there is nothing singular IN
an OK doing this.
|
| surroundings and details, as a great
painter with pen or brush would do there
| is much more to the picture. Instantly
| it becomes an epic. The fair city OF st.
| Pierre that has nestled so long under the
| shadow of Mont Pelee has been destroyed
After giving out premonltory mutterlnEs
for a few days. suddenly the cone Of the
mountain was truncated and simeon or
| flame. hot mud, rocks and other missiles
swept down upon the doomed city and
!
panied by mysterious swirl of electricity
| which did it pleased and INDUCED In all
| manner of caprices; here grinding solid
| rock into dust, there stripping the shoes
and stockings from off unfortunate,
| leaving the lifeess body with no other
visible Marks of injury; again denuding
the entire body and battering it to pieces
| or merely touch it with the finger OF
! death. Buildings We're raZed. The proud-
est piles lay in wreckage. Beautiful
| plaZas became widernesses of twisted
iron pillars mingled with rock and debris
| Tn. blackened and stark bodies of 10000
10000 people lay strewn about IN
| heaps, or scattered. mute witnesses OF the
awful calamity. and over all this infinite
desolation the mountain. as if moved by
rernorse for the havoc which it had Gre
ated. had covered all from the sight OF the
| sun with q mantle of ashes. Out of the
many thousands who inhabited the city
| but cne life was spared and that the LIE
! of murderer. who was in an under-
| grourd cell. No man or beast, or insect
reptile. or crawling thing escaped
| Even the birds that perished had no
feathery mates to witness the tragedy
becau use those who were outside of the
zone of destruction remained away ana
| dared not adventure into the area upon
which the vengeance of heaven seemed to
/! have Wreaked its worst. Silence brooded
| ominously unless when pierced by the
| mutterings of the mountain or the desui-
| tory fall of fresh voncanic matter. Brave
| men who hesitate not to go down TO the
| sea in ships and defy the fury Of the
| ocean feared TO approach the land where
not even d tree shrub remained or a
| blade of grass was to be seen. OUT OF
this wild waste and from the domains of
| terror, like a thing of evil, like the pe-
| hemoth of Job, emerged huge black OK,
the only living thing-out, apparently,
| from the very focal fires of the earthly
hell. Leisurely. Indifferent alike to the
| threatenings Of the volcano and to the
| desolation which it's anger had wrought.
and as though meandering through a
| flowery mead. emerged this animal TO
drink it's fill and to return, when salts
fed, into the wilderness. Behold ne
drinketh up a river and hasteth not: ne
trust eth that he can draw up Jordan into
| his mouth" Slowly it returns, leaving
the imprint of its cloven hoofs in the soft
ashes the only evidence of life or that
life had ever been.
The appearance of any other animal
|
OK Is emblematical in many ways. but III
the days of old he upon whose foot the
| black OK trampled was sure TO kno" sor-
| row and adversely. Verify the black OK
| hath trampled upon ST. Pierre. was there
| and is there is pregnant meaning III
| those ancient signs and tokens at whlch
| we laugh so commiseratingly to-day! w as
| there any reality in the voices OF Delpn1
or Dodona? Was there different mean
ing to the sinister and dexter movement
| re j,dc nd q slam
animals reveal the secrets of the future!
Superstitions We say but what wonder
full vitality do they possess. The number
49, starting on q journey on Friday, spill
ing salt, seeing a new moon over the le1l
shoulder and thousand other things are
superstitions that yet obsess the strongest
minds.
The rich merchant of whom the granc
vizier of King Shehriyar tells us In the
Ara bian Nights understood the language
of beasts but dared not divulge the fact
on pain of death. He is the only one o1
whom we know anything who was glttee
in this respect, and the gift came neal
| causing him to lose his life. If there !:
any one who understands OK talk, who
can converse in bovine Nernacular, ant
who will interview this animal and optalr
from 1t the full story of it's escape iron
the calamity that made death and desc
| lation universal in a certain area, ne VII
have something of more news value thar
is common. We can account for the es
. cape of the condemned murderer: bu
, how huge OK could escape unscathet
, from the storm center of annihilation
how he could emerge from it and return
, | into It is inconceivable. Did he defy tn
, | fury of the angry gods like a successful
, Ajax, or was he in some cyclopean cav
ern or Polyphemus which shielded hin
. from danger? Prof Helprm no doub
will tell us many strange things abou
. | the catastrophe, but he can discover noth
ing more seemingly miraculous or insol
. uble than the escape of the lone OK of st
Pierre.
Unless, perhaps. it is the animals tna
fate Is the brute dead will 1t live t
= - Was i