Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-05-09

State Department Advices.
Washington, May 9.-No news OF TN
calamity at ST. Pierre, Martinique, ma
been received here from any otncla
source, but the state department ha'
advices this afternoon which indlcate'
that an earthquake had pfopapi.
caused serious loss of life and prop
erty in the island.
These advices came from Louis n
Ayme, United States consul at Guade
loupe, who, in addition to reporting
that seismic disturbances had oc
Cured there. said that he had oeen IN
formed that hundreds of people hat
been killed in and about Martinique
Guadeloupe and Martinique are neigh
boring islands, both belonging t
France.
Consul Amye reported that tele
graphic communications with Martin
ique were broken in every direction
He said also that great CONSERVATION
prevailed in the vicinity of his pos
in consequence of earthquakes ant
volcanic activity. Loud noises Were
heard continuously, he said, and thes,
were ascribed to volcanic action
Guadeloupe recently suffered terribl!
from earthquakes. Only last month
hundreds of lives We're lost in Guate'
mala from the same cause.
The United States consul at st
Pierre, Martinique, is Thomas T
Prentis. He was born in Michigan
and appointed to that post from Mas
sachusetts. Mr.. Prentis is one of the
veterans of the consular service. He
was appointed consul at Seychelle:
islands by President Grant in Decem-
ber, 1871, and transferred to Port Louis
Mauritius, in March, 1880. He re.
NAMED at Port Louis until June, 1894
when he was retired, but he got bacl
in the consular service under Presiden
Mckinley in January, 1900, when hi
was appointed consul at Rouen, France
After a few months service at Rouer
he went, in May, 1900, as consul al
Batavia, and stayed there until Oc.
tober of that year, when he was trans
ferred to st. Pierre, Martinique.
The United States Vice Consul al
ST. Pierre is Amedee Testart, a ma
tive of louisiana, from which state
he was appointed to the post in June
1898, on the nomination of George
Darte Of Wilkesbarre, Pa, then the
United States consul there. There ara
no other American consular officers
in Martinique
It is believed by the state depart
ment officials that they will get 9
more detailed account Of the catas-
trophe from Consul Ayme.
st. Pierre and the island of Marti-
nique Qn the Danish West Indies. of
the northeast coast of South America
are no strangers to destructive earth
quakes and volcanic eruptions.
In August 1867, an earthquake killed
1000 persons in st. Pierre. In 1851
Mount Pelee, an active volcano, rising
from the outskirts of st. Pierre, threat
ened the city with destruction.
Earthquakes involving loss of life
have been frequent in the history of the
West Indies. On June /, 1892, 5000 peo-
pie perished in the island of Jamaica
by an earthquake which engulfed en-
tire houses forty fathoms deep.
Port-au-Prince. Hayti, was ruined
by an earthquake on Nov. 81, 1751
Nine hundred persons perished in an
earthquake on st. Lucia in 1888.
Even within the last century the
earthquakes have been numerous, one
on Jan. II, 1889, destroying the town OF
Port Regal and killing 700 persons. The
most serious one, however, was on May
Z, 1912, at Cape Haytien. Santo Domin-
60 where 5000 persons lost their lives
ST. Pierre was practically destroyed
once before, in August, 1891, by the
great hurricane which swept over the
islands.
The harbor at st. Pierre has been a
famous one for centuries. 1t was OFF
this harbor on April IL, 1882, that Ad-
miral Rodney's fleet defeated the
French squadron under the Compile de
Grasse and wrested the West Indies
from France.
1t was also in the harbor at ST
Pierre that Admiral Cervera first stop
ped with his fleet when he first crossed
the Atlantic during the recent Span
ish-American war.
The island of Martinique rises from
the sea in three groups of rugged peaks
and contains three volcanoes long be-
lieved to be extinct.
ST. Pierre, of $4,000 inhabitants. pre-
ance, being built in amphitheaterl like
shape, in streets extending back to the
moutain and climbing UP the hills by
SUGGESTIONS of steep stone steps. French
is the universal language spoken, tho
the natives and half breeds speak a sort
of patois of their own. The bulk OF
the shipping and commercial interests
is carried on in st. Pierre, it being the
coaling port of all the steamship lines,
and is the distributing center Of mer-
chandise, ETC., for the interior. Sugar
rum, coffee and cotton are the staple
products. The exports are mainly sent
to France, while nearly all the bread
stuffs are imported from the United
States. In architecture st. Pierre re-
sembles the French quarter of New Or
leans. Yellow is the prevailing color
of the houses, with green Venetian
blinds and red-tiled roofs. The houses
are seldom more than two stories in
height. Outside of the city there are
some fine villas, almost hidden from
the roadway by palms and other tropi-
cal foliage. The streets are all narrow
and paved with large blocks Of square
stones.
PRESIDENT SAM RESIGNS.
Chief Executive of Haytian Republic
Steps Out o.; Office.