Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1902-05-13
AT RUINS OF CITY
American Consul Ayme of GuadalOups
Reaches Scene Of the Volcano.
DEATH AND DEVASTATION AT ST. PIERRE
Spot Where the Metropolis of Martinique
Stood is 0Omplets Waste,
LATE DETAILS CONFIRM EARLY REPORTS
Grim Disaster of Friday FOrsCastsd by
Clouds and 0annOnading.
RAIN or ASHES FOLLOWS, COVERING CITY
Land and Sea strewn with Thirty
Thousand Corpses and wreckage
ATE DETAILS CONFIRM EARLY REPORTS
RAIN OF ASHES FOLLOWS, COVERING CITY
Land and Sea strewn with Thirty
Thousand COrpscs and wreckage
of Buildings and ships Form
Gruesome sight.

OI HulidinKs ana Sntpb F0rm
Gruesome sight.
FORT DE, FRANCE. Martinique. May ~.
1t now seems to be generally admitted
that about 10000 persons lo7t their lives as
the result Of the outbreak OF the Mount
Pelee volcano.
Careful investigation by competent gov
ernment oficials shows that the earlier re-
ports OF the Associated Press were aeou-
rate.
The American consul at Guadeloupe,
Louis H. Ayme, has reached the desolate
| spot where St. Pierre stood and confirms
the awful story In all it's essential details.
From an interview with Colonel Ayme.
who is trained American newspaper man,
the correspondent of the Associated Press
learned the following facts.
Thursday morning the inhabitants Of the
city awoke to find heavy clouds enshroud.
| ing the Mount Pelee crater. All day
Wednesday horrid detonations had been
heard. These were echoed from st. Thomas
on the north to Barbados on the south,
| The cannonading ceased on Wednesday
night and fine ashes fell like rain On St.
Pierre. The inhabitants were alarmed, but
| Governor Mouttet, who had arrived at St.
| Pierre the evening before, did everything
possible to allay the panic.
ROraima ON the scene.
The British steamer Roraima reached ST.
| Pierre on Sunday with ten passengers,
| among whom we're Mrs. Stokes and her
| three children and Mrs. H. ]. Ince. They
were watching the rain of ashes when, with
a frightful roar and terrific electric dis
| charges cyclone of FIRE, mud and steam
swept from the crater down over town
and bay. sweeping all before It Lnd de-
CTS wFtVRK aAAN - -
| the shore.
There the accounts OF the catastrophe SO
far obtainable cease. Thirty thousand
corpsee are strewn about buried In the
| ruins Of st. Pierre or else floating, gnawed
by sharks, In the surrounding seas. Twen-
ty-eight charred, half-dead human beings
| were brought here. Sixteen OF them are
already dead and only four Of the whole
number are expected TO recover. The As.
sociated Press steamer, chartered in QUAD
eloupe. neared Martinique at 6:sO Sunday
morning. y. +.q..5- 3 s-.ers, "a
Island Hid by Veil.
The island. with it's lofty hills, was hid
den behind a huge veil OF violet or leaden
colored haze Enormous quantities OF ths
wreckage Of large and small ships and
houses strewed the surface of the sea.
Hugh trees and many bodies with focks Of
seagulls soaring above and hideous sharks
fighting about them were floating here and
there. From behind the volcanic veil came
blasts of hot wind, mingled with others ice
cold.
At lie Precheure. FIVE miles north OF st.
Pierre, men and women in canvas frantic
to get away, begged for passage on the
steamer.
The whole north end of the island was
covered with silver-gray coating of ashes
! Alrkxr
FIRE, ashes and mud swept over the steamer,
but finally st. Pierre was reached The
city Of st. Pierre stretched nearly two miles
along the water front one-half a mile back
to clin at the base of the volcano The
houses of the richer French families were
built of stone.
Human Bodies Feed Flames.
The still smoking volcano lowered above
the ash-covered hills. The ruins were burn
ing in many places and frightfuI odors Of
burned flesh filled the air.
With great difficulty a landing was ef-
fected. Not one house was left intact
Viscid heaps of mud, of brighter ashes or
piles of volcanic stones were seen on every
side. The streets could hardly be traced.
Here and there amidst the ruins were heaps
Of corpses. Almost all the faces were
downward In one corner twenty-five
bodies OF men. women and children were
mingled In one awful mass arms and legs
protruding the hapless beings fell in the
last struggles OF deaths agony.
J Through the middle Of the old Place Ber-
tin ran a tiny stream, the remains Of the
} river Gayave. Great trees, with roots up-
ward and scorched by ire, were strewn in
: every direction. Huge blocks and still hot
stones were scattered about. From under
! one large stone the arm Of a white woman
} protruded. Most notable was the utter
silence and the awful. overpowerinE stencil
from the thousands of dead.
Careful inspection showed that the fiery
! stream which so completely destroyed 81.
Pierre must have been composed OF poi
sonous gases which instantly suffocated
J everyone who inhaled them and OF other
gases burning furiously, for nearly all Of
! the victims had their hands covering their
mouths or were In some other attitude
showing that they had sought relief from
suffocation. All the bodies were carbon
lied or roasted.
A. G. Huston, the manager Of the Colonial
u Bank OF Barbados, landed vt st. Pierre
with a party from the British Royal mail
s steamer solent. He found the bank clock
s stopped some minutes before O'Clock. A
horse and buggy and policeman wero In
o dead group at the door.
: Few bodies Recognizable.
NEW YORK, May Unsuccessful at
tempts have been made to reach St, Pierre.
l says a London dispatch to the Tribune.
Cabling from st. Lucia, the correspondent
: ! of the Daily Mail says the town is hean
OF ruins and dead hodias are lying ali
around. Few ever will be recognised, 90
great are the mutilation and distortion.
searchers have found 1900 corpsss On the
site OF the cathedral. All appear to have
: been asphyxiated from gas. Not q soul
e was found alive in the whole town.
Describing the destruction OF the island
a city. the correspondent said that last Mon
,, day Mount Pelee poured forth a stream OF
n molten lava twenty feet high aud half q
> mile wide. Its progress was appalling
Rushing down the dry bed OF Riviers
Blanche, It reached the sea Ths force oi
the impact was such that the sea receded
/. for 500 feet for miles along the western