Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1902-05-16


President Roosevelt sent a special mes
sage to Congress Monday rehearsng the
facts Of the calamity at Martinique. and
urging the necessity of PROMPT relief
measures by the United States He rec
commended an appropriation Of S5o0 600
The House passed by an overwhelming
vote bill granting $2OOOO0 for the relief
OF the sufferers in the West Indies Mr.
Hemenway. the acting Chairman OF the
Appropriation Committee explained that
the amount was limited to $1,000 owing
to the fact that large private contribu-
tions were being made. The Senate sub
sequently concurred in the action Of the
House. and the bill was sent to the Pres
ident. The war department has taken
prompt measures TO expend the 900. 900 re-
lief appropriation through the commits
sary depot in New York, where the Dixie
was loaded with supplies
During the afternoon Of the Sth the
British steamer Roddam, which had left
st. Lucia At midnight on the eth for
Martinique. crawled slowly into the Cas-
tries harbor, unrecoEnizable. gray with
ashes. her rigging dismantled and sails
and awnings hanging about torn and
charred.
Capt Whatter reported that. having
Just cast anchor on ST. Pierre. at A. m
in fine weather succeeding an awful
thunderstorm during the night. he was
talking to the ships agent Joseph Pills
sono, who was i'm a boat alongside. when
he saw n tremendous cloud of smoke and
cinders rushing with terrific rapidity over
the town and port. completely and in
an instant euveloping the former I'm a
sheet Of flame and raining fire on board.
The agent had just time to climb on board
when his boat disappeared.
Several Of the crew Of the Roddam were
quickly SCOrchca to- death
BY sIperhuman efforts. having steam
up. the cable was slipped and the steam
er backed away from the shore. and nine
/ hours later managed to reach Castries.
Ten Of the Roddam's men were living
dead. contorted and burned out OF huma n
semblance. among black cinders which
covered tho ships deck TO depth OF six
| inches. More OF the crew have since
died. The survivors of the Roddam' s
crew We're loud I'm their praises Of the he
roic conduct OF their Captain in steering
/ his vessel out of danger with his own
hands. which were badly burned by the
| rain Of fire which kept falling on the ship
/ for miles after she got under way.
/ From the Italian ship Teresa I.ovico
several men were saved by the French
/ cruiser Suchet. but they are in a friChtful
/ state except Jean Louis Prudent of st.
! Pierre. Although on deck and unpro-
/ tected he was little burned. Prudent
/ says there was first an awful noise Of ex-
/ plosion. and then, right away. a cyclone
! Of smoke and fire. but such was the
I awful. poisonous. choking nature Of the
/ smoke that IL burned worse than the fire
! When It struck people they fell dead
/ The cyclone Of gas tore the masts out
/ Of the ships. blew others up and sunk
some of them. Soon afterward came a
wave Of FIRE bigger than the smoke cloud
! Several men. badly burned. were also res
/ cued from the British ship Roraima.
/ one despatch says 1000 persons. mostly
Carb Indians, are reported to have been
/ killed by the eruption Of the Soufrier6
/ volcano in ST. Vincent. st. Vincent is an
/ island only II miles long.
Mont Pelee was still 'erupting smoke and
/ fire at late hour Monday night The
! whole northern portion of Martinique Is
/ depopulated. and famine at Fort do
/ France is imminent.
An additional appropriation of 100000
was made by the Senate Tuesday for th'
stricken people of the West Indies. Wher
| the bill reached the House II was referred
to the committee on appropriations.