The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1902-07-03
ST. vINCENT'S TRAGEDY
La Soufriere's Deadly Work
Similar to Mont Pelee's.
AWFUL SCENES IN WASTED REGIONS

-
Many Miles by a Correspondent
Who Penetrated the Stricken Dis
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Scenes In Hes-
Neutrality-suspicious. Day OF Terror.
Conditions in the stricken district OF
the island of ST. Vincent are almost
beyond description, writes the New
York Herald's special correspondent
from Port of Spain, Trinidad, under
the date Of May 10. have just re
turned from visit to Georgetown and
the ruined country around it. where it
was quickly found that the explosions
of the Soufriere were at least as vio-
lent as those of Mont Pelee in Marti-
nique.
That the destruction of human life
was not so great as at st. Pierre was
due only to the fact that no large city
was near Scufriere. Had there been
a ST. Pierre near that awful volcano
there would have been the same APP
palling loss of life as on Martinique.
AS it was 1900 inhabitants of the
sparsely settled country around the
Soufriere have been killed. and to
these must inevitably be added very
many Of those who escaped alive, but
terribly burned and who cannot sur
yive.
Nineteen shocks OF earthquake were
felt at Wallfbou on Saturday, May 3,
and at other places the ground appear
ed to be oscillating almost continuous
~. The crater showed signs on Tues
day morning of having awakened from
its long slumber, and by 3 o'clock in
the afternoon a column of heavy smoke.
with jet of lurid flame was seen to
issue from the summit CT the mountain.
That jet of flame, with its sinister look
ing column of funeral smoke, was the
death warrant of 1000 human beings
doomed to perish miserably within a
few hours. Then began that race for
life which man who happened to be
at Chateau Belair has thus described:
81 was fishing at some distance from
the shore when my boatman said to
me: Look at the Soufriere sir. 1t is
smokingp From the top Of the cone,
reaching far up into the heavens, a
dark column of smoke arose, while the
mouth OF the crater itself glowed like
q gigantic forge belching huge jet of
yellow flame. The mass of smoke
spread out into branches extending for
miles. and clouds of sulphurous vapor,
overfowing, as it were, the bowl of
the crater, began to roll down the
mountain slopes.
Eve reached shore and started to
run for our lives. We were soon en-
veloped in impenetrable darkness, and
was unable to distinguish the white
shirt of my boatman even at a yards
distance. But as he knew every inch
Of ground l held on to d stick he had,
and so we stumbled on until we reach
ed a place of safety. The incessant
roar of the volcano, the rumbling Of
the thunder, the flashes of lightning,
added to the terrific grandeur Of the
scene. At last we emerged from that
pail of death, half suffocated and with
our temples throbbing as If they were
going to burst"
1t was only on Friday afternoon that
residents of Kingstown, the capital,
began to gain some idea of the disas-
ter which had befallen the country OF
the Caribs, as the northern portion Of
the Windward coast is called. George
town is the center of that once fertile
and beautiful district, now a desolate
waste of ashes. Between this town
and the capital there is fairly good
road, running for the most part along
the sea.
The journey is usually performed on
horseback, but mail wagon, which
takes passengers, plies regularly along
the road. 1t is also possible to obtain
at times some sort of vehicle drawn by
mules. and it was by one of these con-
veyances that 1 proceeded to George
town on the day after the eruption.
1t is almost impossible to convey In
writing any idea of the desolate ap-
pearance Of the country beyond the
fifteen mile post-that is, fifteen miles
rom Kingstown and seven from
Georgetown. The whole place looked
Is If millions Of barrels of cement had
oeen emptied over the land, covering
every inch of ground with a coat of
iismal gray. As we proceeded MOTTO
d that the small stones scattered about
we're Of larger size and that the bed Of
lust became thicker until we reached
Georgetown, where the streets were
Overed to depth of three feet.
1t was only when we reached the
enter Of the town, however, that we
egan to realize the horrors caused by
nat fatal eruption. We passed three
Ouses from which there arose heart
ending walls of suffering. It was in
aese houses that the injured, for few
whom there was any chance of re-
)very, were being slowly tortured to
cath by the memorable hand of ma
re. We hurried on through George
wn to the country beyond, where
Ost of the inhabitants had persisted.
he first place we got to was the over
.er's house in Langley park, where
lirty-seven bodies had been found.
hey had already been buried, but, as
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