Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1902-05-19
NEWS OF THE WORLD.
VOLCANIC HORROR.


scene as being like glimpses of the in
fernO.
Gov. Mouttet was killed. The Eng
lish and American consuls also per
ished.
Many Martinique residents were
drowned while crossing in boats to
Dominica.
The New York chamber of COM
merce will receive subscriptions for
the survivors.
The 500 rescued by the French cable
steamer are believed to have been
picked up in the rOadstead.
President Loubet gave $4,000 to the
St. Pierre relief committee and King
Edward gave $4,000.
Fort de France, Martinique, is crowd
ed with refugees and food is almost
exhausted. Hundreds need medical
aid.
Fourteen men were saved from the
Quebec line steamer Roraima, the en-
tire crew of which was at first thought
to be lost
William P. Eno's yacht Aquillo, with
a party of guests, left New York for
Martinique to view the eruption. Other
yachts will follow.
Soufriere, the volcano on the British
island of ST. Vincent, is in a violent
state of eruption, and disasters on
the island are great.
The loss on life in Martinique about
equalled that on Krakatoa in 1883,
when $4,000 were killed by volcanic
explosion heard 5000 miles.
Five hundred people at least were
rescued from stricken st. Pierre.
That number were taken off by the
cable steamer Puoyer Quentin.
Three Martinique towns were de-
strOyed with st. Pierre-Le Carbet,
500 population; LIE Precheur, $500;
and Manceau inhabitants mostly es-
, capped.
Cable communication with a number
of other islands in the French and
British West Indies is cut off and vol
canoes on several of the islands are
threatening
The eruption of Mont Soufriere, on
the island of ST. Vincent, continues.
It is known that hundreds of lives
were lost and it is feared that thous-
ands persisted.
fThe wife of United States Consul
Prentiss in st. Pierre wrote from
there late in April that Mont Pelee
was rumbling, but it was not regarded
as dangerous.
Herman Gerischer, boatswain on
the steamer L. w. Norton, supposed
lost in the Mont Pelee eruption, was
a son of Mrs. Mary A. Gerischer,
1921 Evans avenue, Chicago.
Ship loads of supplies for Martin
ique survivors were started by the
United States, England, France and
other nations. The cruiser Cincin-
natl and the Potomac are en- route.
Cable communication southwark
from st. Lucia, in the Windward isl
ands, suddenly ceased. Fire and
smoke from the eruption at st. Vim
cent are visible from st. Lucia.
France asked the United States for
ships to rescue the Martinique sur
vivors. President Roosevelt asked
100000 and congress appropriated
100000. Supplies will be sent at
once
Landing parties at st. Pierre found
the city in ruins and thousands of
bodies blocking the streets. 1t is es-
timated that 10000 people persisted.
The work of burning the bodies was
begun.
The houses at st. Pierre seem to
Il ,,o+lO IrI
been swallowed up in great pit.
Immense iron columns were found
twisted and bent over in the direction
of the sea.
United States Consul Ayme at
Guadeloupe visited st. Pierre and
found every house leveled. Heaps OF
burned cOrpses were among the ruins
and the sea was covered with boats of
refugees begging aid.
ST. Pierre, island of Martinique,
was buried under lava from Mont Pc
lee at a. m. May 8 and out Of $4,000
residents only a few escaped. The
loss Of life is put at 5000, and eight
cen steamers were sunk.
Both craterS on the British isle of
St. Vincent are in active eruption and
an official party which left st. Lucia
on May saw flames for the entire
journey. Ashes fell on ships $50
miles away. The north end of st.
Vincent from the Chateau Belane to
Georgetown is destroyed.
The full extent of the catastrophe
of the WindWard isles has only begun
to be told, and its horror increases.
Like Mont Pelee famed La Soufriere
(the sulphur mine) blew up with a re-
port that shook the islands hundreds
of miles away. A rain of ashes from
the exploded volcano fell upon Bar
BADGES and other islands
Relief ships focking to the harbor
of st. Pierre were unable to get near
er in than five miles. The fierce heat
and the constant rain of fire kept them