Free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1888-1908, 1902-06-07

| follow the line of least resistance un-
til 1t swirled about the Guerin factory,
setting that building ablaze and des-
| troy1ng many lives, then apprehension
grew into fear and soon might have
lapsed into a panic, which doubtless
would have saved through flight the
lives of the thousands that were soon
to be sacrinced.
1t was at this crisis that the hand
of the government appeared. To Fort
de France, the seat of local authority,
had come reports of the uneasy feel
ing of those dwelling in st. Pierre,
| Martinique's commercial theater. 1t
is thought that Gov. Mouttet honestly
| believed there was no cause for alarm
and that a panic in st. Pierre would
work disaster in many ways, interrupt
ing commerce and lnjuring the whole
island as well as the threatened city.
He, If none other, realized that an
| exodus from the place would be a
tacit acknowledgment Of The danger
that lurked in the volcano, which all
in Martinique would have the world
believe was long ago extinct and never
to be restored to the list of still active
nor yet clasccd with those that are
dormant.
In st. Pierre there were some gov
eminent employees, among these gray
boards who had spent years in vol
canic regions, and VINO knew some
thing of the preliminary warnings
which come from these excitable
hills. When the lava streams came
pouring down from Pelee these at once
made hurried applications for leaves
of absence. The government sought
to make an example of the youngest,
and in a communication to him denied
the application for furlough, and said
moreover that if the applicant quilted
his post at the time his position
would be taken from him. This man
unfortunately, names are hard to
obtain now from Martiniques hysteri-
| cal population-promptly decided thai
his life was worth more than his place
and, packing up his belongings, went
with his family to some point inland
just where no one seems to know.
Monday, May 5-Less than eighty
hours, and the 10000 lives of st.
Pierre ere to be blotted out as quickly
as one snuffs a candle. Fear is rife
among the populace the morning of
this day and an unwonted silence per-
vades the city-the hush that precedes
a great tragedy. Macaws and parrots
squawk discOrdantly from cages, foun-
tains tinkle merrily, seas and skies
are blue, but pervading all is an air
of eXpeetancy-of dread.
Few have yet left the city, but it
would now take little to turn every
street into a struggling stream of hui
mainly fleeing panic-stricken from the
vicinity of that awful volcano. From
tales 1 have heard one can easily
conceive of what a trampling rush
might have followed some tocsin alarm
-such-a mad rush for safety as theater
crowds are wont to make when the
cry of fire" is heard.
But there was none in Martinique
to give needed warning even
Pelee. All that day and the next and
the next the volcano smoked, and at
intervals emitted clouds of ashes,
finely 1lverized pumice the chemists
say the ashes are composed of, but
the wind sent the smoke and ashes
away from the city, and while the roll
ing clouds were seen from far-off
points and while the ashes fell on
the ships half a hundred miles away
none in st. Pierre seems to have
known that the mountain was even
then pouring forth smoke and ashes.
What the residents did know was
that a commission of biologists had
been appointed by the government to
survey Pelee and report upon it
to say whether there was danger there
or not. Then, too, the governor was
coming, and, moreover, his family was
coming with him. Could there posi-
bly, be any danger where so eminent
and so important personages as these
were? Also a company of soldiers
from Fort de France were coming,
and while the ST. Pierrans were talk