Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1902-08-23
ST. VINCENT'S TRAGEDY
La Soufriere's Deadly Work
Similar to Mont Pelee's.
AWFUL SCENES IN WASTED REGIONS

Desolation and Death Found Fo
Many Miles by a Correspondent
Notwithstanding Scenes In Hos
Neutrality-suspicious. Day of Terror
Conditions in the stricken district O.
the island Of st. Vincent are almos
beyond description, writes the New
York Herald's special correspondent
from Port Of Spain, Trinidad, under
the date of May Is. I have just re
turned from a visit to Georgetown anG
the ruined country around it, where il
was quickly found that the explosions
Of the Soufriere were at least as VIC
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 It'd fact that no large city
was near Soufriere. Had there been
st. Pierre near that awful volcano
there would have been the same ap-
palling loss Of life as on Martinique
AS it was, 1000 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
| viVe.
Nineteen shocks of earthquake were
felt at WalliboE on Saturday, May g.
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
it's long slumber, and by o'clock in
the afternoon column Of heavy smoke
with a jet Of lurid fame was seen to
issue from the summit Of the mountain
That jet of fame, with it's sinister look
ing column Of funereal 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
smoking! From the top Of the cone,
reaching far up into the heavens,
dark column Of smoke arose, while the
mouth Of the crater itself glowed like
a gigantic forge belching huge jet Of
yellow fame. The mass Of smoke
spread out into branches extending for
miles, and clouds of sulphurous vapor,
oyerfowing, as it were, the bowl Of
the crater, began to roll down the
mountain slopes.
1--WE 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 yards
distance. But as he knew every inch
of ground held on to a 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 DuFSL.
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 |
tie 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 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
from kingstown and seven from
Georgetown. The whole place looked
as if millions of barrels of cement had
been emptied over the land, covering
every inch Of ground with a coat Of
dismal gray. AS we proceeded MOTTO
I'd that the small stones scattered about
were Of larger size and that the bed Of
dust became thicker until we reached
Georgetown, where the streets were
covered to depth of three feet.
1t was only when we reached the
center Of the town, however, that we
began to realize the horrors caused by
hat fatal eruption. We passed three
Iouses from which there arose heart
'ending walls Of suffering. 1t was in
these houses that the injured, for few
If whom there was any chance Of re-
'overy, were being slowly tortured to
Heath by the memorable hand Of ma
ure. We hurried on through George
own to the country beyond, where
most Of the inhabitants had persisted.
The first place we got to was the over
IN orIz |