The Holly chieftain., 1902-05-16
SWIFT DESTRUCTION
AcIry GONE IN TEN MINUTES

Kerry GONE IN TEN MINUTES
st. Pierre Disappeared In a WhirIins
Tornado Of Fire, Mud and Steam
That Swept All Before It to De.
struetion-over Thirty Thousand
corpses on Land and in the Sea.
Fort De France, Martinique, May IL.
1T now seems to he generally admit
ted that about 10000 persons lost their
lives as a result of the outbreak of the
Mont Pelee volcano at st. Pierre on
Thursday last.
Careful investigation by competen,
government officials show that the ear.
Her reports of the Associated Press
were accurate
Briefly put, last Thursday morning
the city of st. Pierre disappeared with
IN ten minutes, In a whirling vomit
from Mont Pelee: 10000 persons were
instantly and horribly Killed, and a vol
cano, whose ancient crater for more
than fifty years had been occupied by
a quiet lake in which picnic parties
bathed, suddenly discharged torrent
OF fiery mud, which rolled toward the
"a, engulfing everything before it..
Ihen the last of cable communication
was broken, and the doomed city was
isolated from the world.
The American consul Mt Guadaloupe,
Louis II. Ayme, has reached the DESC
fate spot where st. Pierre stood and con-
Ihrms the awful story in all its essen.
ttal details. From an Interview with
Consul Ayme, who is a trained Ameri-
can newspaper man, correspondent
of the Associated Press learned the fol.
lowing facts:
Thursday morning the inhabitants Of
the city awoke to find heavy clouds
shrouding the Mont Pelee crater All
day Wednesday horrld detonations had
been heard. These were echoed from
st. Thomas on the north to Barba-
does on the south. The canonading
ceased on Wednesday night, and fine
ashes fell like rain on st. Pierre. The
inhabitants were alarmed, but Cover.
nor Mouttet, who had arrived Mt st.
Pierre the evening before, did every
thing possible to allay the panic.
The British steamer Roraima reached
ST. Pierre on Thursday with ten pas
sengers, among whom were Mrs.
Stokes and her three children, and Mrs.
n. ]. Ince. They were watching the
rain of ashes when. with a frightful
roar and terrific electric discharges, a
tornado of fire, mud and steam swept
down from the crater over the town
and bay. sweeping all before 1t and de-
stroying the feet OF vessels Mt anchor
on the shore. There the accounts Of
the catastrophe SO far obtainable cease.
Thirty thousand cOrpses are strewn
about, buried in the ruins of st. Pierre.
n else floating, gnawed by sharks, in
vthe surrounding seas. Twenty-eight
charred, half-dead human beings were
brought here. Sixteen Of them are al
ready dead, and only four of the whole
number are expected to recover.
The Associated Press steamer, char.
tered In Guadalupe. neared Mar
Unique at 6:3O Sunday morning. The
Nsland, with lofty hills, was hidden be-
hind huge veil of violet or leaden.
colored haze. Enormous quantities of
the wreckage of large and small ships
and houses strewed the surface of the
sea Huge trees, and, too often, bodies,
with fiocks of seagulls soaring above
and hideous sharks fighting about
them, were floating here and there.
From behind the volcanic veil came
blasts of hot wind, mingled with 9TH
ers ice cold.
At lie Precheur, five miles north of
st. Pierre, canoes with men and wom-
en-, frantic to get away, begged for a
passage on the steamer.
The whole north end of the island
was covered with silver-gray coating
Of ashes. resembling dirty snow. Fur
ious blasts of fire, ashes and mud
swept over the steamer, but finally st.
Pierre was reached.
! The city of st. Pierre stretched near
ly two miles along the water front, and
half mile back to cliff Mt the base
Of the volcano. The houses of the rich
er French families were built of stone.
The still smoking volcano lowered
above the ash-covered hills. The ruins
were burning in many places, and
Ifrightful odors Of burned flesh filled
the air.
With great difficulty landing was
effected. Not one house was left in
tact. Viscid heaps of mud, of bright
er ashes. or piles Of volcanic stones
were seen on every side. The streets |
could hardly be traced. Here and
there, amid the ruins, were heaps Of
corpses. Almost. all the faces were
downward.
In one corner twenty-five bodies Of
men, women apd children were