The Savannah morning news., 1902-10-26

| be recognizable. but cannot be separat.
ed one from another. There are pitch.
ers, sugar bowls, jars and platters
many of them of solid silver and still
bearing the monogram of families now
completely wiped out of existence
plates still covered with fine gray dust
of the eruption. some welded together
and others separate and still unbroken
although 1T is necessary to handle them
with extreme delicacy; a cross faller
, from private shrine, and finally one
of the two IS American gold pieces
that proved at once the presence OF
American money and the scarcity OF
gold coin.
Inc tremendous heat, which crum-
bled cemented walls often more thar
a yard thick and reduced to a level
every roof and wall in the city except
the towers of the Cathedral has play
ed its most curious pranks with the
smaller articles of tableware Three
spoons, for example, are Joined together
by their handles, suggesting some nov
ell Yankee notion" Other pieces have
been moulded into new shapes that
recall the work of Renaissance silver
smiths, and in which one can vaguely
trace groteSque faces and graceful
bodies; and the effect is heightened by
the fact that the fire has given them
an appearance of extreme age and a
suggestion of the green coloring OF
Etruscan bronze. On the other hand
a cross from one of the private shrines
of the city is almost uninjured.
The collection also contains a curious
commentary on the state of mind OF
the people who owned and used the
articles which DR.. Jaggar has gathered
together, in the shape of a
copy OF the last issue of
Les Colonies, the newspaper whose
fatal optimism did more perhaps than
any other one thing to keep the people
OF st. Pierre from flying before the
threatenings of the volcano. This. of
course, was not found in the ruins.
having come as gift of a French
planter, but copies are now very rare
If not altogether unobtainable. Sneak.
ing of the volcano which on the dav
following was to silence and destroy
It's presses forever. the paper says:
The departures from st. Pierre arc
increasing in number. From morning
Till night, and even during the night.
one sees hurrying people, CARRYING
packages, trunks and children, on their
way to Fonds st. Denis, Morne dor
ange. Carbet and other places. The
steamers of the Compagnie Girard are
never empty. A few figures will give
an idea OF this mad flight. The Gus
VI travellers TO Fort de
France by this line is eighty a dav.
Tor the last three days the number
has risen to 300 daily.
We canfess than we cannot under
stand this panic. Where could one he
better off than at st. Pierre?''
How Or. Jaeger obtained the collec-
tlon makes an interesting story. Dur
ing the weeks following the disaster
wnen the mountain was liable at any
moment to resume its activity. the
French colonial authorities caref,,lIv
policed the ruins to prevent lootinc
Inc regulations, necessary as thew
We're naturally hampered the work
OF the small band Of scientists which
had hurried to Martinique. The SOL
dlers were always liable to mistake
the visitors purpose and permission
even to excavate for specimens of vol
canic rocks and bombs was obtained
with difiiculty The first official visit
OF the French authorities, made for
the purpose of opening the vaults of
the city bank, found the ruins Uttered
with minor articles OF silver, copper.