The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-05-11
And Engulfed the Burning Vessels, Their Crews
and Passengers Who Were Aboard.
Streets of the Ruined City Strewn with Dead-About
$50 Persons Rescued by Gable Ship
Casualties at st. Vincent.

FORT DE FRANCE. Martinique. May 10.
--latest advices do not materially lessen
the horror of the calamity at St Pierre.
Several hundred persons have been saved,
many OF them being severely burned or
otherwise injured. but there are thousands
OF dead in the ruins Of the houses or in the
streets and fields. A cable repair steamer
reached here with 450 survivors and has
returned to st. Pierre to search for more.
The ruined city is practically buried in
mud. ashes and lava. Corpses are strewn
about everywhere. The walls of some of
the most substantial buildings are standing,
but everything burnable vanished in smoke
or melted away in the molten matter that
rained on the fated city.
A few of the residents OF ST. Pierre,
warned by the continuous rumbling of
Mont Pelee, and mindful OF the terrible dis
,aster OF 1850 fed in time to escape death.
but the majority tarried and were over
whelmed in the steam, hot mud and fire
that spouted high from the volcano and
then fell on the doomed place.
The catastrophe. as viewed from the har-
Dor or roadstead. was awe-inspiring. One
OF the survivors of the steamship Roraima
says the eruption of the Mont PeIee vol
cano was seemingly accompanied by a tidal
wave which no ship could Withstand. Steam
and ashes had been elected from the vol
cano for some time before the overwhelm-
ing outburst occurred. Early on Thursday
morning there was a terrible rumbling.
Then the atmosphere was violently agi-
tated. Suddenly a dark, fiery mass shot
skyward. The spectacle was appalling
People ashore could be seen running hither
and thither. but only for few moments,
for great sheet OF flaming. steaming mat
ter spread over the heavens and soon be-
gan falling on the city and roadstead.
Ships riding at anchor were Immediately
wrapped in flames. Hot mud and molten
rock struck the decks with terrific crash,
and every particle of woodwork above
water blazed in flame at once And, to add
TO the horror, great wave swept over the
sea. engulfing everything before it, few
persons clung to wreckage and were later
picked up and brought to Fort de France.
STREAM OF BURNING LAVA.
This evening further details of the dis
aster were learned Mont Pelee, which is
about ten miles north of St. Pierre, on
May last began to throw out dense
clouds of smoke. At midnight ~the same
day, flames. accompanied with rumbling
tnersfos sshted the sky over an immense
area, causing widespread terror. May
hot ashes covered the whole city quarter of
st. Pierre an inch thick and made Mont
Peiee invisible. At noon May a stream OF
burning lava rushed 400 feet down the
mountain side. following the dry bed of
torrent and reaching the sea, five miles
from the mountains. in three minutes.
In its rush the fiery flood swept from it's
path plantations. buildings. factories. cattle
and human beings over a breadth of about
half a mile. Al the rear OF the mouth OF
the Riviere Blanche stood the large Guerin
sugar factory. one OF the finest in the
island. 1t is now completely entombed IN
lava. The tall chimney alone is visible.
One hundred and hfty persons are esu-
mated to have perished there. including the
owners son.
AS the lava rushed into the the latter
receded 800 feet all along the west coast,
and. returning with greater strength. big
wave covered the whole sea front of St.
Pierre. but causing little damage ashore or
afoat. Terrible detonations. heard hun
dreds OF miles northward. followed at short
irregular intervals and continued at night.
In the intense darkness the electric light
failed. but the town was lit up By the lurid
flashes OF flame from the mountain. The
terror-stricken inhabitants rushed for the
hills In their night clothes. screaming.
shouting and wailing-mad with terror.