The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1902-05-17
ARE PILED in HEAPS.
Site of St. Pierre Is Covered with
Dead Bodies.
Soldiers Are Engaged I'm Crematins
the COrpses - Three Suburban
Towns Burned-L0ss of Life
May Reach 5000.

Fort de France, Island of Martinique,
May 12.-It is now known that three
large towns besides st. Pierre were de-
stroyed in Thursday mornings catas-
trophe. They were LIE Carbet, Tour
miles south of st. Pierre, and LIE Pre-
cheur, Az miles northwest, and Man
ceau. LIE Carbet had population OF
nearly 5000, and LIE Precheur between
$500 and 1000. Manceau was smaller.
These towns were properly suburbs
of st. Pierre, although they had sep
arate municipal organizations. They
were situated at the foot of the noun
tains Piton de Carbet and Piton de
Precheur, and many of the inhabitants
saved themselves by taking to the high
ground. In this manner between 1000
and 5000 were saved. They are still
in the hills, their escape practically
shut off by the sea of lava. Plans are
being made for removing them. The
fatalities on the island may aggre-
gate $4,000.
First Landing mt Pierre.
A landing was made at st. Pierre
Sunday afternoon for the first time
since the town was destroyed. The
captain of the French cruiser with a
party of officers and men and COM
mission of citizens from Fort de
France, landed south of the town. The
party made its way through the laby-
rinth of ruins and found practically
o,ar,, lu;Id;po In ruinS
Thousands of dead bodies, naked,
mutilated and frightfully burned, were
piled in heaps in all parts of the town,
while other thousands were burned
under the ashes, mud and lava which
had overwhelmed the islands. The
work of burning the rapidly decompos-
ing bodies was begun at once.
LAVA Torrent stilI Flowing.
The searching party found that the
entire northern end of the island was
in ruins. The lava from Mont Pelee
| continues to flow down the mountain
sides in seemingly never-ending tor
rent, and the great mass is steadily in
croaching to the northward. Every
| village and plantation in its pathway
is destroyed. Streams are dried up
Food is destroyed. and the people who
escaped death in the fiery flood or SUI
location in the dense clouds of ashes
are perishing of hunger and thirst.
Beginning OF the Eruption.
Fort de France, Island of Martin
ioue. Nav 12.-Advices received here
Sunday from the vicinity of st. Pierre
(ten miles from here) contain FUR
Their details of the terrible volcanic
upheaval which resulted in the ut
ter destruction of that town and the
death of nearly all its inhab
itants. The crater of Mont Pelee hae
been wearing it's "smoke cap" since
the third of May; but, there wa:
nothing until last Monday to indicate
that there was the slightest danger
On that day stream of boiling lava
burst through the top of the crater
and plunged into the valley of thu
River Blanche, overwhelming TIT
Guerin sugar works and killing q
work people and the son of the pro
prietor. A commission was appoint
ed by the governor to investigate tn
outbreak, and it returned reassur
ing report on Wednesday evening
But about eight o'clock on Thursda.
morning shower of fire rushe'
down on st. Pierre, and the coas
from LeCarbet, which had a popula
ton of 5000, to lie Precheur, whic
had a population of 1000, burning u
everything in it's path.
Survivors Rescued.
Throughout Thursday the heat j
the vicinity of St. Pierre was so in
tense and the stream of flowing Law
was so unremitting that it was i'm
possible to approach the town durin
the early part of the day. AS ever
ing approached the French cruise
Suchet, after heroic battle with tn
heat, suffocation and sulphur fumes
succeeded in making dash towar
the shore, nearing the land clos
enough to enable her to take off 3
survivors of the disaster, all of whoI
were horribly burned and mutilatet
St. Pierre at that time was an abst
lutte smoking waste, concealing 30
600 corpses, whose rapid decompos
ton necessitated, in some cases, il
stantly completing their cremation
which was only partially accom-
plished by the lava. The inhabitant
of Fort de France were panic stricl
en-. the morning of the disaster, whe
the sky suddenly blackened until
was as dark as at midnight. The Sc
shrank back 30 yards, and hot raj
began to fall, while gravel, the sis
; of walnuts, poured down on the tow
, This lasted about Is minutes. III
,, $50 survivors who were brought hel
! Saturday from the vicinity of
: Pierre by the French cable repa
{. ship Pouyer Guertier came from Il
, town of lie Precheur, where, su
E rounded on all sides by flowing Law
! they were nearly roasted to deaf
|, and expected momentarily to be e
s quilted.
In the TwInklinE of nm Eye.
London, May ia dispatch
a the Times from st. Thomas, ID. w.
saws that st. Pierre was destroyed
the twinkling of an eye, and that n
40 of the inhabitants of the city G
caped. Some of the outlying parish