New-York tribune., 1902-05-13
were useful. but the dead only needed quick

The stories Of the survivors added to the de-
tails OF the particularly narrowing account of
the loss of the British steamer Roraima c. C.
Evans of Montreal and John G. Morris. Of
New-York. who are now at the military hos
pit Il al Fort de France. say the vessel arrived
at 6. AS eight bells was struck frightful ex
plosion heard up the mountain. cloud Of
fire. topping and roaring swept with lightning
speed down the mountainside and over the town
and bay. The Roraima was nearly sunk, and
caught hre'at once.
A NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN MOMENT.
"I never can forget the horrid. fiery, choking
whirlwdnd which enveloped me-" said Mr..
Evans. Mr. Morris and I rushed below We
are not very badly burned; not so bad as most
Of them. When the fire came we were going to
our posts 1--WE engineers) to weigh anchor
and get out. When came up we found the
ship all aflre aft. and fought it forward until
3 O'Clock, when the Suchet came to our rescue
We were then building a raft"
STORIES OF THE RoRAIMA's SURVIVORS.
Ben" Benson. the carpenter of the Roraima.
said:
I was on deck. amidships, when I heard an
explosion. The captain ordered me to up
anchor. got TO the windlass, but when the fire
I went into the forecastIe and got nv
duds When came out talked with Cap
tain Muggah, Mr.. Scott. the first officer and
others. They had been on the bridge. The cap
tain was horribly burned He had inhaled
names and wanted to jump into the sea. 1 tried
70 make him take a life preserver The cap
tain, who was undressed. jumped overheard
and hung on to a line for awhile. Then he dis
appeared
Gus" Linder. the quartermsster of the steam
er, who is horribly burned and can scarcely
talk, confirmed this.
Francisco Angelo. who speaks poor English.
vividly described the onrush of the fire. He
says the captain was a very brave man. too
brave TO die burned up" Angelo further as
serted that the storm of fire lasted not more
than five minutes
Joseph Beckels. a seaman. who is fifty years
Of age and is so frightfuIly burned that he can
not live. having inhaled flame. said in weak
tones that he the last man to see the cap
tain. The captain was then trying TO reach
floating mattress.
Other men of the Roraima who were rescued
are Salvador Aiello and Joseph Susino
From the italian ship Teresa Lovico several
men were saved. but they are in a frightfuI
state. except Jean Louis Prudent. OF ST Pierre
Although on deck and unprotected. he was lit
lie burned. Prudent says there was first an
awful noise Of explosion. and then. right away,
a cyclone Of smoke and fire. but such was the
awful, poisonous. choking nature Of the smoke
that it burned worse than the fire. When it
they fell
gas tore the masts out Of ships. blew others up
and sunk some Of them Soon afterward came
wave of fire bigger than the smoke cloud
THAT cloud continued Prudent, was big
ger, it seemed. than the mountain
VICTIMS DROPPED LIKE DEAD FLIES.
The fire burned the city everywhere at once
Near me I only dead men, but on shore
/ saw men and women rushing back and forth
amid the flames for hour. They would not
run long. Then came the choking smoke, and
they would drop like dead flies. The explosion
smoke and fire all came and went In three
minutes; but the city burned for three hours
Then every house was finished. and nothing
alive was left
Some men from the sinking ships got to the
shore. but they were burned up there
AT no time were there any earthquakes, but
big stones were rained down and fire fell like
rain for long time"
In separate part Of the hospital were found
several persons saved from Carbet Village. four
miles from St. Pierre
BOILING SEA INVADED THE LAND
The village of Urine south Of St Pierre. was
almost entirely burned and almost all the in
habitants were killed. One of the survivors OF
Urine. who Will die. says the sea. boiling hot
invaded the land. Six women. whose bodies are
the hospital Ten women severely burned from
Urine were brought in and four of them have
died. It is doubtful if any of the six still alive
can recover.
An evidence OF the swiftness of the ONSLAUGHT
Of FIRE is found in the fact that none of the vic
TINS We're blinded. although the eyelids of most
OF them are nearly burned through. All those
saved, except the engineers of the Roraima. are
poor sailors and Martinique negroes No one
knows how the passengers of the steamers
the vessels lost The cable repair ship Grappler
was lost. with all board as was the French
vessel Tamaya. There were eighteen or twenty
vessels in the roadstead at the time of the dis
aster The British steamer Roddam had an
chored. but Captain Freedman although hor
rtbly burned. managed 10 keep on the bridge Of
his vessel Everybody on the Roddams deck