The age-herald., 1902-05-13
Now Generally Admitted That atLeast 3O,OOO Souls
 Were Lost CITY ENGULFEO IN STREAM OF FIERY MUD AND STEAM corpses Found In Heaps In Every Part of the city-scene of Deso-
 IatIon and Destruction
 Beggars Description.

| Fort de France, Island of Martfnfuue.
 May 12.-It now seems to be generally
 admitted that about thirty thousand per-
 sons lost their lives as a result of the
 outbreak of the Mont Pelee volcano at
 St. Pierre on Thursday last.
 Careful investigation by competent
 government officials show that the early
 reports of the Associated Press were &C., | curate.
 Briefly put last Thursday morning the city of St. Pierre disappeared within ten minutes in a whirling fire vomited from Mont Pelee; thirty thousand persons were instantly and horribly killed and the volcano whose ancient crater for more than 50 years had been occupied by a quiet lake, became torrent of fiery mud which rolled towards the sea, engulfing everything before 1t. Then the last cable communication was broken and the doomed city was isolated from the world. l The American consul at Gaudeloupe, Louis H. Ayme. has reached the desolate | spot where St. Pierre once stood and con- firms the awful story in all its essential details.
 From an interview with Colonel Ayme, who Is trained American newspaper man, a correspondent of the Associated Press learned the following facts: Heavy Clouds Over Volcano. Thursday morning the inhabitants of
 the city awoke to find heavy clouds | shrouding the Mont Pelee crater. All day
 Wednesday horrid detonations had been
 heard. These were echoed from St.
 Thomas on the north and Barbadoes on l q rIA
 Wednesday night and fine ashes fell like
 rain on St. Pierre.
 The inhabitants were alarmed, but
 Governor Mouttet, who arrived at St.
 Pierre the evening before, did everything
 possible to allay the panic.
 The British steamer Roraima reached | St. Pierre on Thursday with ten passen- | gers, among whom were Mrs. Stikes and l her three children, and Mrs. H. J. Inoe 1 They were watching the rain and ashes l when, with a frightful roar and terrific | electric discharge, a cyclone of fire, mud
 and steam swept down from the crater | over the town and bay, sweeping all be- fore 1t and destroying the fleet of vessels at anchor off the shore There, the ac- counts of the catastrophe, so far obtain | able, cease.
 Thirty thousand corpses are strewn | about, buried in the ruins Of St. Pierre or else floating. gnawed by sharks. in l the surrounding bedS. AWeHty-tiBn 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. chartered in Guadeloupe, neared Martinique at 6:30 Sunday morning. The island with Its lofty hills was hidden behind a huge veil of violet or 1eaden colored haze. Enormous quantities of the wreckage of large and small ships and houses strcwed the sur face of the sea-
 Huge trees and too often bodies, with hocks of sea gulls 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 others ice cold. Begged for Passage. At Lee Precheur. five miles north of St. Pierre canoes with men and women, frantic to get away. begged for passage on the steamer.
 1 The whole north end of the island was covered with a silver gray coating of l ashes resembling dirty snow. Furious blasts of fire, ashes and mud. swept | over the steamer. but finally St. Pierre | was reached.
 The city of St. Pierre stretched nearly
 two miles along the water front and half
 a mile back to a cliff at the base of the
 volcano. The houses of the richer French 1 families were built of stone. l The still smoking volcano lowered
 above the ash-covered hills The ruins
 were burning in many places and fright | fu odors of burned flesh filled the air. | With great difficulty a landing was ef- l fected. Not one house was left intact Vivid heaps of mud, ashes and 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 of the faces were down. ward
 In one corner twenty-two bodies of men, women and children were mingled in one awful mass, arms and legs pro- truding as the hapless beings fell in the last struggles of deaths agony. Through the suburb Old Place Bertin ran tiny stream, the remains of the river Gayave. Great trees with roots upward and scorched by fire were strewn in every direction. Huge blocks and stone still hot were scattered about. From under one large stone the arm of white wom- an protruded. Most notable was the ut- ter silence and the awful. over-powering stench from the thousands of dead.
 Contained Poisonous Gases.
 Careful inspection showed that the fiery stream which so completely destroyed St. Pierre must have been composed of poisonous gases. which instantly suf- located every one who inhaled them, and of other gases burning furiously, for nearly all the victims had their hands covering their mouths or were In some other attitude showing that they had sought relief from suffocation. All the bodies were carbonized or roasted.
 A. c. Austen, the manager of the Colon ial Bank of Barbadoes, landed at St Pierre with a party from the British royal mail steamer Solent. He found the bank clock stopped at some minutes be- fore o'clock. A horse and buggy and
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