The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-06

@O OIL. WILLIAM HOUSTON PAT PERSON of Philadelphia. in a se- O ries of articles on a Ministers S Cruise in the West Indies" has presented what is considered by many the only real description of the il-fated city of St.
 Pierre as it appears today, and the vast ness of the Martinique disaster.
 In presenting the fairyland of the Carib- bean, Colonel Patterson has also pre- scented some solutions of the negro left to himself and in his own country amid congenial surroundings.
 This special correspondence is certainly the most interesting and remarkably graphic of any that has appeared con- corning St, Pierre While it covers the main features of the gruesome story in such a way as to intensity their dram atic element, the writer has written under the spell of the lovely isle of Martinique, which he describes as the central bead in the great necklace which encircles the throat of the Caribbean sea. Like Faf- cadio Hearn, Colonel PaPtterson has ab- sorbed the wondrous fascination of Mar unique, and his fine literary style brings ptAbAt HIS ltdutIS DISl the dSntn gray shore as viewed from the deck of the Moltke-and later the miniature dead world Colonel Patterson has allowed
 little to escape his observation and the exhaustive research evident in his cor respondence adds to the value and inn portance of this recent notable contri- button on the Martinique disaster
 Tn the course of my chessboard life" writes Colonel Patterson, "I have met with many uncanny experiences, but nothing resembling the awful silence which hung over the groups thronglng the guard of the Moltke' next to the is- land, as, after clearing the bay of Fort de France, she started on her journey to ill-fated St. Pierre.
 ''The usually chatterng, promenading, bustling crowd, gathered upon the prom enade deck after breakfast, were appar- ently wax figures, so motlonless, so death- ly still had they become in dread antci- patton. Verdant spur after verdure clad spur passed aft, shadowy valley after purplish valley fitted by. Here and there little settlement appeared; here and there some bright mountain stream dashed down the slopes and bubbied into the sea; still we saw no sign of the ter rible horror which had fallen upon the island.
 At last at the extreme limit of the coast line to the north a dull gray point shot itself out into the sea. Rising and deepening, but always dull gray, its pro- portions increased as we advanced, until rounding the last intervening spur tupon its south slope a mass of verdure) the vast amphitheatre of devastation and death lay spread out before us, uniformly clothed in an unbroken mantle of gray from sea to mountain top. Under its dull folds lay miniature dead world.
 Slopes. once covered with magnificent timber and luxuriant tropical growth. grim pillows of ashes.
 "The once picturesque town of St. Pierre is so obliterated that no familiar outline could be traced even the streets were wiped out by piles of debris and vol canic scoriae. Of the picturesque mixed race, comprising nearly 29,000 souls, not ore was left to tell the rrightful story. The whispering sound of the 'treading of many naked feet over the heated pavement is hushed forever. Iris a callous, a thoroughly heartles mind that does not shiver and recol from re- capituatng the details of this greatest tragedy in the worlds history.
 First the blast from the volcano, so deadly nothing could live within It's sphere, inflieting sudden violent. awful death to an entire people. Second, the town o'erhung with a pail of impenetra- ble smoke and burning as a brazier.' Finally. showers of ashes as if nature, repentant wished to throw mantle of impenetrabiity over her handiwork, as cruel as overwhelming. And well has she succeeded, for from the sea you see