Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-20
AMERICAN NERVE,
IGNORING ETHICS,
SAVES KINGSTON
Presence of Yankee BIuejaCk-
cts Prevent Uprising and /
Stops Looting. 81
DAVIS MAN OF THE HOUR
Offers of Aid Had Little Encourage
ment From the Governor of
the Island.
OUR MARINES WERE LANDED
Graphic Description of the Jamaican
Disaster Told by an Eye-Wit-
ness-Negroes Idle and
Refuse to Work.
OUR MARINES WERE LANDED

Special Cablegram to The Star by Ralph Hall
Caine.
JAMAICA, January 1s.-The advance Of
Jamaica toward prosperity ard the growth
of her trade, as shown by the increasing
balance of income over expenditure. and
representing the efforts of her adminis-
traitors for over half a century have been
arrested and turned into disaster in less
than fifty seconds
Kingston, the islands capital, is today
| no more than a mass of debris. Every
street in the city tells a story OF desola-
ton and ruin, and at night the sky is il
Eliminated by the deep, red glow of fires
still burning in half dozen parts of the
city.
Writing this message in the calm secur-
ity of the Elder-Dempster steamer Port
Kingston, lying at her wharf am led to
believe that the outside world from which
We have been cut off for more than three
days, has been thrilled and Mortified by
such brief messages as have got through,
but it would wrong the truth to say that
any one here in Kingston has fully real
lied the awful gravity of the happening
Time alone will enable US to comprehend
fully the scenes of the last few days
Bodies Cast Into Flames.
have been all over the destroyed town
and have seen the fires into which the
bodies of many victims have been cast,
despite the appeal Of the governor for
Christian burial wherever possible
The force of the earthquake seems to
have been felt severely only in the capitaI
and the three parishes around it, In the
city itself the dead buried UP to noon OF
Tuesday was officially reported Alb, but
the real death roll will never be revealed
until the graves give UP their dead
1t is said that as soon as the extent OF
the disaster was realized the imperial gov.
eminent was appealed to for the presence
or warships, but in an atmosphere charged
with conflicting rumors II is almost i'm
possible to believe anything outside OF ones
personal knowledge or experience.
certalnfx know that the situation is now
immensely relieved by the arrival of three
American warships. the Missouri and In
diana and one torpedo boat under the COM
mand of Admiral Davis, with men ready
to oner guard and surgeons with medical
comforts and supplies. Without mo-
ment's delay the admiral landed body Of
men as guards.
American Power Felt
He also rendered the services of his med.
ical staff but Sir Alexander Swettenham.
who exchanged courtesies with Admiral
Davis on board the Missouri, declined the
offer on the ground that he saw no justi-
fication in the situation for accepting it.
Yet know the presence of the blue Jackets
quelled with opportuneness rising among
the prisoners or the penitentiary and es-
tabllshed a sense of power and authority
impossible to overestimate in value
l cannot appreciate the precise feeling
behind these diplomatic courtesies anG how
Tar the governor is acting under pressure
of medical etiquette, but / do know that
the admlfals offer was made in the cause
OF our common humanity and that the aid
or eight surgeons was declined while the
hospital is crowded with 400 or 500 pa
tients, though the accommodation is barely
sufficient for half that number
l came to Jamaica less than week ago
as one OF the guests of Sir Alfred Jones,
and among those on board the Port King
ston who were anxious and ready to Coz
operate with him in his noble, patriotic eff
forts to help Jamaica were Lord and Lady
Dudley, who have estates on the island:
the Rt. Hon. Jesse Collins, Sir Thomas
Hughes an ex-lord mayor of Liverpool;
Sir Ralph Moore an adviser to the British
Cotton Growers Association: V!scount
Mountmorres of the Liverpool University;
Mr.. Henniker Heaton and Mr. Arnold Fos-
ter, among other members of parliament
together with many merchants and cotton
spinners prominent in Liverpool and Man
chester
These gentlemen, together with planters
from all the West Indian islands. headed by
Sir Alexander Swettenham, governor of
Jamaica, and Sir Daniel Morris chief of the
West Indian agricultural commission. OPEN
ed on Monday an imperial conference at
have been reviewed, including the sugar,
rum, banana, coffee and cocoa outputs, and
a new starch made from cassava from
which great results expected. But over
and above all these II was the dream of
Sir Alfred Jones, as president of the Cotton
Growers Association, to re-estabsh cotton
plantations in Jamaica and thus provide the
Lancashire market with an eyer-increasing
supply Of Sea Island cotton, from which the
most beautiful French laces and embroid-
cries are made.
Spared From Ruins.
The conference had concluded its morning
session on Monday last and was more than
through it's afternoon business
when the first shock came and blank con-
fell upon the densely crowded
room. There was no panic but everybody
understood the portentous sign, and through
the large open windows and doors the COM
pany made their hasty exit into the street.
But by one Of those strange dispensations
of Providence, as If heaven itself wished
to hold it's hand on the work designed for
the good of all, the conference hall, alone
among the many prominent buildings of
Kingston, remained unframed.
Sir Alfred Jones and many of his party
had lunched at the Myrtle Bank Hotel
the sea front. They were slowly returning
TO that house when the ground beneath
their feet began to quake and shudder,
II the earth itself were in agony In a mo-
ment the hotel building collapsed. The sides