The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1908-09-30

HEN the West Indies are
ESS'eSs&h tracing the attention of the
W. I'M world because of the trouble
IL \AI ~ in Hayti, where warships 81
AZ Wv N fenced the revolution that threat
" ened to end the lives of all
sISn NJ. foreigners on the island little
lOh .sN, lUy settlement in Martinique cele-
AS<TSSeN DRAFTED its first anniversary and
ASs.5 revealed to the world courage
&GIiFss that amounted almost to fool
hardness. For the settlement
is the new city of st. Pierre, which is being built
on the very spot where the city of ST. Pierre
absolutely destroyed the eighth of May, 1902.
Even the great world outside, accustomed as it
has become records OF fearful disaster has not
forgotten the horror of the desoaton that came
down upon st. Pierre when Mont l'elee beched
forth the deadly fumes OF gas and burning lava
that overwhelmed the town. 1t is estimated that
IN instant twenty nine thousand men. women
and children lost their lives
For days previous the eruption Mont Pelee had
given her warnings. But Mont Pelee had been
warning the people OF St. Pierre for centuries and
centuries. 1t the old story of crying Wolf.
When the Wolf came he had everything to him
sell
Mere sounding in the distance n binding flash
from the crater Of the volcano and seemed to
enyelop the island darkness and silence followed
and with them came the fearfuly oppressive heat
which overwhelmed nearly all the victims. This
was followed by the deadly fumes of the gases that
had escaped from the volcano and last the lava
ashes that completely filled the air that
could breathe
The ships in the harbor put out to sea as quickly
as possible when their captains realized what was
about happen but miles and miles away from
Martinique they pursued by the awful heat
and terrible gases One ship, the Parma of the
Quebec line a little slower in getting away from
the h;trbor than the rest was destroyed
There have been terrible days in the history of
the world when cities were swept down in deStruc-
ton Pompeii is the greatest classic instance of
the horrors attending such devastation of prop
erty and OF human life San Francisco has had
her own share OF difficulty from natural conditions;
Charleston has suffered; the cities of Japan have
known earthquake and tidal wave; Mauna I.oa has
shown its power in the Pacific; Nesuvus has of
late revealed her od-time strength. But OF all the
h awful instances of the power of natural forces
. human efforts there has been anything
/, terrible as the destruction of st. Pierre by Mont
ii Pelee.
To-day Mont Pelee above the vapor wreaths that
u enyelop serrated cress, stands majestic over
The scene of where the principal seaport city OF
Martinique used to be. And today the very
site OF tie most awful devastation in the worlds
history. new city has risen, where human effort
again aeties natural forces.
The heavy rampant guns which were hurled
hundreds of feet from the battery by the rresst-
ibe blast that overthrow the strongest structures
in the city still lie on the grassy slope The great
wooden crucitX that overlooked the center of the
'ltown from the Boulevard skrting the base of
Mone Bael, lies prone the roadway. The iron
ltigure of Christ has been removed, except where :,
fragment of the right forearm and the hand is
franslXed by the nail of the crucitiNon.
y, he eruption except that they oversrown with
ropica vegetation. Banana trees have grown
nigh in the places that the streets They
,lave come right over the gray ashes of the lava