THE WEST INDIAN HORROR.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12391, 28 June 1902, Page 3

THE WEST INDIAN HORROR.

—<J. UNTAmLELED DEVASTATION'. FKARFUL LOSS OF LIFE. SOMh VIVID nKSCRirTIOXS. IFboh Opr Own- ConnEsroN-nnxT.) LONDON', May 16. The news of' a terrific volcanic outbreak in lie West India;, involving the ruin of llii? 'Vouch colony of Martiniqn?. the niter lierastntion of its capital, St. Pierre, with the oss of 40,000 human lives, awl the infliction if serious though smaller damage to the British island of St. Vincent, lias been 'abled ro fully that 1 shall confine myself 0 the quotation of some of the most slrilcus and graphic descriptions of personal oiliOfvtH, merely noting by way of preface liat the Martinique volcano, Mont Felce, lincl been regarded for morn than half a :eimiry us totally extinct and harmless— is much to as Mount Egmont. in New Zealand, or tlio Peal; of Tcneriffe, or the tills around ICdinbur-jii—which ar» all qnon!ain^vol«inocs—or, I might add, as extinct ;s Vesuvius was thought to bo the day be ore it destroyed Pompeii and Iloroulauoum, ii' as Tnrawcra appeared nn hour before its rrmontlous eruption of lf<cG. Indeed, picnic larlies were in the habit of choosing its ■rater for the theatre of their festivities. But on the 3rd inst. there camp an crupion of ashes m<l stone? which were flung all wer the. island far and wide. Two days Mer boiling mud and red hot stones were Reeled from the crater and serious damage ras done. Kven then nobody believed that vor.K was to come, and Monsieur Mouttcf, he French Governor, who was at Fort do France, quite safe, gallantly removed to St. ?ierro with his wife to cheer and encourage he citizens. Rut there followed still moro errible phenomena, and, finally, on the 7tl\ list., there, came a tromondoiis awe-inspiring; car, which might have represented "the •rack of d00m.," and tho'i it sc?mwl as if he typical hell of medieval theologians had woken loose in reality. A jhect of fire mil volumes of black smoke went over the loomed city; torrents of whito-hot molten ava, mingled with red-hot faml and afhos; loiHnji water and mud ami pungent mc.philic rapours speedily extinguished every sign of ifo and consumed tho poor remains of nearly dl that lived. The xcmU in the harbour ivere speedily overwhelmed by the lava and ilhrr cicctß, and only two escaped, in civ■umrtances of the direst horror and sufl'crOne account says:-" The mhnbilsnts of he unfortunate city had four-days' imlicaion of tlio coming cataclysm. After being luiescent for 50 yean-sine? 1651—the vol•ano of' Mount J'elee, ]2 miles north of tho 'ity, broke cut into denso r!ouds (if smoke it midnight, on Saturday, May 3, oiniltinsilso towering flames, accompanied by lo\ul 'lunbliutr noises, 'flie whole town awoke md poured into tlie st rests, until there was 1 general panic. On the nc\t day, May 4, i heavy fall of ashc? commenced to raiii on Ilie city, and even those accustomed to the nceesant natural manifestations of tills kind in tho West Indies began to feel uneasy. The volcano was invisible, and.none dared venture far from tho city to ascertain the extent of tho rapidly developing outbreak Sunday thus pasmd in suspense, and Monday, the sth. came. Then suddenly Mount lelco poured forth a stream of molten lava 20ft high and half a mile wide. Its progress was appalling. Rushing down the dry bed of (he Hivicre Blanche, it reached tlie se-i in three minutes from the ton of the mountain, "4000 ft high and five miles awav and blotted out everything' in its " .Another says:-"The morning, was reinUvely rt,l. St. Kerre WMi M l ml ™ v stir, and business was partly goin K on about < ocock when a 'sort of whirlwind of 'team, boiling hot muu, and fire" suddonlv wept with incredible rapidity down on and over the city and.the roadstead, where lav j> .lumber of vessels-some 13 altogether--besides coaston. They inehulod four American sailjng vessols At once the town was in a blaie; all the ships were .inetantly canted over, and began simullaneouelv to burn and sink i,, the sea. which was 'thci J. ra 3 mg canldron. The chief officer of the Koraima, who, with 14 comrades, was saved and has reached Dominica, says that it was like a tidal wave, and swept ovflr the stoamor, carrying away boats, spars, and funnel at once. The water and mud ca-ne as it were from tho pkies, while the heavens were black with impenetrable darkness. Then tho ram™ of tho lioraium next taw light;, he and the shipping were blazina unously.. Toe.r hormr-strickon • supposition th t ail-about 30,000-had pcrishwl wan only too true. The. whole destruction had taken place within less than 20 ininu'es of the eruption. "Isy heroic efforts Captain AVhatter "ot the steamer i.oddam, which hail only arrived early that morning off St. Lucial out of ho firn zone, with tho loss of several men burned to death; while on the vessel, which was badly damaged and covered with aehes lay numerous others terribly scorched and distorted. Tho steamer's agent climbexl on board, and wns thus lucky enough to escape. Hie royal mail -.toame-r Esk reports calling off St. Pierre- on Timreday night about 10 p.m. She stood nut five miles from land and wmstled and sent up rocket?, and dropped ,a boat to go shoiowards in the impenetrable darkness. Tho men in charge could not land for the flames, which stretched along about four miles of ?ra front. Tlie ship waited for two hour.?, but not a soul was visible, while the volcano went on belching forth firo and ashes, which thicViy toll all over tho decks even at that distmro from land. But the fullest ami mo;t interesting dpscriptmu that has yet appeared is cabled by tho special correspondent of an Enplisli paper, who eliariere<l a. special steamer from duaueloupe and personally visit«l tlie scene of the catastropo last Sunday morning. Ho says:—"Strangely enough, 'porhap'. for a long while no evidence of tho awful cata?tropho was anywhere visible, except that the lofty peaks on tho island, oi which Mont PelcG is one, were shrouded in a dull violst haze that mounted miles high, assuming the shape of a qiant mushroom, and showing on its outer edges, where it caught the sun, a beautiful amber tint. As the shore slowly Molo into view, when we were nlwut three miles off the land, the ocean was covered with wreckage, among which floated bleated and disfigured corpses of men and womon, tho prey of thousands of seabirds or ravenous sharks. I afterwards learned they were, probably for the mosl part tho bodies of poor fugitives drowned in atlempting an impossihlo flight through a stormy eea. "For a lirno it seemed ©von'impossible to urn near enough into shore to obtain a close view, for furious blasts of wind, now hot, now cold, and laden with stinging ashos and mud, swept with strange suddenness and at irregular interval* across our small steamboat. At loncMi, however, between those blasts the island slowlv eame into full view. It was a weird Everywhere there lay a thick coat of ashe* anil mud covering everything, and making fill ohioote, save _ those of prominence, o,uito indistinguishable from the common mass. | n i| l( > sunlight the island seenjed to bo of a uniform silver (.'leyncss. ""Presently our little l-.oa! hvl'.orinu'ily reached Prr-clieir, a tinv fi-hinsr village, h-in? n few miles north of St. Pierre'lt had hwn partly dc.-stroycd by fire, and its few remaining inhabitant!: caihercd on the shore and piteouslj- to ho tak»n away. We endeavoured to reassvirn tiioni \n- telling them lic'p was on the way, nrd went on until tho spot where the town of St. Tierr.> once stood name, into view. Tlie ciiv lay in a vallej- ami plain fome. two miles 10113 and a miln wide, and under, so to speak, (he. southern slope of Mcunt I'elee, while on

ho ca=t and foiitli other mountains formed i lofty amphitheatre about it. Now tlie vl.olo scene is one of (ho most utter desolation. Away t<i the right and to the left itretcliod long rows of ruined walls, plastered :o oi'.o tint by tho awful volcanic mud, and :ising amid heaps of volcanic matter, whilo here and there were chaired and twisted .runks of what wore once giant tree?. Not i found was hoard from thai vast, hideous, Jull grey amphitheatre of death, lint miles iiway the volcanic blasts bore a horrible nauseating odour wliicli it is impossible to describe or forget. " As wo von- cautiously put into the. roadrt?ad, the hull of the royal mail steamAil) Solent loomed up through t.lio haze as [he versel lay nt anchor. It had been placed it the disposal of the Governor of Barbados, Mi , F. Hodgson, by t'.ie superintendent, Mr llwon, and on hoard were Mr Ralph C. iVilh'ams, the Colonial Secretary, five doctor.-, ihree trained nurses, a corporal anil squad jf I lie Hospital Corps, an emergency field outfit, medical store.", and nearly 1000 barels of provision?. We hailed them, brcauw ;i the Roncr.il cataclysm (he harbour landnarks had been swept away, and there was io indication as to lioiv to make the shore. Captain Davis, however, pointed out to us \ landing place, and wo put to land. It was llicn, and only then, that wo fully realised the (stent of thi< most gigantic of the '.orld's misfortune?- It was not. merely the ;ilent. shattered remnant? of tho wails of :lia one? beautiful and prosperous city, hut he frightful übiquity of death by fire'in its nnst hideous form.;. "Everywhere dead bodies met the sight; bodies (if muscular negrow, of delicate, .'.-omen and of tender children, luisted into shapes of indescribable agony, most with their faces downward to Iho ground, as .hough they had been smitten low instantly, >r had sought to liar ingress to theapphyxintni; fumes. In many places tens and scores 3f victim? cmild l:o counted in a single mass if intermingled bodies, eloquently telling ■toricr, of the awful death anil (ho wail panic. Here and there fires still .burned, .vhile a thin stream of thr delicious Rnynvo iiivcr Mill trickled amid the ruin , ;, cold and 'Icar. Hours of search failed to permit the dcnlification of the P.ritish Populate, whrre 'ho Consul (Mr .Tomes .T.ipp), hi.? wife, and a aree family, all perished. " So hideously transformed are all thc;c ioor human remains in St, Pierre dial of ill (he tens of thousand; who have Urns met heir doom not a finale one lie? Bern identiicd. It is estimated that fully 50.000 perinns were burned to death in (he city. As wo looked' up. one saw how over all owercd Mount Pclee, its summit enwrapped n cloud, and still vomiting poisonous rapours and afhes, punctuated sometimes ivith huge stone?, which cr.vh into tho ■uins." . Tho following Matomc.it was nude by Fean Pnident, of St Pierre, who at the time if the disaster was at work on the Italian wrqup Lnvico, and miraculously escaped, nul who, although lie was on a wocden ship, ias but a few bums:—"First of all. them vas i>n awful rosr and nn explosion, l> noked up and raw a vast whirling cloud if smoke, bigger than (he mountain itself, cunt out of the crater and rush down on the •ity !>.nd the bay. It was not ordinary moke, but a horrible, choking; smoke—smoko hat. killed all that it wrapped in il, and ore the masts out of tho ships and sank hem. Right after .camp a LijKrc: , mass of "ire that linrnod the whole city at once, w three, minutes all wa* over, but for nn iour I taw pernio rushing about in the lames on shore and then dropping dead." TUB ST. VJN'CEXT DKASTKIt. On Wednesday t!ie first official new- of <t. Vine?nt was received—viz.. n. message o tho Colonial Office from the Covernn'r. in K. B. Mf.wclyii, who went from t!"» slaud of St. Lucia to St. Yincrnt. Ho ays: "Arrived yesterday, and found state if. affairs much worse than given in reports onvarded by Administrator. Country on >ast coast bstwecn Robin Ro.--k nml Ucorge-ov.-n apparently struck and devastated simiarly (o St. Pievro. and fenr drat practically ill livinj lliinjrs wiihiu tht radius have liccii cillod. Probably 1600. Kxact number will lever bo Itnown. One thousand bodios omul and buried. One hundred and sixty out into hospital in (ienrgctown: probably ix may recover. Details too harrowing it |e-cribe. AH the best sugar cstsilt's in t'uc larib country aro devastated and the cattle Ifad. Ivruption continues, but it is appaently modwati;,™. Anxiety still felt. All ifl'iccrs and residents cc-operating with me, tml ladies making articles of clothiiiff." Another account says: "On the sth inst. he lake in the old crater of the Soufriere lecame greatly disturbed. At 2 o'clock in he afternoon of the following day the lnoiinaiu begin a scries of volcanic effort?. Srveal earthquakes accompanied thc-e. Terrible loiscs and detonations succeeded quickly, ind at 7 in the cvoninp; an immen?.?. column it .steam issued from the erater, continuing >niil midnight. " On the Wednesday morning terrific, exilosions occnrrcJ, and at 7 o'clock there was mother sudden violent escape of steam. This ascended for three hours, when a liiantity of volcanic matter was ejected. U noon three craters appeared to open, ind began to vomit lava. Six streams at Jiico ran down the, sides of the mountain, nuking an awiul erinc. The mountain aboured heavily for half an hour after the ippcarnnca of the lava, and fire flashed iroiind the edges ol the craters. Tremendous letonations followed in quick succession, ■apidly merging into a continuous roar. I'liis lasted thrmijh Wednesday night until ?riday mornini;. The thundering was heard liroughout the Caribbean Sea. Tlio orupion began on Wednesday. A huge cloud ■n dark, dense volumes charged, with volanic matter ro-e to a height of eight fiiik-s from the mountain ion. and darknoss like deseende:!. The sulphurous air ivas laden with fine dust, and black rain ]f hot ashes, scoria, rocks, and stonrs. N'umerou? bright flashes, marvellously rapid, ivere seen, and these- only intrasined tha liorror inspired by the thunder of the corrhHiake, the ronr of tin lava, and the rush nf fulling stone;. Large areas of cultivaion were buried, and the Walibon and liiclimoiid plantation!" and villages were totally :lestroyed, the former being partly subraersMl by the son. On the windward coast ■oveu planlatioM were, totally destroyed, fhe whole of the- Carib country in the tame locality wns covered with ashes and Java to tlie depth of two and four feet. Nothing jreen wa« visible. Desidos vegotation, all live stock and buildings were destroyed, ind the streams and rivers worn dried up. "Tlie.ro k new a water and food famine in the island. Ono thousand six hundred and twenty deaths are already reported. The deaths were due. chiefly to suffocation by sulphurous gases, to lightning, and the burninjr lava masses. It is tiio greatest salamity in the history of the islands. The fdantors and their onlrie families were killed by lightning. H.Af.S. Indefatigable yesterday brought foodstuffs from Trinidad and St. Lv.eia. Tho crew buried t.he> bodies of 30 peasants found on the Owia estate, to the north of Soufriere. Returns aro still coming into Kingstown of the wounded, dead, and dying taken to Georgetown. " A now rratnr k reported to have formed on the Richmond estate near the csashore Tho mutilation of tho wounded is simply unimaginable, ami too fearful to describe. The country districts are littered, with dead Ik dies. Kingstown and its whole population are safe. There have been no accidents or df.it'is in the town, but clouds of dust are blowing over the city. The steanra Wear r> transporting fond ami water to the. leeward coast, and sailing vessels io the. windward coast. Doctors and nurses have gone, to tho scene of distress. The majority of tho corpses found were covered with fshes, and so decomposed that they could hardly lie approached. They arc beiii" buried in trenches, 30 in each." An opinion is attributed to Prafesso; Ileilpvin, an eminent, geologist in the United States, that these volcanic disturbances may result in the collapse and total disappearance nf somo of these beautiful islands in the Caribbean Sea. He said: "Tho constant eruptions niea.n that a hole is being made in the bottom of the earth; when it reaches a great size Kibsidence. must follow. The Caribbean Islands are situated in a region where the earth's crust is extremely weak, as was demonstrated ages ago, when the Andean Mountains broln down and the Caribbean basin and the Oulf of Mexico were formed." STUANfiE INCIDENT*. Many incomprehensible incidents ar.> recounted from Rt. Pierre. The charred remains of a woman were, found with a silk handkerchief unburned and in perfect condition held to tho lips. At another point lay the distorted bodie.s of young girls, whose shoes wc-ro uninjured. Portions oi the quays at St. Pierre have been destroyed

as if by a waterspout-, (here being no tracts :if fin;. In Uio ambulance station the bods were found licapetA up against ono of tho trull*;,'and hero also I here was no trace of- lire, hut the tedding had nil disappeared, while the iron frames o! the Ms were twi'tcd. The corpse o[ a woman wa; fmmd on a bag offlour, which was intact. Not n single tree has escaped, all being either Inchon off shnrt or lorn up by their root;. The fiery hail seems to have stopped outside the town, about 200 yards from the village of Courbet, but all the houses in the village arc, nevertheless, destroyed. Everything appearn to have been rail and scattered a» by a tornado, About'2ooo corpses have boon found in tho slrcets. The central quarters of the town nud the fort are buried under cinckr.s to a depth of sfvoral yard?. In the neighbourhood of tho rrcek several houses renuin intact, but (he inhabitants wero killed as if they had been struck by lightning, the licilifs lying, nitlinjr, or rV.ining in curiously divorce attitude';. The vaults .>f the Knjlbh Bank . in fit. Pierre were found to be intact and m:opened The fliers of the (ViViMst of St. .Tosenh de Clnny ll'ivneh) have all perched at Si. Pierre. Tlie 20 father,-, and 100 pupils u!' the Congregation of the Holy Ghost (Akiee) are ak> among the victims. The 37 shim Mid 200 girl pupil; of ilie Institute of the Sisters of St. "Joseplms (Ucrmaii) likewise Ht their lives. Many Swis* are among [lead, though one mini, having returned from a tour, was just about to enter tli« town when the disaster came. lie escaped by a miracle into a bout. Tho Potomac picked tip a boat coiUaimn , ,' five coloured people r.ml one white man. Their pockets were filled with coin and jewellery, Hie latter evidently stripped from t!;o fingers of the dend. The commander 'if the I'oinmao handed the men over to ilif; commander of the Suehvt. A very graphic account is also given in a tclogram.lii The Times to-day from n snsciul Kii7<!?pomlcnt at Fort de Fr.ince, who writes a.? in a large degree an rye-witne-r. of what happened. He enys: "I'or the 1-st three v.Tßks Mont Pelcc. north of St. Pierre, had lieen vomiting clouds of smoke,' but tho Einoko seemed to he produced ?o normally that it was permissible even for those inclined to lock on the dark side not to dread a catastrophe. At Fort do France, where the agitation of Mont l'eleo attracted as it went on much attention, any anxiety that existed gradually died down, when on Jfay 5 a violent eruption of mud, the hot aches having been mingled with the water in the crater, overwhelmed If. (inerin's work, killing 23 persons. Tho river in tho north of tho island, now swollen by the imtddv torrent, noisily overflowed. On Thursday, tho Glh. while there wero still deliberations it l-oi-t dn France and HI. Pierre, where the mglit had l>con passed in anguish mid in ignorance whether tho eruption of mud wa= a precursor or the end of the dkirier St. Pierre was within 10 minutes annihilated bv a (cm!)!" volcanic tyrant and hy it eommnalion of imfforaliug heat, noxious vapours, a shower of burning cinders, and a discharge of burning stones, which reached even to Fort do France. The smoking lava made St. Pkrro a veritable cemetery, (ho :ntiro population being buried beneath it. "The Fort'do Franco authorities pent out the Sowiwt nnd Ponyer Qiicrtier to nreanifa relief. All (he ships and boats available at i'ort de I'ranee started for the doomed town. Tho Suehet. after trying to approach ht. Picrre-or, rather,. what had been St. 1 lerre-rettirncd, reporting that it was all on lire and that access was impossible Near Carbct, however, which tho Suehet was ab:o to reach, though not without danger, she rescued 30 pcrf.ons, pome of wloin, a!a>: expired while they were usin" eonvcyed to the hospital. day (Friday) acresi became loss ititlicult, and the horriblo di-covery was liiadn that tho niimlier nf victims was at least 30,000. A portion of the upper town had been rased by a cloud of fire, which increased as it advanced, and wiimbled Pverything in its course.. In the lower town near the harbour a few walls bearing traces r.f (ire remained standing. To the- stupefaction of these familiar with Iho spot, the town riock remained intact, as if to show the- precise moment of the disaster, marking (."0, and thie sinister indication deeply ifi'eclwl all who saw it. On tho other hand Iho telegraph oflice, with its content.", had been burned; some fragments of Iho ap. paratiia having been thrown a distance of 100 yard?. The bodies whose attitudes are perceptible are all lying prostrate, their bowels protruding, as Ihoinjh forced out by Iho tension of the heat, mid their backs partially carbonised. The collars of the bank were intact, and the Suchct has hroufht hark 2,000.000/ in specie, which will allow of a first distribution of relief without waitins; for the arrival of the funds which will ivrivo from a. distance. Aa only 2000 corpses eftiablo of luirial luive been diecovwedi this mournful operation hns been bepm. As you imift already blow, the evident fate dI (liivernor Moutlct and his wife, v.ho.musl have been s\irpri.=cd in the very centre ol the mo?t rapid destruetinn, has added tc the gi'ief felt at Fort dp France, where these victims to duty were highly esteemed. "The Pouycr Quertier, which was aIEC promptly despatched, was able to get neai to Preehcur, and hns rescued 500 inhabitant?.. Tho Suchct, in the snmo water?, amid great dangers, has rescued 800. The Danirli cruiser Valkyricn -has co-operated. Tlicfe iliree vofscls, whose names should not In forgotten, have in tliiw day? rescued 400 C pCKons. A considerable ln'imber of them wcri> injured, nnd some, died before, reach ing land. A melancholy and almost Inimili. ating thing is that the site of St. Pierre has to bo guarded by tho military, foi numerous pirates from (he islands were preparing to como' and laj hands on Biiything of value. Tlie ranilavj authorities hitve decided on distribntinj; tin homcte population of all Iho northern"pan of the island in the paphes of the south, with the iiecessirj' prmifion?. "Thn masses of burning cinders near tin volcano occasion much uneasiness. Th< volcano still nunhlej, and three luminou l points on tho lower slopes oostinj; tlieir in eandffceut rays seem to presage a furlhei calamity."