The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 10, 1902, Page 2

—— I nt ha A g of fatal scrpent in existence. ccompan Across the throat of the Caribbean extends a chain of i s (Caribbees) which are really smoldering furnaces with fires always banked up, always ready to break forth 2t som ©d and inopportune moment. This group, with Saba cn the north, near our own Porto ing with Grenada on the south, near Trini- ists of ancient ash heaps piled up in times past ction. These old ash heaps have weathered s become covered with ripe growths of damp and moldering vegetation. This same soil also produces all the richest vegetable products of the tropics. These vol- canic islands have been slowly piling up since the begin- of thy ; period, and their bases extend be- rs for a depth as great as their summits it, making their total height nearly ten ove their submerged bases. slands of the necklace, like Saba and s, are simple crater cones, but the center of consists of four larger islands, Guadaloupe, a, St. Lucia and St. Vincent, each of which is a ed mass of old volcanic vents whose peaks at- ir greatest height in Mount Diablotim of Domin- 4747 feet above the sea. These volcanoes do not. con- t n to the type which most people have in mind, for from them there flow no fiery streams of lava nor do al s give days of warning before outbreaks. On other hand, their eruptions consist of hot water, cin- and mud. Their explosions come with terrific sud- ness and when least cxpected. In wvolcanoes which eject lava the ascending column of molten liquid vibrates the th for days or even months before it reaches the and people of the vicinity can always foretell i eruption It is pot so with the cinder type, for they | explode suddenly 2nd do their damage without much warning. by which the mud and cinder type been sudden, they have taken place g intervals of time, each one adding its pile to the surface debris and obliterating the previous landscape. It has been so long since any explosions have occurred L most ge ified them extinct volcanoes. e that the soufriere of Guadaloupe has sent up summit from time immemorial faint puffs of that upon Dominica and other of the islands there were a few hot springs, but for nearly a hundred years there has not been the least sign of an expiosion. There is also an old crater or soufriere on the island of £t. Lucia which contains some boiling springs. Within human history there has been but one serious eruption jn the Caribbee Islands, but this, like the present catastrophe, was one of the most destructive the world has ever seen. In 1812 the mountain of Morne Garon, on the island of St. Vincent, about ninety miles south of Martinigue, exploded. The explosion was a most fatal a2 ching cataclysm, being equaled in recent years t of Krakatoa, in the Straits of Sunda. araces ten thousangd people were buried in a single , and after this event ruin was wrought all aleng the line of the Andes by earthquakes. Morne Garon vom- ited vast clouds of dust, which darkened the sun for an entire day and spread over a hundred miles of sea and land. Volumes of mud changed the configuration of the jsland and changed its eastern end. The present crater, formed at thet time, is half a mile in diameter and five hundred feet deep and is now a beautiful lake, walled in by rocky cliffs to a height of eight hundred feet. Its slopes are covered with peaceful vegetation and fields of Martinique. Pierre. The calamity resulting from the explosion cane. The island of Martinique is composed almost en- tirely of old volcanic material, and is dominated by three conspicuous peaks which have probably been volcanic in the past. Mount Pelee, the highest of these, is 4428 feet in height and dominates the northern end of the island. Near the center of the island is Corbet, 3960 feet in height, and near the southwestern end Vauclin, 1657 feet. Behind the sheltering lee of Pelee lay St. Plerre. This city, with its 25,000 inhabitants, isolated from the rest of the island and the world, except by the call of an occa- sional passing steamer, led a tranquil and quiet existence. So narrow was the sloping bench upon which it is situ- ated there was hardly room for its population, crowded in houses of antique pattern built in old French colonial days. The streets were paved with cobblestones, and through each gutter flowed a quiet stream of mountain water. The inhabitants were almost entirely Martiniques, that queer race composed of a mixture of African, French and Carib blood, noted for its beauty and its misfortunes. Hurricanes, plague, misgovernment and French-English wars played frequent havoc with these people, but the calamity resulting from the explosion of Mont Pelee is one of which they never dreamed. They had looked upon its verdure-clad slopes only as the home of sprites and gob- lins which abound in their peculiar folklore and of the dreaded fer de lance, the most fatal serpent in existence and which inhabits only this inland and;St. Lucas. What happened at Mont Pelee was probably this: A gigantic explosion of steam and gas, accompanied by a shower of redhot cinders, which, falling upon homes and shipping, burned and partially buried them. Volcanism is still one of the most inexplicable and profound problems which defles the power of geologists to explain, and one of the most singular is the fact that it sometimes breaks forth simultaneously in ~widely distant portions of the earth. A sympathetic relation of this kind has long been known between Hecla and Vesuvius, and it is probable that the Carib volcances have some sympathetic rela- tion with the volcanoes of Central America and Southern Mexico. At the time of the explosion of St. Vincent other explosions preceded or followed it in Northern South America and Central America. ‘The present outburst on Mont Pelee in Martinique Is apparently the culminstion of a number of recent vol- canic disturbances which have been unusually severe. Colima, in Mexico, was in eruption but a few months ago, while Chilpancingo, the capital of the State of Guerrero, was nearly destroyed by an earthquake which followed. Only a few days ago cities of Guatemala were shaken down by tremendous earthquakes. In a few days, when the news can be received from the inaccessible interior of Central America, it will probably be learned that some of the numerous voleanic summits of that region have ex- ploded. Although widely "distant, thére feems to' be a geological relation between the Caribbean and Central American volcanic chains. The whole region of the American Mediterranean, in- stead of being a body of water, as it appears on the maps, is looked upon by geologists as a great east and vest ‘mountain system, ‘whose ridges, except the great Antilles, are submerged beneath the water, where profound valleys and submerged mountain crests are found between the banks and depths. This Antillean mountain system suddenly terminates at each end to the east and west with lines of great volcanoes running at right angles to it. These are the volcanic chains of Central America and of the Carlbbee Islands. It is a singular fact that both these volcanic chains are of the peculiar type which erupt cinders and mud, and it certainly appears as if there was some sympathetic relation between them. AWFUL PANIC. the evening papers yesterday either re- frained from commenting on the disaster souls) is supposed to have perished, maT s S e L FURNACES SMOLDER | ON LAND AND OCEAN | Professor Hill Explains Cause of the - Disaster on ALL BUREAU, 1406 G STREET, N. W,, WASHINGTON, May o.—Professor Robert T. Hill to-night gave The Call correspondent a glescription of the characteristics of the Carib- beair Sea islands, especially of Martinique, and the cause of seismic disturbance there. - Pro- fessor Hill says that hurricancs, plague, misgovernment and French-English wars had played fre- oc witl the inkabitants of crowded St. ont Pelee was one of whicl the people never dreamed. They had looked upon. - the - mountain’s verdure-clad slopes culy as the home of sprites and goblins and of the dreaded fer de lance, the most What happened at Mot Pelee was a gigantic explosion of steam and gas cd by a shower of redhot cinders. Professor Hill says: —_—— % Ing. The entire population (about 25,000 Continued From Page One. All the newspapers here express the ut- most horror at the catastrophe, which, they say, for its magnitude is only com- parable to Pompeii, and they extend deep sympathy to the French nation. Owing to the cable breakdown in the West Indies, no details of the disaster at Martinigue have yet been received here. The avalleble dispatches from the West Indies represent the inhabitants of the other islands as being in deadly fear. Professor John Milne, the seismologist, in an interview published in the Dafly Express, declares that his seismic nstru- ments have recorded no disturbance, and they would almost Invariably have done #0_had serious earthquakes occurred. Professor Milne's theory is that Mont Pelee “had blown its head off,” owing to the infiltration of water through the rocks until it had reached the molten material beneath, forming steam of tre- mendous pressure, when something t,id to give way. PARIS, May 10.—Although the destruc- tion of St. Plerre, Martinique, was known here early yesterday, the Parisians do not yet seem to realize the awfulness of the catastrophe, which apparently hardly caused more than a ripple of excitement on the boulevards. Even the newsboys Jast night were not shouting the last edi- tions of the evening papers with thelir usual vim. This was mainly due to the meagerness of the dispatches received here, and to the total absence of detafls. The only sign of grief vet visible is the half-masted flag over the Ministry of the Colonies. Beyond reproducing the cable dispatches received by the Government, ADVERTISEMENTS. - crofula It is commonly inherited. Few are entirely free from it. Pale, weak, puny children are afflicted with it in nine cases out of ten, and many aduits suffer from it. Common indications are bunches in the neck, abscesses, cutaneous erup- tions, inflamed eyelids, sore -ears, ric- kets, catarrh, wasting, and general de- bility. Hood’s Sarsaparilla and Pills Eradicate it, positively and absolutely. This statement is based on thou- sands of permanent cures these medi- cines have wrought. Testimonisls of remarkable cures mailed on fFeguest. C. 1. HOOD CO., Lowell, Mass. o: confined themselves to printing his- tories, ancient and modern, of similar events. The morning papers to-day do little better. The Figaro follows the cable dispatches with a geographical history of the island of Martinique and speculates whether the catastrophe is due to an eruption or an earthquake or to both, winding up with the statement that it is not France alone, but humanity as a whole, that is plunged in mourning, as such calamities call up the feeling of solidarity uniting all who think and feel. The Matin says it is one of the most frightful catastrophes recorded, and that we must go back to Pompeli to find a parallel for such a calamity. WARSHIP PICKS UP SURVIVORS Officers of Cruiser Suchet View the Horrors at St. Prerre. T. THOMAS, D. W. I, May 9, 9:35 a. m.—The French cruiser Suchet arrived at Point-a-Pitre, island of Guadalupe, French West Indies, this morning, bringing several refugees. She gonfirmed the report that the town of St. Plerre, Martinique, was entirely de- stroyed at 8 o'clock on Thursday morn- ing by a volcanic eruption. It is supposed that most of the inhabitants of St. Plerre were killed, that the neighboring parishes were laid waste and that the residue of the population of St. Pierre is without food or shelter. The commander of the Suchet reports that at 1 o'clock on Thursday the entire town of St. Piefre was wrapped in flames. He endeavored to save about thirty per- sons, more or less burned, from the ves- sels in the harbor. His officers went ashore in small boats, seeking survivors, but were unable to penetrate the town. They saw heaps of bodies upon the wharves and it is believed that not a single person resident in St. Pierre at the moment of the catastrophe escaped. The Governor of the colony and his staff and wife were in St. Plerre and j probably perished. The extent of the catastrophe cannot be imagined. The captain of the British steamer Roddam was very seriously injured,'and is now in the hospital at St. Lucia. All of his officers and engineers were killed or dy- ing. Nearly every member of the crew is dead. Surgeon Campbell and ten of the crew of the Roddam jumped over- board at St. Plerre and were lost. PARIS, May 9.—The commander of the French cruiser Suchet has telegraphed to the Minister of Marine, M. de Lanessan, from Fort de France, island of Marti- nique, under date of Thursday, May 8, at 10 p. m., as follows: “Have just returned from St. Pierre, which bas been completely deéstroyed by an immense mass of fire, which fell on the town at about 8§ o'clock in ‘the morn- have brought back the few survivors about thirty. All the shipping in the har- bor has been destroyed by fire. The erup- tion continues.” The commander of the French cruiser Suchet, now at Fort de France, has been ordered to return to St. Plerre, Martin- ique, with all the speed possible and for- ward detalls of the disaster to the French Government. He cannot, however, be heard from for twenty-four hours, as the Suchet has gone to the island of Guade- lu]pte’lnlorder u; obtain provisions. s feared that M. Moutele, Gov, of Martinique, has perished. Hc‘e e:nelt: graphed May 7 that he was proceeding to St. Pierre. Senator Knight s also sup- posed to have been at St. Plerre. The British royal mail steamer Esk which arrived at St. Lucla this morning. reports having passed St. Pierre last night. The steamer was covered with ashes, though she was five miles distant from the town, which was in impenetrable darkness. A boat was sent in as near as possible to the shore, but not a living soul was seen ashore, only flames, atThe %uelu:c Steamship Company's eamer Roraima was seen e 1 to explode and M. Biuguenot, a sugar planter island of Martinique, recelvzd a cab(l’: d‘ll;? patch this morning from Fort de France sent by the manager of the Francals fag. tory, amnouncing that he had “tried to reach St. Plerre, but found the coast cov- ered with ashes and the town enveloped in dust and could not land.” the dispatch from Paris as havi b- ably been at St. Pierre at the time o theld(its“‘elrll is the president of the Gen- eral Council, or local legisl; the island of Marunlqlfe’s ative body, of MANY ISLANDS ARE ISOLATED by Earthquake and Ca- ble Steamer Lost. INGSTON, Jamaica, May 9.—All the K islands in the neighborhood of Martinique are isolated, apparently, by an earthquake. Cable commun- ication with St. Vincent, Barbadaes, Granda, Trinldad, Madeira and St. Lu. cla is interrupted. Fears are entertained for the safety of the cable repair steam- er Grappler, which was at Martinique prior to the disaster. SAN JUAN, Porto Rico, May 9.—The cable officials here have received dis- patches from the island of Dominica that a schooner which arrived there from the island of Martinique reports that over forty thousand people are supposed to have perished during the volcanic dis- turbances in Martinique. The cable re- pair ship Grappler, belonging to the West India and Panama Telegraph Company of London, was lost with all hands dur- ing the eruption of Mount Pelee at St Pierre, Martinique. The Grappler was one of the first ships to disappear. l NEW YORK, May 9.—The central cable office of the Western Union Telegraph ’ Communication Is Broken' v \ : » THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SATURDAY, MAY 10, 1902. Pl e earthquakes, 6000 lost, earthquake, 2000 4 A volecanic disturbances: Pompeii apd Herculan- eum, destroved by erup- thousands killed, B57. Catania, Sicily, 15,000 persons killed: by earthquake, 1137, Cilicla, 20,000 killed by earth- quake, 1268. Palermo, earthquake, November 80, 1731 Kuchan, North Persia, 40,000 lost, earthquake, 1755. Aleppo, destroyed by earthquake, _thousands killed, 1822, Canton, earthquake, 6000 lost, 1857. + Island of Krakatoa, velcanic eruption, 36,3%0 lives lost, May 27, lost, 1883. 3 Eruption of Mauna Loa, Hawail, 79 killed, 1880. Island of Hondo, Japan, earth- quake, 10,000 killed, October, 1801 Venezuela, earthquake, 3000 lives lost, August 30, 18%. Guatemala, earthquake, loss of 1life not yet ascertained, April, 1902. t 8:3¢ p. m.: 8 “gt, Lucla advises us that a chartered sloop will’ go to St. Vincent when the cable company sald the message meant that the cables are interrupted both north and south of St. Lucia. t: m'e':‘ve are advised that the approximate delay by steamer from St. Lucia to Brit- Passengers Who Lived in PPENDED are the great disasters of history due to tion of Mount Vesuvius, A. D. 7. Earthquake in Constantinople, ; Syria, 20,000 killed by earthjquake, 1188 1726, e Canton, China, 100,000 lost by Lisbon, city ruined by earth- quake, 25,000 killed, November, 1755. May 27, 1830. | Calabria, earthquake, 10,000 lost, 1883, Isle of Ischia, ~ Bandanisan, volcanic eruption, 1000 killed, July, 1888. killed, April 24, 1894, Charleston, 8. C., earthquake, 41 1 A Company sent out the following notice office at St. Lucia closes to-night.” Being asked for an explanation, the The Commercial Cable Company this evening made the following announce- ish Guiana is from twenty-four to forty- eight hours.” West Indfes Lost on Roraima. three passengers on the Quehec Steamship Company’s steamshin Roraima, which was-lpst (with all on board in the:karbor of 8t Plerre, These passengers were F. Hince, Mrs. J. Hince and Mrs. Stokes. "All lived in the West Indies. At the Quebec Steam- ship Company's offices here no news had been received here either from Captain Mumgah, the commander of the vessel, or from any of the West Indian agents of the line. At the offices of the Danish and French Consuls nothing had been heard directly of the present conditions in the destroyed CRATER SMOKES ON ST. VINCENT Refugees From Threatened Districts Fed by the Authorties. NDON, May 9.—The Colonial Office l here has received a dispatch from Sir Robert Llewellyn, Governor of the Windward Islands, in the Car- ribbean Sea, dated from Kingston, St. Vincent, yesterday, in which the Gover- nor says that the Soufriere volcano, In the northwestern part of the island of St. Vincent, continued in activity. Barth shocks had recurred for a week past, but not actually in Kingston. On Wednesday a big cloud of steam hung over the Souf- riere and the inhabitants, who were greatly alarmed. were flocking to Cha- teau de Belaire. There were nearly 300 refugees there, who were being fed by the authoritie: NEW ENGLAND MEMBERS SAFE None but Native Employes of Hamlen & Co. Among Victims. wa YORK, May 0.—There were Senator Knight, who is referred to in | ORTLAND, Me.,” May 9.—News of P the catastrophe at St. Plerre, island of Martinique, was of deep interest to the firm of J. P, Hamlen & Co., of this city, which is said to be the only New England business house with an of- fice at St. Pierre. "Besides dealing in Northern lumber, the Hamlens are inter- ested in the sugar industry there and hold considerable property. Their loss will be heavy. J. C. Hamien, the junior member of the firm, says there were no New England people at the island connected with the business and he believes that none but natives weré killed. He also is of the opinion that no New England or Ameri- can vessels were in port, as the seasan for shipping lumber, ice and coal is over. CmebeL Vi ol Dust From St. Vincent’s. BRIDGETOWN, island of Barbadoes, British West Indies, May 9.—Volcanic dust from the eruption on the island of St. Vincent Is still falling here. The roads and houses are covered an inch thick. The island of Barbadoes is over one hun- dred miles from the island of St. Vincent. e Piles Cured Without the Knife. Itching, Blind, Bleeding or Protruding Piles, o cure, No Pay. All driggists are authorized by manufacturers of Pazo Ointment to refund money where it fails to cure any case of piles, no matter of how long standing. Cures ordinary cases in six days; worst cases in fourteen days. One npfll.utbn gives ease and rest. Relieves itching instantly. This is a new dlscovery, and is the only plle remedy sold on positive guar- antee, nO cure, no pay. A f sample will be rn by mail to lnyx:nt sending I‘l:(lnd:,;nd ad- ce, 3 your 't keep it in stock send 50c in stamps and we will fc ‘ward full box a o size by mail. Manufs e B Laxative Bromo-Quinine Tablets. HISTORY REPEATS STORY OF POMPEII Bulwer-Lytton’s Description Applies to Lost St. ' Pierre. : HE eappalling disaster at St. Pierre, comparable in its immensity of destr'nctwu and horror with the historic tragedy at the cities of Pompei and Herculaneum, over which dreaded Ves.u- vius poured its death-flood of lave and showered life-destroying ashes upon thousands of in- habitants, vividly vecalls Bulwer-Lytton's rare description of :hat catastrophe. In the famou:_ novel- ist's word picture, a portion of which is republished here, all the terrible features of a volcanic erup- tion and ils ackompanying loss of life and property are presented with an abundance of thrilling detail. This description may well serve to convey an idea of the horrors at St. Pierre: The power of the praetor was as a reed beneath the whirlwind; still, at his word the guards had drawn them- selves along the lower benches, on which the upper classes sat separate from the vulgar. They made but a feeble barrier—the waves of the human sea halted for a moment to enable Arbaces to count the exact moment of his doom! In despair, and in a terror which beat down even pride, he glanced his eyes over the rolling and rushing crowd— when, right above them, through the wide chasm which had been left in the velaria, he beheld a strange and awful apparition—he beheld—and his craft restored his courage! He stretched his hand on high; over his lofty brow and royal features there came an expression of unutterable solemnity and command. “Behold!” he shouted with a voice of thunder, which stilled the roar of the crowd; “behold how the gods protect the gulltless! The fires of the avenging Orcus burst forth against the false witness of my accusers!” The eyes of the crowd followed the gesture of the Egyptian and beheld, witl ineffable dismay, a vast vapor shooting from the summit of Vesuvius in the form of a gigantic pine tree—the trunk, blackness; the branches, fire —a fire that shifted and wavered in its hues with every moment, now fiercely luminous, now of a dull and dying red, that again blazed terrifically forth with intolerable lare! # There was a dead, heart-sunken silence, through which there suddenly broke the roar of the lion, which was echoed back from within the building by the sharper and flercer yells of its fellow beast. Dread seers were they of the Burden of the Atmosphere, and wild prophets of the wrath to come! Then there arose on high the universal shrieks of ‘women; the men stared at each other, but were dumb. At that moment they felt the earth shake beneath their feet; the walls of the«theater trembled; and beyond in the dis- tance they heard the crash of falling roofs; an instant more and the mountain cloud seemed to roll toward them, .dark and rapid, like & torrent; at the same time it cast from its bosom a shower of ashes mixed with vast frag- ments of burning stone! Over the crushing vines, over the desolate streets, over the amphitheater itself, far and wide, with many a mighty splash in the agitated sea, fell that awful shower. No longer thought the crowd of justice or of Arbaces; safety for themselves was their sole thought. Each turned to fly—each dashing, pressing, crushing against the other. Trampling recklessly: over the fallen, amid groans and oaths and prayers and sudden shrieks, the enormous crowd vomited itself forth through the numerous passages. ‘Whither should they fly? Some, anticipating a second earthquake, hastened to their homes to load themselves with their more costly goods and escape while it was yet time; others, dreading the showers of ashes that now fell fast, torrent upon torrent, over the streets, rushed under the roofs of the nearest houses or temples or sheds—shel- ter of any kind—for protection from the terrors of the open air. But darker and larger and mightier spread the cloud above them. It was a sudden and more ghastly ‘Night rushing upon the rea.lm o(.Noon! . Amid'the other horrors the mighty mountain now cast up columns 'of bolling water. Blent and kneaded with the half-burning ashes, the streams fell like seething mud over the streets in frequent intervals. And full, where the priests of Isis had now cowered around the altars, on which they had vainly sought to kindle fires and pour incense, one of the flercest of those deadly torrents, mingled with immense fragments of scoria, had poured its _ rage. Over the bended forms of the priests it dashed; that cry had been of death—that silence had been of eter- nity! The ashes—the pitchy stream—sprinkled the altars, covered the pavement and half concealed the quivering corpses of the priests! . . . A sudden flash of lightning from the mount showed to Burbo, who stood motionless at the threshold, the flying and ladén form of the priest. He took heart, he stepped forth to join him, when a tremendous shower of ashes fell right before his feet. The gladiator shrank back once more. Darkness closed him in. But the shower continued fast—tast, its heaps rose high and suffocatingly—deathly vapors steamed from them. The wretch gasped for breath—he sought in despair again to fly—the ashes had blocked up the threshold—he shrieked as his feet shrank from the boiling fluid. How could he escape? He could not climb to the open space; nay, were he able, he could not brave its horrors. It were best to remain in the cell, protected, at least, from the fatal air. He sat down and clenched his teeth. By degrées the atmosphere from with- out—stifling and venomoWs—crept into the chamber. He could endure it no longer. His eyes, glaring round, rested on a sacrificial ax which some priest had left in the cham- ber; he seized it. With the desperate strength of his gigantic arm he attempted to hew his way through the walls. Meanwhile the streets were already thinned; the crowd had hastened to disperse itself under shelter; the ashes began to fill up the lower parts of the town; but there and there you heard the steps of fugitives crunching them warlly or saw their pale and haggard faces by the blue glare of the lightning or the more unsteady glare of torches by which they endeavored to steer their steps. But ever and anon the bolling water or the straggling ashes, mysterious and gusty winds rising and dying in a breath, extinguished these wandering lights and with them the last living hope of these who bore them. . . . The eloud, which had scattered so deep a murkiness over the day, had now settled into a solid and impenetra- ble mass. It resembled less even the thickest gloom of night in the open air than the close and blind darkness of some narrow room. But in proportion as the blackness gathered did the lightnings around Vesuvius increase in thelr vivid and scorching glare. Nor was their horrible beauty confined to the usual hues of fire; no rainbow ever rivaled their varying and prodigal dyes. Now brightly blue as the most azure depth of a southern sky—now of a Hvid and snakelike green, darting restlessly to and fro as the folds of an enormous serpent—now of a lurid and in- tolerable crimson, gushing forth through the columns of smoke, far and wide, and lighting up the whole city from arch to arch—then suddenly dying into a sickly paleness, like the ghost of their own life! In the pauses of the showers you heard the rumbling of the earth beneath and the groaning waves of the tor- tured sea; or, lower still, and audible but to the watch of intensest fear, the grinding and hissing murmur of the escaping gases through the chasms of the distant moun- tain. Sometimes the cloud appeared to break from its solid mass, and, by. the lightning, to assume quaint and vast mimicries of human or of monster shapes, striding across the gloom, hurtling one upon the other, and van- ishing swiftly into the turbulent abyss of shade; so that, to the eyes and fancies of the affrighted) wanderers, the unsubstantial vapors were as the bodily forms of gigantic foes—the agents of terror and of death. The ashes in many places were already knee deep; and the boiling showers which came from the steaming breath of the volcano forced their way into the houses, bearing with them a strong and suffocating vapor. In some places immense fragments of rock, hurled upon the house roofs, bore down along the streets masses of confused ruin, which yet more and more, with every hour, obstructed the way; and, as the day advanced, the motion of the earth was more sensibly felt—the footing seemed to slide and creep—nor could chariot or litter be kept steady even on the most level ground. Sometimes the huger stones striking against each other as they fell broke into countless fragments, emitting sparks of fire, which caught whatever was combustible within their reach; and along the plains beyond the eity the darkness was now terribly relieved, for several houses and even vineyard§ had been set on flames; and at various intervals the fires rose sullenly and flercely against the solid gloom. To add to this partial relief of the darkness, the citizens had, here and there, in the more public places, such as the porticos of temples and the entrances to the forum, endeavored to place rows of torches, but these rarely continued long; the showers and the winds extin- guished them, and the sudden darkness into which their sudden birth was converted had something in it doubiy terrible and doubly impressing on the importance of human hopes, the lesson of despair. . B . . Bright and gigantic through the darkness, which closed around it like the walls of hell, the mountain shone —a -pile of fire! Its summit seemed riven in two; or, rather, above its surface there seemed to rise two monster shapes, each confronting each, as demons contending for a world. These were of one deep blood-red hue of fire, which lighted up the whole atmosphere far and wide; but, below, the nether part of the mountain was still dark and shrouded, save in three places, adown which flowed, ser- pentine and irregular, rivers of the moiten lava. Darkly red through the profound gloom of their banks they flowed slowly on, as toward the devoted city. Over the broadest there seemed to spring a cragged and stupendous arch, from which, as from the jaws of hell, gushed the sources of the sudden Phlegethon. And through the stilled alr was heard the rattling of the fragments of rock, hurtling one upon another as they were borne down the fiery cataracts—darkening, for one Instant, the spot whers they fell, and suffused the next, in the burnished.hues of the flood along which they floated! . . . Instinctively he turned to the mountain, and behold! one of the two gigantic crests into which the summit had been divided rocked and wavered to and fro; and then, with a sound, the mightiness of which no language can describe, it fell from its burning base and rushed, an avalanche of fire, down the sides of the mountain! At the same instant gushed forth a volume of blackest smoke <rolling on, over air, sea and earth. Another—and another—and another shower of ashes far more profuse than before scattered fresh desolation along the streets. - . . . Around the east thin mists caught gradually ti rosy hues that heralded the morning; Light was ll:fllth .ta Te- sume her reign. Yet, still dark and massive in the distance, broken fragments of the destroying cloud, from wn'?cf: ::; streaks, burning dimlier and more dim, betrayed the yet rolling fires of the mountain of the “Scorched Fields." The white walls and gleaming columns that had adorned the lovely coasts were no more. Sullen and dull were the shores 5o lately crested by the cities of Herculaneum and Pompeil. The darlings of the Deep were snatched from her embrace! Century after century shall the might; Mother stretch forth her azure arms and know them :oty moaning round the sepulchers of the Lost! 5 PEOPLE OF DOOMED. Continued From Page One. was renewed, but the papulation began to recover just as the final catastrophe took place. s PERISH THROUGH BRAVERY. The inhabitants of St. Pierre perished through their bravery and devotion to ir town and homes. th(gn.ptaln Freeman of the British ship Roddam, which was at St. Plerre at the time of the holocaust, and which brought the news to St. Luela, is in a critical con- dition in the hospital at St. Lucla. All of the Roddam's officers and engi- neers are dead or dying. Most of the crew perished and the supercargo, Camp- bell, and ten men jumped overboard and lost their lives. The town of St. Thomas is-sending to St. Pierre a relief vessel, the Alert. The cable ship Grappler, lost in Martinique, was the first vessel to be de- stroyed. FLEES FROM ST. VINCENT. The British schooner Ocean Traveler of St. John, N. B., arrived at\the island of Dominica at 3 o'clock this afternoon from the West Indies. She was obliged to flee from the island of St. Vincent, British ‘West Indles, during the afternoon of May 7, In consequence of a heavy fall of sand from a volcano which was erupting there. She tried to reach the island of St. Lucla, but adverse currents prevented her from doing so. The schooner arrived opposite St.: Plerre, Martinique, Thursday morning. May 8. While about a mile off the vol- cano of Mont Pelee fire from it swept the whole town of St. Plerre, destroying the town and the shipping there, includ- ing the cable repair ship Grappléx of the ‘West India and Panama Telegraph Com- pany of London, which was engaged in repairing the cable. The Ocean Traveler, while on her way to Dominica, encount- ered a quantity of wreckage. e Schooner Morse Probably- Lost. BOSTON, May 9.—The Portland schoon- er Anna J. Morse, Captain Parker, ar-] rived at St. Plerre, Martinique, April 24, from Philadelphia, with a cargo of coal, and fears are expressed in shipping cir- cles here for her safety, as she is sup- posed to have been there at the time of the destruction of the city. The Morse was owned by J. 8. Winslow & Co. of Portland, Me. FRANCE GETS OFFICIAL NEWS Disaster Causes Colonial Office to Display Mourning. | ARIS, May 9.~The Colonial Min- ister, M. de Crals, recelved this evening two cable messages from the Secretary General of the Government of Martinique, J. E. G. L'Hurre, - spectively at § and 10:30 p. m. n::::d:; The earller cable reported that the wite Were broken between Fort de France and St. Plerre, but it was added that, in view of reports that the eruption of Mont Peleo had wiped out the town of St. Pierre all the boats avallable at Fort de France Wwere dispatched to the assistance of the ln;nbltanu of that place. he second dispatch, confirmed + ports of the destruction of St. m:: :n: its environs and shipping by a rain of fire, and sald it was supposed tbat the Wwhole population had been annihilated with the exception of a few injured per- sons rescued by the cruiser Suchet. Immediately after the receipt of the foregoing dispatches the flag over tho Colonjal Office was dressed wWith ecrape “BORDEAUX, France, May . ce, 9.—Thi - ister of the Colonies, M. de Crai ..":u has been visiting the south of France hurried back to Parls on hearing of the Martinique disaster. -Before leaving hera : Continued on Page Five. The Menus o5 4. notable State and Social Functions, at Home and Abroad, demonstrate the Pre-eminence of Apollinaris “THE QUEEN OF TABLE WATERS.”