| Show tEYE WITNESS EYE WITNESS DESCRiBES DESCRiBES' DESCRIBES ERUPTION OF MONT PEE PElEE ON IH TEAT I I AWFUL THURSDAY t F Mountain Mo Shuddered and h Moaned loaned as asIt ast It It Labored Under the Mysterious s t t h Forces of Nature s k PORT OF SPAIN Island of Trinidad May is 16 M. M AI Albert Alpert ert owner and mana- mana Jl get kei 1 the La O rane estate which lay Ia uta outa a mile northeast of the crater of Pelee arrived here today with his fly on the steamer Canada from I f He tells telfs a story of a marius marus marus mar- mar ius us escape from death Mont it Pelee had given warning of 2 destruction that was to come he hes s s. s d but we who vho had looked upon the a all harmless did not believe hat that it would do more than spout fire md steam as It had done on other oc oc- oc c It was a a. little before 8 S o'clock n n the morning of or May that Shat the the end came red hudd red and Moaned I 1 ti was Jas as In one of the fields of my estate when the ground trembled under j k if fe feet t not as it Joes when the earthquakes earth quakes akes s. s but butas as though a terrible le Was going on within the mountain As I stood still Mont Pelee seemed R b o 0 shudder and a moaning sound issued from If tom its crater Then there was ras as a rending crashing grinding noise It k was avas deafening and the flash of ot light that accompanied it was blinding r j Like Mike a Hurricane L L. L It w was s 's like a terrible le hurricane ne and na t where a a. fraction traction Of df f a a second before there had been a perfect calm I felt myself drawn into a vortex The mysterious force leveled a row I of trees near by leaving a a. bare space n I of ground fifteen yards wide and more than one hundred yards long Above Mont Pelee's apex a great black cloud fo formed med which reached hig In the air It It literally fell feU upon the city of St. St Pierre I From the the- cloud came explosions that sounded as though all of the nav navies es of the world were in combat Lightning played In and out in broad forks Did Not Sea Ses City t i i That St St. Pierre was doomed I kne knew but I was prevented from seeing tie destruction by a spur of the hill t that at shut off the view of the city It is impossible for me to tell BOW ow long I stood there Probably it pas as only a few seconds When I red ed possession of my senses I ran to to my toy house and collecting the family tall s U of whom whom were stricken panic I hurried them to the seashore where we ye boarded board board- ed u lL small steamship V ti lJ which h we made maile the trip In safety to Fort do de France Dance nc Ov Overcome c me by Gas ins I know a there no fi flame me IIi in inthe the the- first wave that was sent down upon upon St St. Pier Pierre e. e It was a heavy gas like fire damp and it must have aSP asphyxiated asphyxiated atM the Inhabitants b before tore they were touched by the fire which quickly fol fol- fol- fol lowed As we drew o out t to sea in jm the small steamer Mont Pelee elee was in ln the throes of a terrible convulsion I New New craters seemed to be opening all ail about the summit and l lava va was flowing In broad streams in every direction My estate estate was r ruined while we were still in sight of it it |
