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Show SHOWER Or FIRE, Meager Details of the Horror nt St. l'lerre. Port De Prance, Island of Martinique Martini-que May II Advices received here today to-day from the vicinity of St. Plerro (ten miles from here) contnln further details of the terrible volcanic upheaval which resulted In the utter destruction of that town and the death of nearly all Its Inhabitants. The crater of Mont Pelee has been wearing lis "smoke cap" since the 3rd of May, but tli"ro was nothing until last Monday to Indicate that there was the slightest danger. ENTOMBED DY LAVA. On that day a strenm of boiling lava burst through tho top of the crater and plunged Into the vnlley of tho River Blanche, overwhelming tho fluerln sugar works and killing twenty-threo work people and tho son of tho proprietor. SHOWER OP TIRE. A commission was appointed by the Oovernoi In Investigate the outbreak and It returned n reassuring report on Wcdnesdny ev eulng. But nbout S o clock on Thursday morning n shower of fire rushed down on St. Pierre, nnd tho coast from Lo Cnrbet, which had n population of C00O. to Le Prechsur, which hud n population of 4000, burning burn-ing up everything In its pith, HEAT WAS INTENSE. Throughout Thursday tho heat In the vicinity of St. Plerro was so Intense nnd tho strenm of flowing lava was so unremitting un-remitting that It was Impossible to approach ap-proach the town dutlng tho early part of the da, THIRTY SURVIVORS, As evening approached tho French cruiser Sachet, nfter a heroic battlo with tho heat, suffocation mil sulphur fumes, succeeded in making a dash toward to-ward the shore, ncnrlng tho land close enough to enable her to tako off thlity survivors of tho disaster, nil of whom wero terribly burned nnd mutilated, THIRTY THOUSAND CORPSES St. Pierre nt that lime was an absolute, abso-lute, smoking wnstc, concealing 30 000 corpses, whoe rapid decomposition necessitated ne-cessitated In some cases, instantly completing com-pleting their nemntlon. which was only partly accomplished by tho lava, TEOI'LE WILD WITH TERROR. Tho Inhabitants of Port Do Prance were panic-stricken the morning of the disaster, when tho sky suddenly blackened black-ened until it was ns dark as midnight. mid-night. The sea ehinnk back thirty ards and hot rnln began to fill, while gravel the slzo of walnuts poured down In the town. This lasted nbout fifteen minutes. ALMOST ROASTED TO DEATH. The 450 survivors who wero brought here jesterdny trom the vlclntts of St. Pierre by the French cable icpnlr ship Pouyer Qucrller came fiom tho town of Le Piechsur. where, sui rounded on all sides by flowing lava, they were nearly roisted to death nnd expected momentarily to be engulfed LAVA PLOW CONTINUES. The latest reports received here show, ed that the lava continues to pour down the slopes of the mountain slowly en-gulling en-gulling the whole north side of the Island, Is-land, while fresh crevasses nre continually con-tinually opening. |
