The Martinique Eruption.

Manawatu Herald, 14 June 1902, Page 2

The Martinique Eruption.

A despatch from St Thomas dated May noth saysAs fuller reports of the Martinique disaster arrive the catastrophe grows in horror. It-w now estimated that the loss of life m Martinique is 60,000. A steamer from St Vincent gives a graphic account of the scene. The steamer left St. Vincent hurriedly on Wednesday because of the threatening state ; of affairs there- A heavy tall of sand from the crater of the volcano there covered the Vessel’s deck an inch deep. The vessel steamed to within a mile of St. Pierre and witnessed the terrible explosion of Thursday morning. The explosion seemed to lift the top of the mountain entirely off. At the same time the land heaved and swelled and a terrible convulsion took place at sea. The waters rose in a huge threatening mass, as though they would engulf every living thing on the ocean. Then a mass of fire descended upon the the city and a pall of smoke covered everything from sight. The steajtJship Wear, of the Royal mail service, in attempting to force her way to Kingston, ran into a floating bank of ashes. For three hours the ship was practically helpless in acload of smokp and sulphurous ashes denser than that Which floated down from Mont PeleO. When Kingston was finally reached at daybreak, it wag found panic stricken,. The streets were covered two inches deep with ashes and stones that bad fallen during the night. Kingston is 15 miles from the crater which ejected yet the rain of missiles was almost incresant for three days. From Chateau Belaire word came that the distress there was great. A call Him been sent for a clergyman and and w« “taken by the Wear. Down the side* of La Soufriere were flowing hundreds of streams of lava, which united and separated, formed a network from which there was no escape for any living thing caught within its-grasp. Already 1000 bodies have been recovered and it is known that many hundred lie buried under the ashesThe Carib Indians are exterminaed, and it is believed a, OOO lives have gone out.