A Terrible Disaster.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIV, Issue 110, 15 May 1902, Page 3

A Terrible Disaster.

THE ERUPTIONS AT MARTINIQUE. THE ROLL OF THI" DFAD AND THE HOWISLU-SB. PKK t>KESS ASSOCIATION. New York, May 13. A thousand lefugees have arrived at La Carbet and Ca«epilote. J J Tho French cruiser Suchet and a I ■ Danish cruiser, the Valkyro, rescued ' 4000 persons at; L" Preni»eur. j The American Consul at Guadataupe ! confirms the estimate that 70,000 lost I their lives and 50,000 are rendered , homeless. The French Government has in- , formed President Roosevelt that the [ whole of Martinique is s f ill menaced, ! and has requested assistance to remove , thtf survivors. I

Exploring parties aro cremating the dead at S\ Pierre. Many children were found locked in ono another's arms. Apparently many victims were overwhelmed before conscious of their danger. Numbers were found naked, their clothes torn eff in efforts to protecc their faces from the fire.

Supplies are exhausted and the inhabitants ire dependent on outside aid. It is feared thousands ara starving in the c:unt;y districts. King Edward has cabled his sympathy with the sufferers at St. Vincent. Some <f the American newspapers are turi.irg the disaster to account in favour of the Panama canal route, urgirg that the Nicaragua route is within the area of volcanic disturbances.

THE DAMAGE AT ST. VINTOENT. WIDESPREAD THERMAL ACTIVITY. MOUNT TACOMA SMOKING. Received 14, 10.14 p.m. New York, May 14. St. Lucia reports that 1600 parsons perished at St. Vincent. Th.. flames are devastating the whole of the northern districts, and a deep mantle of dust covers jhe whole of the ialaud.

Increasing showers of pebbles and ashfis keep M;e inhabitants of Kingston and the eouth-wosi sidn of the island indoors.

Many empty cat oes have been found drifting nl.ing t-he roai-t.

T'n..' h"-'t, continues intense. At tbf I-lands of 'hu Bai b.«does and GiU! »dn, ashes are co;>tantly Hilling. San F ier-'* detentions havsi been hear.* of miles away, sounding lik- dis snt cannon. The sulphur springs in Jamaica a,r« becoming ex'rfme y h"t, and a boiling lake in the Wand of Dominica has disappeirtd. Steam in n w vomiting from the lake hed.

Mun Tni'oma, in the Cascade Ra'gt>, W 'hirgtn Terr'tory, the only vol'xioin he Uni d State", is smoking, and set'le - ii ti.e vicinity an leaving; [M-.nnt Taroma, in th'- furthest north- wi stern Sta'e of <he Union, is approximately 3600 miles distnnt from the scf-ne of the truption.]

BRITISH ASSISTANCE AT THE DISPOSAL OF FRANCE.

Received 14,10.14 p.m. | Paris. May 14. Sir Edmond Mocson has informed M. Deleave, French Minister for Foreign Affairs, that all British resources and ships in th 9 vicinity of Martinique are placed at the disposal of France. London, May 14. In the House of Commons Mr Balfour staged that the Government was considering the question of giving monetary assistance to the sufferers by the Martinique disaster, though there was no precedent for such a step,

ACCOUNT BY A SUFFERER. HELP FOR THE SURVIVORS. Received 14, 10.37 p m. New' York. May 14. The c:We ship Pouy«r Quertier, at great risk, rescued 1300 persons at Le Prechbur.

A woman sprvant employed in St. Pierre stated that slin Veard a loud repo't on the Bth. She f and on recoverirg found he'self horribly burned. She saw two others <i 'h" family alive, but th.y died ue r ore aid anivfd. The servant w. s o'-pa>-enlly the only survivor, ard d e<l without throwing any light on the catastrophe. A whirlwind of vo'canic gas swept the coast, while the town was overwhelmed with eindeif.

The vaults of the British Bank are intic^.

Piov ; sicn3 have been Pent bv the Brt'i h ar.d < thr,r :;u< horities sufficient for the immediate necessities of the SMI VIVO' s.

"ho Amcric-r. Senate hos voted sn adliti nnl 300,000 drdlars.

A n>tir-n-'l subsc-ip'ion proposed in Fiance.

AUSTRALIAN SYMPATHY. Received 18. 0.7 am. j Melbourne, May 14. Lord FT re'outi h;<s cabled to the Frer-ch President; (M Lon'"et) t»>e Oommoßw<alh's deepest sympathy in rh>> Martinique cahmity. MONT PELEE AGAIN VIOLBNT. GRIM SCENES IN ST. PIERRE. PHKVOMENAL ALTERATION IV SEABED. Received IS, 0.1 s a.m. New Yobk, M->y 18. After a somewhat qui-ting *nell, the | Mont eruptions ar- agin morn violen\

Tho la'e Governor r,f Martinique, on the seventh day hofore thp catastrophe, sent troops to utop a ppnira] pxorlus frnm the centre of the town (St. Pierre).

The fort liss buried under ashes to a dppth of several yards, and there is difficulty in tricing shs streets. Over two thousand corpses were found in the streets, mostly face downwards.

Trie bodies found in houses appear as if struck by lyin?, fitting, or reclining in curiously diverse atti tudes.

Iron bedsteads in the hospitals are all twisted, and everything rent and scattered as if by a tornado. The poisonous smoke killed paopla 'ike flies.

Numbers of sharks are visible, fightins over tV.e corpses in the hirbour. The cabla has been found at a depth of 1234 m6trs>s, instead of the previous depth of threo metres.

Nfgrocs, road wifh hunger, are with difficulty reitninei from Sooting houses at Fort da Fracce.

Tha qirsMon has b?en asked, Is it possible that thnra is any Ci>nnsction between the peculiar weather experi-

' ei.ced in Wr-Ilineton during the last few days and the volcanic disturbances iin the West Indies ? I', may be i thought that the sugg<>sMon is rather .'fanciful, but it is to be remembered j ;that the Krakatoa eruption affected the [/atmo.-iphi're throughout the worid,, as ; I hhown by barometric readings. Bfci'oro i the news of that: catastrophe was pub- ! lishfd in Wellington, Sir JamfS Hector J noticed tho pen of his barograph make ;J a sudden movement. He remarked to two gentlemen who were speaking to' L him at the time that, something out of j [ the ordinary had happened somewhere ' in tho Eist. Subsequently investi-j , ; g*tions were marie, and it was ascer-, . tailed that tho s>.mo phenomenon had been observed in other parts of the world. —NZ. Times.