Jasper County Democrat, Volume 5, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 July 1902 — HORRORS OF PIERRE. [ARTICLE]

HORRORS OF PIERRE.

SCENES IN STRICKEN CITY AFTER PELEE’S ERUPTION. Strange Acta of the Terrible Ware of Destruction—The Suddenness of Death -Fatk of a Family—Dead Along a Road. From tlu> entrance to tbe Bay of Anse la Touche the ruins of St. Pierre lay spread out in-one long panorama, and in the background loomed Mt. Pelee, still belching forth its columns of smoke, flame, lava and ashes, writes a correspondent who visited St. Pierre shortly after the eruption of the volcano. Every house was an absolute ruin, and as you approached the northern end of the city in the direction of the crater all buildings had been literally swept off the face of the earth. Every street was tilled to the depth of several feet with the debris from the houses, underneath which and underneath the ruins themselves lay all that remained of the greater number of the residents of St. Pierre. The ouee-fa rnous Place Bertin was impassable on account of the uprooted trees and the wreckage from the vessels lost in the'bay. Of the solid stone signal tower, sixty feet in height, only about six feet of the base remained, together with a small portion of the circular iron staircase inside. The streets at the south end of the town, where many distilleries were situated, were not so heaped with debris as those at the north end. but in some parts were impassable by reason of large pools of molasses that had leaked from the storage tanks in the vicinity. The road from Ft. Pierre to Anse la Touche, once a beautiful promenade, was a dreadful sight. It was covered with a layer of about twelve or eighteen inches of dust, like the surrounding country. Many people must have been passing along at the time, as it was littered with bodies. As you leave the town an enormous tree lies uprooted, and underneath the trunk were seven or eight bodies, crushed flat. It appears as if the party had seen tbe blast coming and endeavored to get behind the trunk for shelter. From the dust in the road protruded arms and legs and whole bodies in eveyy jwsition. In one instance a horse and rider were killed. The body of the man lay with the right leg under the animal and the left suspended in the air, just as the rider must have fallen from the saddle. Under this horse could be seen parts of another corpse besides that of tile rider. In and about Arise la Touche the bodies lay thick on the ground. The ashes here were about five inches thick, so all corpses were fully exposed. Every one was blackened and bore the appearance as if it had received a coating of tar. It was impossible to tell the negro from the white man. Sometimes shreds of hair or a piece of clothing were seen, but usually tbg bodies were quite naked. * Eying about among others were the bodies of several children, apparently atruck down while at play. One man had cast himself face downward underneath a wagonette, the remains of which and a large buggy were standing near the residence. The bodies of the horses could be seen in the vicinity of the small stream which runs close by. At another spot were a large heap of bodies, apparently those of servants or laborers. On the hill on the opposite side of the stream were to lie seen the bodies of several cows and a black, huddled up heap, which, on closer insi>ection, proved to be the corpse of a man doubled up. Since May 13 the authorities had been burning the bodies in numbers. Laborers were employed, and all exposed bodies were saturated with kerosene and burnt. Where the bodies were in the ruined houses the ruins were fired in like manner. These burning bodies on every hand formed a dreadful sight and the smell of roasting flesh became unbearable.