Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 May 1902 — PELEE BELCHES DEATH SHOWER [ARTICLE]

PELEE BELCHES DEATH SHOWER

Fewer Than Forty Persons Said to Have Escaped with Their Lives. CRATER IN ACTIVE ERUPTION Many are Drowned in Endeavoring to Escape from Martinique to the Inland of Dominica—soo Dead at St. Vincent. A dispatch from the island of Dominica, British West Indies, says that a man who has just returned from the boiling lake district of that island went within 100 yards of the lake and found that the water had disappeared and that from a vent ten feet in diameter in the center was arising a column of steam to a neight of thirty feet before spreading into the atmosphere. That the district otherwise was apparently unchanged, but the sulphur gases were very strong. Later advices received from the island of Dominica say that boats arriving there report that many persons were drowned while crossing to Dominica from the island of Martinique, where some of the outer parishes haver been inundated. The eruption of Mont Pelee in Martinique continues. The lava Is progressing northward. The whole northward region is now a rocky waste, denuded of vegetation. Reports from the island of St. Vincent say that up to the afternoon of Friday last over 200 dbaths had occurred there owing to fche volcanic outbreak in that island. Definite news, however, is lacking. Many estates were destroyed and steam and ashes were belched forth from 7 in the ’morning until 9:30 at night. The eruption is now visible at Kingston. Huge •dust clouds were blown eastward. Great distress prevails at St. Vincent, where there are many injured persons. The latest news says that about 500 persons have lost their lives at St. Vincent. The majority of the corpses are still unburied. The British Royal mail steamer Solent has gone from Barbados to Martinique with supplies and doctors. From the island of Trinidad the British Royal mail steamer Keanett has gone to Fort-de-Franee. The British second-class cruiser Indefatigable 1b on her way from Trinidad to St Vincent with stores for the relief of the sufferers there. It is reported that Fort-de-Franee, Martinique, is threatened. Great tension prevails everywhere throughout the West Indies. St. Pierre was destroyed in the twinkling of an eye and not forty of the inhabitants of the city escaped. Some of. the outlying parishes of the island of Martinique have been inundated. The whole northern portion of the island is burning. It has been denuded of vegetation and is a rocky wilderness.