A country

Martinique

3 stories set here.

The Footnote June 25, 2026 · Saint-Pierre, Martinique

The Burned Prisoner of Saint-Pierre Joined a Travelling American Circus and Died in Panama in 1929

Louis-Auguste Cyparis was the most famous of the two survivors of the 1902 Mount Pelée eruption. He was recruited by Barnum & Bailey's Circus in 1903, toured the United States as "the man who lived through doomsday" for the next eight years, and died in obscurity in Panama in 1929.

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The Cabinet June 23, 2026 · Saint-Pierre, Martinique

The French Geologist Who Invented Modern Volcanology by Arriving Too Late at Saint-Pierre

Alfred Lacroix arrived on Martinique six weeks after the 1902 eruption of Mount Pelée had killed thirty thousand people. He spent the next four years on the island reconstructing exactly what had happened. The science of volcanology, more or less, is what he found.

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The Coroner’s Report June 8, 2026 · Saint-Pierre, Martinique

Two Minutes, Two Survivors

On 8 May 1902 a volcano on Martinique destroyed a city of thirty thousand. Two men lived to tell about it. One was in a dungeon.

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