What destroyed Saint-Pierre?

People said that Saint-Pierre was the "Paris of the West Indies". This beautiful little port lay between a long beach and pretty little volcano, Mont Pelee. The volcano was not dead. Stream began to come out of the lake in 1901. The volcano began to throw up how ashes in April 1902. They fell all day on May 2nd. School children stayed at home and shops and offices were closed. It was difficult to breathe and people got sore eyes and throats. On May 5th it rained heavily and a river of boiling mud rushed down the mountain. Some lava came down on May 7th. Many people wanted to leave — but they did not go. The politicians told them that there was no danger. They wanted them to vote in the election on May 10th. There was no election. At 7:52 on May 8th the people heard four loud bangs. At 7:59 the volcano exploded. A cloud of hot gas blew over the city at 150-300 kilometers an hour. A minute later the city was burning. Only two people escaped alive. Mont Pelee killed 30,000 people in three minutes.