Vote or Die

The island of Martinique is overlooked by a volcano, Mount Pelée. When it started smoking three days before 1902 elections, the local Governor Louis Mouttet feared it could hurt his election, so he blockaded the city and even visited the mountain to show that it was “safe”. However, on election day it erupted, and sent ash traveling 100 miles an hour through the city and killed all but two people within two minutes, including the governor. One survivor was a condemned man waiting underground to be executed the next day; Auguste Cipris had his sentence commuted, and toured with the Barnum and Bailey circus in a replica of his cell.