Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 61, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 January 1909 — ISLANDS REPORTED SUNK IN SEA [ARTICLE]

ISLANDS REPORTED SUNK IN SEA

Belief 28,000 Have Perished. WARSHIP INVESTIGATES Uparl Group In Mediterranean Near Coast ot Sicily. TWO NEW EARTHQUAKE SHOCKS Graves Opened by Messina Tremors and Coffins Ripped Apart.

Rome, Jan. I.—The Vita states that a wireless message from the strait of Messina reports that the Liparl Islands, a group of volcanic Islands In the Mediterranean, near the coast of Sicily, have disappeared. The total population of the group numbers 28,000 and must inevitably have perished. The minister of marine has rushed a torpedo boat to ascertain the facts.

Rome, Jan. 1. —Estimates of the death roll of the earthquake now cease to concern the Italian people. It Is enough to know that the catastrophe la overwhelming. Figures would add nothing to the grief of the stricken nation, nor move to greater efforts those upon whom the work of relief and rescue has fallen.

The latest reports received at Rome state that there have been many intermittent shocks following the first to which the greater part of the destruction is attributed. The British warship Minerva reported by wireless to Malta that two severe shocks occurred at Messina. Of Geological Origin. Professor Ricco, director of the Observatory at Mount Etna, states that hiss instruments have recorded fortytwo distinct shocks after the first, but that during the last fourteen hours, they have been almost motionless. Etna and Stromboli are now quiet, and he is certain that the earthquake was not of volcanic but geological origin, similar to that of 1785. The horror of the situation at Messina and Regaio grows with every fresh dispatch. One of the correspondents places the death roll throughout the entire territory as high as 300,000, but this appears to be extreme. Others make their outside estimate 200,000, but the official estimate as made by the minister of marine still holds to 115,000.

At Bagnara surgical operations are bring performed with pruning knives, but at Reggio even that is impossible. Both Sexes Half Nude. Thousands of half nude individuals of both sexes have gathered along the muddy beaches on either side of the ruins of Messina, seeking food or trying to get away by sea. Many children have died from exposure and the cases of madness are increasing. The warships in Messina harbor are keeping their searchlights on the ruijls to enable the rescuers on shore to continue their work.

A band of Messina refugees succeeded, in getting away from the Sicilian coast in sail boats. After a frightful experience In crossing the they landed on the Calabrian coast? Here they were met by haggard refugees from Reggio nnd the various groups •«f unfortunates joined forces. Together they painfully climbed the hills. At a certain point they all turned to give a last look at the burning cities. They stood on the mountainside, plunged in despair.

A young priest who had escaped from Reggio advanced toward the group, some 2.000 persons in all, and Messed them. Then, turning in the dimotion of Reggio, he solemnly called •own the bleaaingof God upon the desolated city. “Peace to the dying,” he Mod; “Peace to the dead.”

2,000 Start—soo Arrive. The band then took up it» broken •ad toilsome, march to Palmi, where the refugees arrived ten hours later In * torrent of rain. Two thousand had ■at out in the beginning, but only 500 ragged and emaciated wanderers reached their destination. The commander .of .the. Russian

cruiser Admiral Makharoff, which brought refugees to Naples, says: “It is impossible to give even a faint Idea of the desolation at Messina. Every now and then we heard the crash of falling floors and walls. This constitutes the greatest danger to the rescuers. It is not safe to approach any standing masonry. “The tidal wave lasted much longer than the earthquake. During all the time we were in the harbor of Messina our vessel shivered intermittently, as though shaken by some huge marine monster.

“Under some wreckage inclosed in a kind of little cubbyhole, and protected by two heavy beams, I discovered two little babies safe and uninjured. They were laughing and playing with the buttons on their clothes. We could find no trace of their parents, who undoubtedly lost their lives.” A naval observer of the destruction of Messina says there were four tidal waves ranging in height from twelve to thirty feet. Thirty minutes elapsed between the rolling in of the first and the destructive onslaught of the last. The weather in Calabria continues abominable. Heavy rains are falling and the thermometer is below the freezing point. Two priests have arrived at Messina from Scylla on the Calabrian coast. They conlrm the reports that this town of 5,000 people has been completely annihilated. They escaped because at the time of the quake they happened to be in the vault of the church, a portion of the building that resisted the general collapse/, The priests say alee that the disaster on the Calabrian coast was greater than on the Sicilian side. The coast has been ravaged for a distance of thirty miles, and Scylla is not the only village to be wiped out of existence.

Weather Abominable. More appalling than the destruction of the towns and villages,themselves, is the terror of the survivors. The spectacle is horrible. The wounded, bleeding, ragged refugees are human skeletons who stagger here and there, dragging their bruised feet with effort and staring vacantly In all directions. Dr. Castellino, who is charged with the direction of relief for Reggio, deela.es that the question of the survivors is more harassing than the question of the dead. The government army and marine, mighty as are their efforts, remain Impotent before the Im mensity of this misery. Money is without value. The indispensable need is food, clothing and tents for shelter. These must come quickly. Each day’s delay only rolls up the list of dead. The experiences at Reggio were practically the same as at other towns. For two entire days the survivors were cut off from the outer world. Looters took possession of the mins and respectable citizens were forced to arm themselves and fight for food to escape starvation.

Survivors Attacked By Dogs. The station master of Reggio says that immediately after the first shock a chasm eighty feet wide was opened In the earth. From this there gushed forth a flood of boiling water, some jets rising to the height of an ordinary house. Many injured persons who were in this region were horribly scalded by tl. > flowing steam.

The rescuers ire ferced to guard themselves agait.-t the onslaught of hundreds of dogs riging with hunger which spring upon .11 comers. They are being shot as fast as possible. The dead in Reggio are mutilated and distorted, their faces set in expressions of infinite terror, and their poor bodies shattered and mishapen. Many of the injured surely will die. They appear demented. Some laugh while others cry. At Messina and at Reggio graves were ripped open and the coffins—some of them shattered—added to the general ghastliness. Paolo Rizo, the mayor of Capriolo, has reached Rome. He was in Messina on a pleasure trip. He was precipitated into a mass of rubbish. His body lodged in a niche in a wall, his face being covered by a carpet that threatened to suffocate him. He managed to move the carpet with his teeth until he made an opening in the folds through which he could breathe. The man lay in this position for five hours, expecting death at any moment. Had it been possible, he says, he would have committed suicide. Another earth tremor loosened the big beany which held him and Rizo escaped. Heavens Filled With Light. In Messina immense quantities of quicklime are being scattered over the ruins to prevent as far as possible the outbreak of a pestilence. This makes it impossible to identfy the bodies, as also does the fact that in thousands of eases the clothing and other articles, which might have helped In the work of recognition, have been burned from the victims. . Survivors say that for half an hour before the quake the heavens Were filled with a gorgeous display of light resembling the aurora borealis. It is declared that an army of no less than 25,000 men will be needed to rescue the living who are still entrapped In the ruins aud to bury the dead. In spite of the efforts of the troops, who are for the most part actively engaged in rescue work,looting continues and also crimes worse than looting. Fight With Knives for Food. Ab the British steamer Ebro was

preparing to leave Messina with refugees an outburst of frightful cries was heard from the shore. The refugees on board saw a crowd of maddened persons of every age break into the custom house. Some were naked, others half-clothed and they alt were mudspattered and half-demented. They were seeking food, drink and clothing. Revolver shots rang out over the horrid din and confusion. The first of the searchers to find food were attacked by others with revolvers and knives and were obliged to defend their finds literally with their lives. The struggle was fierce. The famished men threw themselves upon each other like wolves and several fell dlaembowled in defending a handful of dry beans or a few ounces of flour. One of the unfortunates was pinned to a blank by a knife, while clinging to his hand was his little child for whom he bad rought. a mouthful.