The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-08-04 00:00:00

TERRIBLE EARTHQUAKE.

EPORTED LOSS OF THREE THOUSAND

LIVES.

A fearful earthquake, apparently of still more dis-
astrous character than that at the beginning of March,
1881, ham again overthrow& the unfortunate town of
Casamicciola, in the Island of Ischia, and caused
great damage also to Lacco Ameno and Forio.—The
Naples Correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, writing
on Sunday morning, gives some particulars respecting
the calamity, from which we extract the following :
Great excitement was caused here to-day by the
Information that a fearful earthquake had occurred at
Ischia, a small island which lies a few miles off the
coast. The first news brought here was by a small
steam craft, and help for the suffering inhabitants
was at once organised and forwarded to the spot.
Ischia is at this season of the year a favourite holi-
day resort, and among those who were enjoying a brief
sojourn there were several members of the Chamber
of Deputies, besides other leading citizens of Rome.
Anxiety on their account has intensified the excite-
ment, but some of these are already known to
be among the saved, and it is hoped that all may have
escaped destruction.

A large number of poor people who have been
injured by falling dthris have just been landed here by
steamer, and many others who have been rendered
homeless by the fearful disaster have also been brought
here for a temporary shelter.

They have in many instances had miraculous escapes
from death, and from their accounts the destruction on
the island must have been terrible, although they can
form but little idea of the death roll. The steamers
are likewise bringing back full heights of pleasure
seekers who, under the altered conditions brought
about by the disaster, no longer care to remain on the
island, even if their houses have escaped the destruc-
tion sufficiently to afford a shelter.

By the earliest steamvs sent over went a number of
medical men from this city, whose presence was most
urgently needed. A large number of troops accom-
panie4 them, and others followed in later steamers, in
crder that the ruins of the island might be effectually
searched for the succour of the injured or the recovery
of the remains of those whose lives had been lost.
The Minister of Marine, who had been appraised of
the catastrophe directly after it was known here, pro.
ceeded to the scene this morning, the Prefect and
other authorities having preceded him some hours
previously.

NAPLES, Sunday, 3 p.m.

The latest details of the terrible affair at Ischia,
brought here by frightened people flying from the spot,
do not tend to lessen the gravity of the first announce-
ments. Whole streets are shattered, and many por-
tions of the Wand are a heap of ruins, not a single
tenement standing.

The stories told by the survivors teem with horrors.
In some places the dead bodies of the victims are
plainly discernible among the misses of rubbish
which now mark the spot where the houses once
stood.

All throughout to-day relays of troops have been
working indefatigably in search of any who might
perchance be still alive under the fallen timbers, and
doctors have been ready at hand to afford all the aid
in their power. A few have been so rescued, but the
number of dead found is positively appalling, and the
shocking injuries which have brought about their
deaths are dreadful to look upon. From a hasty
examination of the district it is computed that no less
than 3,000 people have lost their lives' and the attend-
ant horrrors are not one whit less fearful than the
disastrous earthquake which took place at Chioa two
years ago. Indeed, from the particular, which have
come to hand, the dilaster seems likely to prove in-
finitely greater.

Many of the wealthy Roman families who at this
season f the year frequent the baths at Casamicciola
are buried under the ruins of their houses. and for the
safety of others much anxiety is felt. Everything
that can be done is being done now to relieve those
who are injured, and the numher of the-e seems
almost incalculable. Steamer after steamer has re-
turned here with these p.)or beings, in order that their
smite may be the better attended to The Minister
for Public Works has left this afternoon for Casa-
micciela to take personal direction of the efforts for
relief.

Writing from Rome the correspondent of The Times
says:--

A telegram from the Prefect of iN spies says Casamic-
°lola exists no longer, and one from the Syndic de-
scribes the destruction at Lacco Ameno and Forio as
immense. The disaster of March, 1881, was as nothing
in comparison with this. The shock came with a
sudden irresistible violence, accompanied by a deafen-
ing, indescribable noire, at half-past nine last night,
while the representation in the temporary summer
theatre in the Piazza Bagni was going on, and the
confusion among the audience which filled it was
frightful. The lights were thrown down and set the
place on are. A dense cloud of dust filled the air,
and cripa of nsan_arirLtarc-r..r-nrs.b7--j.krn.LaP sei4Tu
the sea). A precipitate rush was made for the shore,
and every boat and floating thing was taken by as-
sault.

A telegram, dated Naples, July 30, says :
Later intelligence received here regarding the earth-
quake at Casamicciola on Saturday night states that
the town is a heap of ruin and destruction, and that
the air is thickly filled with daßt. The population
amoun-ed to 4,000, of whom 1,500 were in the theatre
at the time of the disaster. The number of killed is
now stated to be over 2,000, while at least 1,000 more
are. injured. The survivors state that they felt a
terrible shock accompanied by a noise resembling a
prolonged cannonade.
It is now estimated that the loss of life will exceed
3,000. The scenes are heartrending The hospitals
and deadhousee are full. The bodies of several
Neapolitan ladies have teen recovered.
The earthquake shock at Ischia lasted 15 seconds.
Of 1,000 people at Lacoo and Amino only five escaped.
At Cassamicciola five houses remain standing. Adja-
cent villa?es are a heap of ruins. Cries for help can
be heard from those buried in the houses. Sappers
are working to rescue them. Boats are continually
arriving full of dead bodies.

Writing on Monday the Rome Correspondent of The
Times says :

The harrowing details received yesterday from what
the Capitan Tracassa describes as "The New Pompeii"
are more than confirmed by this morning's longer
telegrams. The newspapers here print them with
mourning borders, and they are waited for and
read with most anxious interest. For the island
of Ischia was preferred to any other place by
the Romans this year as their summer resort. The
whole town of Casamicoiola is a desolate mass of
ruins. The shocks of earthquake are said to have been
three in number ; but it was the first which, in fifteen
brief seconds, overthrew the town completely ; the
others were mere coups de grace. Many of the sur-
vivors owe their escape to having been at the time in
the theatre, situate at a fortunate distance from stone
walls. it was a slight, temporary construetion of
wood, covered with a velarium of canvas. Signor
Giovanni Casini, of Arezzo, who was present in it,
passed through Rome last night, and the following is
taken from a description given by him to the Capitan
Fracassa

"It was about a quarter past nine when a friend
proposed that we should go the theatre. At the half.
hour the curtain rose; but scarcely were the first
words of the comedy spoken when we felt a tre.
mendous shock, and I was thrown several feet
forwards and fell headlong. Imagine, at the same
time, a roaring noise, like that of a heavy railway
train rushing at full speed on to an iron bridge.
While the shock lasted the ground rose and fell
like the sea during a storm. What immediately
followed I cannot tell; everything weighs upon
me still like the night incubus, like a horrible
dream. I remember only that we were a heap of
human beings tumbled together; that the petroleum
lamps had been thrown down and were setting fire
to the bests ; that for a moment we endeavoured
to extingui4h the fire, and then out we rushed in
a torrent. I next remember bolding on to the
trunk of a tree, and, on casting my eye:: upwards,
I saw its branches were filled with human beings
who had clambered up. Pieces of wood were piled
together to light bonfires on the shore as a eignal for
help. I saw all round an indesoribably strange crowd
—women in their night attire only, old men in their
dressing-gowns, and naked children. During the
night half-clothed women were rushing madly about
like furies among the ruins, with torches in their
hands, calling loudly for their dear ones Every now
and then a squalid, unknown figure, with eyes wildly
staring, would rush up to one, asking Have you seen
my husband?' Have you Geen my son ? "

At Naples the quays are crowded with people
waiting for the steamers bringing the wounded, and
as they arrive men in a long, mournful procession
with stretchers carry them to the hospitals, and to
the houses whose owners have charitably throttn
them open to the sufferers. Others walk alongside
holding umbrellas to shield the-poor wret,hes how the
sun. Many of the injured died in the course of the
short pa.sage across; and among these I may mention
the Marquis Calabrese, of Rome. The Archbishop of
Naples has turned the Church of the Pellegrini into a
hospital and sent to the municipality for 400 mat-
tresses. The Archbishop is in permanent attendance
on the sufferers, and himself administers the last con-
solations of religion to the dying.

The description sent of the wretchedly crushed
and maimed creatures brought to Naples is most
paiaful to read. There are a husband and wife'
both seriously hurt, whose bitterest aufferings arise
from the loss of their three children. There are
husbands who have lost their wives, children who
are left orphans, and numbers who, if they recover,
will remain cripples for life, While the injured
were being landed at Naples yesterday afternoon a
storm of rain with thunder and lightning burst over
the city. Some of the latest telegrams estimate the
nwriber of dead at 3,000, without counting the
wounded. Among the bodies are many of ladies ele•
gantly dressed, hut aosolutely unrecognizable. The
visitors from different parts ot Italy, who were spend-
ing the slimmer months in Casainicciola, numbered
over 2,010. It is stated that now only one house re•
mains standing.

Writing'from /sholes on Monday night the corre-
spondent of the Staidard day :
Steamboats are hourly arriving here from the island,
bringing hundreds of wounded and dying persons who
present in many oases a pitiable spectacle, Some