The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-03-12 00:00:00

TERRIBLE EARTHQUAKE IN ITALY.

The Correspondent of The Times, writing from Rome
under date March 6, gives the following account of the earth-
quake that has occurred in Italy :

The charmingly situated town of Casamicciola, in
the Island of Ischia, so much frequented for its cele-
brated mineral baths, has been almost entirely de-
stroyed by an earthquake. The account reaching us by
telegraph is heartrending. More than 200 houses have
been thrown down and many others are so much damaged
as to uninhabitable. The number of persons thus far
ascertained to have been killed is 104, an d very many more
have been injured. The total number of victims is
estimated at3oo. The wounded are being conveyed
by steamers to the hospital of the Pellegrini,
Naples. This dreadful catastrophe was the result of
two shocks—the first at half-past one in the afternoon
of the 4th inst., lasting seven seconds; the second
after an interval of an hour and a half. The whole
upper part of the town has been destroyed. The
handsome Albergo della Grande Sentinella is a mass
of ruins. Clefts and fissures opened in the streets 50
centimares in width. The Manzi Baths and those of
the Monte della Misericordia are seriously damaged,
but the Albergo della Piccolo. Sentinella, which is
lower down, has escaped uninjured. Many of the
people have fled from the town and encamped in the
fields.
Immediately upon the news reaching Naples the
Exploratore, despatch boat, was sent off with a
number of soldiers, police, and doctors to render
assistance, and with a large supply of blankets and
necessaries of all kinds; and the Minister of the
Interior telegraphed from Rome placing at the disposal
of the Prefect a sum of money in aid of the hundreds
of poor creatures whli have lost their all. The steam-
boat company has organized a special service. Many
houses on the surrounding campagna and in the villlage
of Lacco Mameno have also been thrown down.
It was at first- supposed that this disaster was
connected with the partial eruption of Vesuvius on
the 3rd inst., but Professor Palmieri has stated that
the seismographic instruments having given no indica-
tions, he is inclined to think the catastrophe is due to
some local phenomenon possibly to a sudden sinking
of the ground through subterranean corrosion caused
by the continual working of the mineral waters.
Shortly before the first shock of earthquake the
mineral springs were observed to be in a state of
ebullition.

A Reuter's telegram says that the damages occa-
sioned by the earthquake shocks in the Lacco district
are very great. Thirteen houses fell in, and several
others were much injured. Five persons were killed
and two seriously hurt. At Casamicciola up to the
present 102 bodies have been found, but several others
are still burned under the debris.

The Roman correspondent of the Daily News gives
some additional particulars. He says : .

At Villa Canetti two girls out of three playing on a door.
step were struck dead by the falling of the architrave. The
third escaped as by a miracle. Many deeds of heroism
were performed by the military, who at once hastened to
the spot. A Neapolitan sergeant plunging among the ruins
of a falling house rescued a woman with her babe. A cor-
poral saved a blind man who, unconscious of danger, struggled
with his rescuer. Harrowing scenes were presented at
the mortuary chamber--mothers, wives, children striving to
snatch the dead from the biers on which the soldiers were
carrying them away. One mother was long seen hugging a
little corpse, fondly believing that life would return. Three
rooms which remained intact in the Monte di Pieta have
been fitted up to accommodate 200 of the homeless, and the
directors of that institute have sent to Naples for- 300
blankets to distribute among those compelled to sleep in the
open air.

Ischia is a small island, which forms the north-west
extremity of the Bay of Naples. It is mountainous,
and Mount Epormo, the ancient Epopeus, rises to a
height of 2,53 feet. At the foot of this mountain, and
in nearly the same latitude as Vesuvius, from which it
is distant about twenty-five miles, lies the little town
of Cmamicciola, which is celebrated for its hot springs
and baths. These attract a large nunaber of visitors
in the summer; but at this time of the year the town
has only its ordinary population, numbering about
4,000.

Writing again from Rome on the 7th, the Correspondent
of The Times says : .

Another shock of earthquake svas.felt at Casamic-
ciola last night.
That which most impresses one in reading the more
detailed accounts of the earthquake at Casamicciola
is the fearful suddenness of the catastrophe. The
Pungolo writes :

" A fearful noise was suddenly heard. The people in the
houses were instantly buried in their ruins; those who were
out in the streets, bewildered and dismayed, stood speech-
less at the terrible spectacle, and then screams of terror and
shrieks of agony were heard on all sides."

The first and infinitely more destructive of the two
shocks lasted less than a quarter of a minute. In
some houses whole families were buried alive. Three
thousand out of the four thousand inhabitants are
shelterless. One correspondent describes the fissure
in the grounds as a black line, 50 metres in length,
undulating through the white dust covering the
streets, and ending in an. abyss which had engulfed
houses, men, women, arid animals. The dead ex-
tracted from the ruins already number 120, and more
still lie buried beneath them.
At Lacco Ameno 13 houses were thrown down, five
persons were killed, and-two were wounded.
The Minister of the Interior has sent B,ooof. in aid
of the sufferers, the Minister of Grace and Justice
3,000 f., and the Neapolitan Press 1,200 f. On the
Chamber of Deputies resuming its sittings to-day a
subscription list on behalf of the sufferers at Casa-
micciola was opened and immediately reached the
amount of 1,640 f. Subscription lists have been opened
at Rome and Naples, and earnest calls upon the
charity of the public are being made.

The Correspondent of the Standard, under date
Rome, Tuesday night, says :
The latest news from Naples states that one hundred and
forty bodies have been dug out of the ruins of Casamicciola,
and the number of deaths is now estimated at three hun•
dred. The people are frantic with terror, and are fleeing
from the coast towns to the interior, where they ramble
among the hills without food and without shelter.
The troops and the officials who have arrived on the island
from Naples are working with the most praiseworthy zeal
and courage. The bodies which have been recovered are
found crushed to pieces. Detached limbs are so often du
out that the greatest care needs to be taken in the excava-
tions, and it is extremely difficult to prosecute the painful
work with the speed that is desired.
From a small window near the top of a tottering gable a
handkerchief was seen to flutter—a feeble call for help.
Many volunteers offered instantly for the dangerous enter-
prise, but Colonel Parodi restrained them all, and insisted
upon his right to answer the signal. Two ladders having
been procured were tied together, and the Colonel ascending
them disappeared within the window. After some anxious
moments of suspense he reappeared with a woman in his
arms, whom he brought to the ground, with no little diffi-
culty. She was unhurt, but mad, and in her terror sought
to escape by flight trom those who had saved her from a
threatening death.

The King has sent ten thousand francs ler the relief of
the sufferers.

EARTHQUAKE IN SWITZERLAND.
A strong earthquake shock was felt at Berne shortly
after three o'clock on Thursday morning in last week.
It was at first thought to have been entirely local, or
at any rate confined to the canton, but more complete
accounts show that it affected the greater part of
Switzerland. It was especially severe at Neuchael,
rousing people from,thelr sleep,. displacing furniture,
and ringing bells, and extended m the same district to
Le Lode, Chaux-de-Fonds, and the neighbourhood of
the lakes of Geneva and Bienne. It was 'felt, too, at
Lucerne, in the Valley of the Upper Rhone, in the
Helvetic Alps, and as far as Airolo, in Ticino. The
direction a the oscillation was from south to north.
No damage appears to have been done.

EMIGRATION FROM GERMANY.--The Berlin Cone-
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Havre as well as at Bremen and Hamburg, where the
competition of two companies has led to considerably
reduced farea (80 marks per head) ; but many emi-
grants take the Hull or Liverpool route, possibly to
lull the vigilance of German officials bent on prevent-
ing the escape of young men nearly ripe for the con-
scription. Prom Posen the departures are numerous,
mostly Poles, but partly German peasants. In
Schleswig the movement has been going on all the
winter, and is not slackening. Whole -villages are
described by local papers as migr.ating from Posen,
Prussia Proper, and Schleswig, Illinois and Nebraska
are the favourite destinations: but a German Socialist
colony is being founded in Texas, to be reinforced by
spontaneous,o
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and
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duties on the importation of Russian rye.

THE WAR IN THE TRANSVAAL.

AN ARMISTICE CONCLUDED.

The Evening Standard of Monday published, the follow-
ing:—
" PROSPECT Mu, Sunday Evening.

"At a conference to-day between General Wood
and M. Joubert, an armistice for eight days was con-
cluded. _

"LATER.

"The terms of the Armistice extend to the whole
of the Transvaal. Hostilities will cease on both sides
fiorthwith, and things remain in statu quo, until the
end of eight days' truce."

The Daily Telegraph's Correspondent at Newcastle, tele-
graphing on Sunday night, gives some additional particulars,
He says:—
"General Wood met Joubert near Mount Prospect,
and, after a long consultation, an eight days'
armistice was agreed to, in the hopes of a possible
permanent peace and the settlement of all matters in
dispute.
-

"It was arranged that the beleaguered places, in-
cluding Pretoria Potchefstroom, and Wakkerstroom,
should be allowed to receive eight days' provisions.
...

"Sir Evelyn Wood has left Mount Prospect, but will
not return here until midnight.
"The announcement of this news has been re-
ceived with mixed feelings. Many condemn a settle-
ment at the present moment, when the Boers are in
full possession of the field, because it is feared the
Dutch will make the Transvaal unbearable for Eng-
lish settlers. This view is also shared even by many
anxious for peace. In military circles the feeling is
raturally somewhat against any settlement till our
defeats have been avenged.

"I believe the Beer demands are—a complete
amnesty to all lead6rs ; the entire freedom of the
Transvaal from British Sovereignty; no interference
in Transvaal affairs; arfft the province to be free and
unfettered."

The Daily Telegraph of Tuesday, in a second edition
gave the following from its Special Correspondent :
NEWCASTLE, March 7,
_Noon.
"This morning I had an interview with Sir Evelyn Wood,
who gave me an account of his conferences with the Dutch
General. The meeting took place half way between the
lines, the English being represented by General Wood,
Fraser, Mande, Thornbororigh, and Cropper; and the Boers
by Piet Joubert, D. C. try's, C. J. Joubert, and C. S. Fouchee ;
A. J. Forster acting as interpreter.

"Sir Evelyn stated that 'the object of the armistice is to
allow time for Kruger to reply to Sir George Colley's com-
munication, and for anything further whieh may pass be-
tween Mr. Joubert and myself in view of a peaceful settle-
ment of the questions at issue.'
" On the subject of our reinforcements the Boers at first
suggested that our forces on the road should halt, but Sir
Evelyn Wood stated he could not agree to this proposal,
and pointed out that he lied all his infantry around him,
and only mounted men and guns on the way; that their
arrival was but a question of two or three days, and that he
had got all the soldiers with him at that time with whom
he intended to fight. The Boers then did not press the
point, and made no further suggestions, but acquiesced in
our proposals. The interview lasted an hour and a half, the
Boers saying little and General Wood occupying the greater
part of the time in argument.

The Daily News publishes the following from its
Special Correspondent :
NEWCASTLE, March 7, 8.10 p.m.
All is quiet here, and also at Mor.nt Prospect. General
Wood returned-late last night.
At the meeting held yesterday, General Wood told the
Boer leaders at the conclusion of the armistice, if peace was
not decided on, that he intended assaulting the Nek
immediately.
Eighty-five waggons started to-day for the beleagured
garrisons with provisions, and also to Mount Prospect with
stores and ammunition.

The Durban Correspondent of The Times writes
"If peace should be signed without the Boers feeling
the superiority of our arms there will be great con-
sternation in the colony. It is not believed that the
Boers will accept even comparatively favourable terms.
That is the impression gained from my interview with
Joubert. Submission, he said, they would never snake
without liberty, which means complete control of the
Transvaal and independence of British power."

A Reuter's telegram from Durban says that the
news of the conclusion of the armistice with the Boers
has given rise to much adverse comment.

"A Correspondent at the Camp says that it is impossible
to over-estimate the advantages likely to result from the
armistice. With the large force Non to be at General
Wood's disposal, and the intense disinclination of the Boers
to carry on the war, in which they admit they must be
beaten, and for which they are so imperfectly provided with
a commissariat, it seems probable they will gladly close with
any proposal that might be made. At the Conference
yesterday each of the Boers said, "We wish for peace."
They have much sickness among them, and it is reported
that the bulk of their force is anxious to return home.' "
Correspondent of The Times.

The Times (in a leader on Tuesday) regards the agreement
with the Boers as one which would dissipate any apprehen-
sion, lilt were entertained, that they would not be treated
as belligerents. Its terms indicate an assumed equality
between the two parties which is almost startling, especially
when it appears that the assent and goodwill of individual
Boer commanders must be sought for in order to
obtain the fulfilment of one of the principal conditions?
There is in this country so strong a desire to see this un-
happy business brought to a close that no step to that end
will be criticised in an adverse spirit. An armistice is a
necessary antecedent of any negotiation: and this proves
certainly in the strongest manner that the Boers will not be
repelled in any peaceable dispositions they may evince by
any undue arrogance or even susceptibility on our part. As
to the terms of pacification, they remain unprejudiced by
anything that has taken place.