M'arthur Democrat. (McArthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1853-1865, 1858-02-04
Correspondence of the N. Y. Times.

The earthquake IN NapicS-ItOfs
ribIe Scenes and IncideniS-Fif-
teen Thousand Victims-Three
Thousand Bodies Already Re-
covered.
NAPLES, Tuesday, Dec. 90.
The details which continue to arrive
from the provinces of Basilicata and
PrincipAto CiteriOro are of the most
distressing character, and are much
more explicit. Full as they are, how
ever, they do not give One.tenth part
of the injuries that have been inflicted,
partly because the authopities will not
make them known, and partly because
they are not as yet informed of the
greater portion of them. The official
journal Of Saturday night contains the
names Of tOrty.six other townships,
hitherto unnamed, which have suffer
ed severely, and yet all are not men,
toned. or these, it is said, some are
a mass of ruins others leyeled with
the ground others almost entirely
destroyed, churches, dwelling.houses
and all; in some work kmen are pulling
down the houses, and in Others large
assures are opened in the ground
Ont of these iorty-six places twenty
are reported to have lost some portion
Of their population Of one, it is said,
one hundred corpses have been taken
out of another seventy; and it 10
expected that three hundred will be
found; but Of the amount of the dis
aster an alarming ignorance is pro-
fessed by such terms as these: "Many
victims not all unburied )" Vast num-
bers perished 4; "the number not yet
known :" "Great, but unknown, the
number of victims" 1t is my opin.
ion, therefore, that what have been
called the exaggcrations Of the public
much more nearly approximate to the
truth than the scanty and uncertain
information published in the official
journal. According to it three thou,
sand six hundred and siXty-fvc bodies
have already been dug out; a fearful
number to think of, to which, if we
add the numbers as yet unknown, we
shall not be very much startled at the
medium statement given of abonI
thirteen or fourteen thousand victims
The first efforts made are to erect tenn
porary wooden buildings for the sur
viyors. Men arc employed, too, in
knocking down the falling houses and
in burying the numerous dead. Care
is also being taken to disinfect those
places where the dead lay in the great
est numbers. But all the exertion|
that can be made will only tend tc
slightly alleviate the misery which has
been occa8ioned by the fearful blow
that has fallen upon this unfortunate
people. A general collection is to bC
opened for the relief of the sufferers
and another will be made by the Eng
lisA themselves.
The character Of the two awfu
shocks which were the occasion ofth(
disaster, is thus described from Po
tenza, the capital of BaSilicata They
we're of equal duration, and the frs
was preceded and accompanied by {
fearful subterraneous thunder, thu
same we observed in Naples. The
: sky was serene and the air tranquil
! The first was undulatory and "suisul
| tarso;" that which followed in abou
three minutes, with yet more violen
undulations and "saisulti," was mark
. cd by vertical and convulsivc move
ments. The walls were thrown on
, over the other; heavy furniture wa
moved out of its place, or, as it were
, whirled round, while lighter article
, and glass were thrown to great dis
tance. The effect Of the second shoe
upon the honses may be imagined
] during which the falling house
struck, one against another. The viz
Tins in Potenza seem to have bee
among the poorer classes, who, havin
, retired to rest, had no time to escape
+ The intendent, Signor Rossica, VIII
|, escaped in his shirt, seems to hav
been most meritoriously active. Thos
who remained after the undergroun
y thunderS and shocks, says the iourna
considered themselves rather to hav
y been born again than preserved.
would be tedious to give you the tres
, details which have just been brougl
. in since the commencement Of thj
letter. They are represented to be {
y ever increasing gravity, and the namt
! of many other places damaged al
!, given. On the 25th the nOminipra,
i tici had been sent to the site Of de'
/ truction, and on the 2Sth three otht
persons to disinter and disinfect.-
9 From Gaeta had been dispatched tw
hundred soldiers of the seventh Of til
line and two hundred pioneers, bl
the movement was late. From til
. hospital two thousand six hundrc
y military tents have been dispatche,
= + and great quantities of materials Il
- hnildinv and of hod It is m