Preble County Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1857-1859, 1858-02-18
morrihIe state Of Naples.

pictures of the present condition of the
Kingdom of Naples. Amid all the hor-
rors of the earthquakes, the work of
prescription and cruelty to prisoners
goes on. A Naples letter says:
The Mayor of the province of Basili
cata reported that during the repeated
shocks eight hundred prisoners, most of
whom were unconvicted, we're in a state
of terror, as their crazy prison threaten
ed to fall and bury them in its ruins
A gallery which fell killed three and
wounded several of these unfortunates.
A room afterward fell in, but did no
mischief. 1T is impossible" says the
Mayor, in an official report to the Min
lister of the Interior, dated the 18th of
December, ."to describe the confusion
which reigned fear, cries of desperation,
endeavors to escape, prayers, tears and
blasphemy such was the scene l met.
In order to maintain order, the guard
fired on the prisoners, but with powder
only. To restore confidence and tran
guilty L assured the prisoners 1 would
remove them from those quarters of the
building which the shock had rendered
dangerous. 1 gave this assurance in tie
name of the King, our august master.
In answer to this distressing report
Blanchiori replied in a cruel fashion,
But even worse remains to be told. On
the goth of December another earth
quake occurred, and thirty thousand
men, women and children persisted in
the province Basilicata. The same May
or asked for surgical aid on behalf o.
the inhabitants four thousand amputa-
ton cases awaited their arrival. Sixty
surgeons offered their services, but per
haps being poor, asked that their ex-
penses might be paid, which his Majesty
declined, and the poor creatures suffered
to die for want of that aid that could be
SO easily rendered. The same terrible
report adds that two hundred and fifty
thousand persons were rendered home
less by this earthquake, and ~cneihundred
died each day from want Of food.
Several gentlemen have returned from
the country which has recently been de-
vastated by the earthquake. They had
passed nearly a fortnight in wandering
from one place to another, and the in
formation which they bring back is of
the deepest and most painful interest.
According to them, the shocks c%ontin-
ue, throughout the entire district, to
the number of five or six a day, some
times tolerably strong, and generally
occasioning the fall of many of the ru-
ined houses. The hair-breadth escapes
which they had are rather a matter for
private narrative, but they mu&h high
ten the color ofthe terrible picture they
draw. Their trip was extended far be-
yond Polla, and into the very center of
volcanic action, as Potenza, Briensa.
Tito, and many other places of mourn
full celebrity. The scene of desolation
was beyond the power of description.
The actual labor was not to rebuild, but
to destroy; the few houses that remain
ed standing were insecure, and one
would have said uniuhabitable, but that
the people, in their misery, still chung.
like rocks, to their falling habitations
The country, in many parts, still gapcd
with wide assures of the breadth of ""
arms, and when they had closed, had
lone so unequally. one side being many
feet higher than the other. Some OF
the incidents which they relate seem
uOEG llhC ldOlCS tudl ldClS. an ihidI'
had been dug out alive, after having
been under the ruins eight days. It,
mother fed it too beautifully, and ii
died. y girl Of eight years of age had
been disinter-ed after eleven day burr
al and was still living.
The monks OF fist. Francisco, in Padu
la, related a story Of a girl of seventeen
years of age, who had been recovered
after t~wenty-one days burial. The
monks added that the girl spoke ofhIv-
ing been visited in her subterranean
tomb by IA lady dressed in black. who
gave her bread and water. She believed
that it was the Madonna. Mules had
also been dug out alive after twenty-onc
days burial. One of the monks told
my informant that, on the night Of the
10th ultimo, the shock was SO violent a.
to throw him out of his bed through the
window into the garden OF the monastery
At Figgiano n poor woman had lost her
husband and two children beneath the
ruins, two yet survived, but they qnick-
lydied ofhunger, and the wrctched moth
er hanged herself. Tales of wonderful
and tragic interest abound, and if the
reader doubts their possibility, he has
only to read Colletia's graphic descrip-
ton of the earthquake of 1888. The
people had not settled down to any hing
like regular occupation, but grubbing
among the ruins for whatever they
could find, and seeking for the bodies
of their friends, of whom hundreds still
remain as yet disintcrred. Supplies
we're slowly coming in for the poor
people, as there were scarcely any roads,
and much had to be transported on the
backs of mules. The province of Ba-
%silicata is the largest in the kingdom,
and vet has no more than Il carriage
road through it of any Importance.
MoFFAT's LIFE PILLS AND PHOENIX
BITTERs.-Physically considered, man
is the paragon of animals but his sys-
ten is liable to external and internal de-
rangements to which We give the name
of disease. Remedies of a simple kind
should be first employed. The Motfat
Life Pills purify the blood, ~cnovate the
delicate organs of the stomach, whilst
the Phoenix Bitters, by gently stimula-