Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1872-11-29
The Hurricane in Sicily.

THE London Times Of November 8 has
the following account of the hurricane in
Sicily, which destroyed the town of Pal.
azzolo:
There has been no instance of such
calamity within the memory of q living
man. No earthquake ever caused so
much destruction There are houses
ruined, houses fallen to the very ground,
the walls cleft from end to end, walls
hanging outward as II to rest on the ad-
Joining houses. There arc roofs wholly
swept away; sunken vaults and balconies
torn from their place; windows and shut
ters either entirely carried off, or hanging
loose from the walls; lamp.posts forced
from their sockets, and up.rooted trees,
and this is all one sees along the northeast
side of the town. Not single house re.
mains on which the whole roof and win
dows do not require thorough repair.
The streets are mass of fragments and
rubbish. The incidents OF the disaster
are so strange as to be almost incredible.
There was q store Of twenty-five hectoli-
tres Of wheat, of which not trace is any
where to be seen. The books of excise
and of the land registry offices have van
ished, and only their torn leaves have
been found here and there at great dis
! tances. In one house all the copper
| kitchen utensils were blown through the
roof. In another the benches and heavy
! chests flew through the windows. The
iron bars of one balcony are to be seen
curled up one way, and those of another
| twisted up another way. There is a pill
| lar of q palace which has been moved
one foot without breaking, and stands up
isolated, all in one piece. There is avail
of another palace which has fallen back
more than three feet without a crack.
Here is a beam of one house which has
thrust itself into another house. There is
half bedstead, the other half of which
! lies no one knows where. All the tiles of
one building are huddled together in one
spot on the roof, crushed and broken up
as small as If they had been pounded.
The rafters of another building are all
bare. The tiles have flown, no one can
see where. In astable, on the bare ground,
men are laying the bodies, one by one, as
they are being dug out Most of them are
in their night dresses, having been crushed
as they were quietly sleeping Their fea-
lures and forms are so disfgured that one
cannot look at them without shuddering.
Their nostrils, ears and mouths are stop
ped up with earth, and the white dust has
everywhere pierced through the skin,
Here is the body of a man holding close
to his heart child, probably his own
child, and the skulls of both are shatter-
ed. There are two young men in each
others arms, probably brothers, and the
chests and backs of both are crushed.
Near them is another youth covered with
blood, who was clerk in Government
office. He had his eye-glass still stuck in
his right eye, and was probably reading
or writing when he was struck. There
are some past recognition. Others that
seem unhurt, and look as if they were
sleeping.
Without exaggeration one third of the
town is dismantled, and more than 900
families are literally without a home.
About l 200 more have only one little
corner of what was once their home to
shelter them. The dead number thirty.
two, and the seriously hurt about half q
| score besides