Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1872-12-14
An Entire Town Destroyed by a Hur'
ricanp

The London Times has the following
account of the hurricane in Sicily,
which destroyed the town of Palazzolo ::
There has been no instance Of such
calamity within the memory of a liy
ing 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 if to rest on the
adjoining houses. There are roofs
wholly swept away sunken vaults and
balconies torn from their place win
dows and shutters either entirely carried
off or hanging loose from the walls
lam p-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 remains on
which the whole roof and windows 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 a store with % hectoiters of
wheat, of which not trace is anywhere
to be seen. The books Of excise and of
the land registry offices have vanished,
and only their torn leaves have been
found here and there at great distances.
In one house all the copper kitchen
utensils were blown through the roo.
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
pillar of palace which has been moved
forward one foot without breaking, and
stands up isolated, all in one piece.
There is wall of another palace which
has fallen back more than three feet
without crack. Here is beam of one
house which has thrust itself into an.
other 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 pound
ed. The ralters of another building are
all bare. The tiles have flown, no one
can see where. In stable, 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 features and forms are
so distigured that one cannot look at
them without shudderins. Their no
trils, ears and mouths are stopped 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 shat
tered. 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 a
Government Office. He has his eye
gla.s still stuck in his right eye, and
was probably reading or writing when
he was struck. There are some made
past recognition. Others that seem un-
hurt, and look as If they were sleeping.
Without exaggeratlon one third of
the town is dismantlcd, and more than
1000 families are literally without a
home. About 1000 more have only one
little corner of what was once their
house to shelter them. The dead mum.
Der 80, and the seriously hurt about
h.lf a score besides.