The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-04-14
THE EARTHQUAKE AT IscHlA.
First Detailed Account OF tho Catastrophe
Tho Terrors OF Day and Night.
RoME. March IL. 1881.


ROME, March IL, 1881.
: The beautiful island of Ischia, in the
Day OF Naples, which is celebrated for
its thermei springs, haD suffered from a
severe earthquake. AT O'Clock Oil the
afternoon of tho 9Th of March the first
shock was felt, and the second followed
in few noments. It was undulatory
and rotary, and lasted seven seconds, de-
stroying two-thirds OF the town of Casa.
micciola. There are one hundred and
twenty-six dead and about seventy
Wounded, and the iaboFers are constantly
discovering other bodies.
The falling houses, the gaps in the
streets, the screams of the wounded and
the weeping of the frightened and be.
ireaved inhabitants formed scene which
Twill never bo forgotten by those who
we're there. Many pereons fled to the
open country, while others hung over the
masses of stones where their loved ones
were buried, unmiudful of falling walls
and the heaving earth. Three young
girls, whose mother was buried beneath
the walls Of their habitatiou, would not
leave the spot until, with the assistance
of the soldiers, they had extricated her
mangled corpse. The soldiers, who were
sent by the government from Naples, ex-
hibited the greatest courage and self
forgetfnlness, and the anecdotes that arc
related of their generosity recall the
affecting stories told by Edmond dc
Amicis in his book called "La Vita Mil
itaire." Even the prisoners released for
the occasion from their cells in the Bagno
of !schia performed prodigies of valor in
saving the wounded and burying the
dead. A Neapolitan sergeant, with gen.
erous temerity, rushed into q falling
house and succeeded in saving q poor
woman and her child. A corporal saved
blind man who, distracted with fear,
refused to follow him and opposed all his
strength to the efforts of the courageous
soldier.
The night lent new horrors to the
scene, as nothing conld be done in the
darkness. The shaken houses fell at in
tervals, and the cries of the wounded or
bereaved E3sounded through the silent
hours Work was resumed in the morn
ing, and more dead bodies we're dragged
from under the ruined walls. The streets
sures. Here is o house divided, from the
roof to the ground, by o bread gap. and
there another, of which only q piece of
wall remains with tightly barred win
dow in it. What irony of Natural The
window is still closed, but the house is
ruined and the little family-a husband
q wife and daughter-are dead OF
wounded.
While the soldiers were laboring To
pull down trembling walls and clear the
streets of rubbish, one of them suddenly
uttered cry. He saw something which
even in the midst of those indescribable
terrors, excited new fear. From the
summit of high wall which had formed
the corner of house he saw a. white
handkerchief waving. "A womai, had
Been there q whole day and night, the
rest Vi ihe building having fallen, ieav-
ing her little room in the corner of the
walls. Col. Parodi ordered ladders to be
placed against the wall, but mono volun.
| teered to ascend them, as it was almost
certain death. The Colonel then mount.
ed the ladder himself, and with the aid
Of another person succeeded Il rescuine
the poor woman. She could not speaE
at first, but SOON gave desperate cry and
distractedly ran away, only to fall faint.
| ing. der reason was gone, and she may
| not regain it.
many of the Inhabitants have beer
disinterred from the ruins after. remain.
ing there day and night, and others
often the only living members of theil
families, are paralyzed with grief and
fear. The doubt whether all have been
rescued from the ruins has delayed The
necessary destruction Of the trembling
walls. In some cases these are blown ur
with dynamite, and in others they are
pulled down with ropes.
This terrible earthquake, the most
serious that has occurred in Italy fol
many years, is believed to have been
caused by the filtering Of the hot mineral
waters into the cavities of the rock below
them, which had been slowly corrodinp
and was only local phenomenon. The
| springs a short time before the earth.
quake were observed to be in state o.
agitation. Great excavations had beer
made by the long and slow labor of tbs
thermal waters. These dissolved the
rocks Of the under soil and carried to the
surface great part Of their substance
The crust Of earth thus left beneath thu
town at last suddenly gave Away. The
many and enormous fissuHres in The ground
arc proof Of this theory of Professor Pal.
| mieri.
All who went there remarked that the
| catastrophe was confined to Casamicciola
and another town near, other parts of ths
island being as green and undisturbed as
before. Until they reached the doomed
town they could not, believe that the re-
| tports they had heard were true. Strange
| ly enough the hotels and tho establish
ment fo1 She mud baths are uniniured
and travellers and inyalids will coon, nt
doubt, return to them. .!,-a ..i