The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-04-14
THE EARTHQUAKE AT IsCHlA.
First Detailed Account Of tho Catastrophe
The Tsrrors of n Day and Night.
ROME, March II, 1881.

ROME, March IL, 1881.
The beautiful island of 1schia, in the
Bay of Naples, which is celebrated for
its thermal springs, has suffered from
severe earthquake. At l o'clock on the
afternoon of the 4th of March the first
shock was felt, and the second followed
in few moments. 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 laborers 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.
;reaved inhabitants formed scene which
Twill never be forgotten by those who
were there. Many persons fed to the
open country, while others hung over the
masses of stones where their loved ones
were buried, unmindful of falling walls
and the heaving earth. = Three young
girls, whose mother was buried beneath
the walls of their habitation, 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 are
related of their generosity recall the
affecting stories told by Edmond de
Amicis in his book called "La Vita Mil
itaire." Even the prisoners released for
the occasion. from their cells in the Bagno
of Ischia performed prodigies Of valor in
saving the wounded and burying the
dead. A Neapolitan sergeant, with gen.
erous temerity, rushed into a falling
house and succeeded in saving poor
woman and her child. A corporal saved
a blind man who, distracted with fear,
refused 10 follow him and opposed all his
strength. to the efforts of the courageous
soldier.
The night lent new horrors to the
scene, as nothing could be done in the
darkness. The shaken houses fell at in
tervals, and the cries of the wounded or
bereayed rescunded through the silent
hours. Work was resumed in the morn
ing, and more dead bodies were dragged
from under the ruined walls. The streets
show here and there wide and deep fs-
sures. Hereiis house divided, from the
roof to the ground, by broad gap, and
there another, of which only.,a piece of
wall remains with tightly barred win
dow in it. What irony of Naturel The
window is still closed, but the house is
ruined and the little family-a husband,
wife aid daughter-are dead or
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 tho
summit of high wall which had formed
the corner of house. he saw a. white
handkerchief waving. "A woman had
Been there a whole day and night, the
rest of the building having fallen, leav-
ing her little room in the corner of the
walls. Col. Parodi ordered ladders to be
placed against the wall, but none 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 in rescuing
the poor woman. She could not speak
at first, but SOON gave desperate cry and
distractedly ran away, only to fall faint
ing. Her reason was gone, and she may
not regain it.
Many of the inhabitants have been
disinterred from the ruins after. remain
ing there day and q night, and others,
often the only living members of their
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 up
with dynamite, and in others they are
pulled down with ropes.
This terrible earthquake, the most
serious that has occurred in Italy for
many years, is believed to have been
caused by the fltering of the hot mineral
waters into the cavities of the rock below
them, which had been slowly corroding
and was only local phenomenon. The
springs a short time before the earth
quake were observed to be in state of
agitation. Great excavations had been
made by the long and slow labor of the
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 the
town at last suddenly gave away. The
many and enormous assures in the ground
are 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 the
island being as green and undisturbed as
before. Until. they reached the doomed
town they could not believe that the re-
ports they had heard were true. Strange
fy enough the hotels and the establish
ment for the mud baths are uninjured,
and travellers and invalids will soon, no
doubt, return to them. - ..
The LApD MURDER CAsE.-The case
against Hugh e: Kane, VIM. Durham,
George w. Moose land Robert p. Scruggs,
charged with the murder of Amos Ladd,
in Pickens County, while acting as Uni.