Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-08-17
THE DESTRUCTION IN IsCH1A
A Letter from an Eye Witness of the
Scenes that Followed the Earthquake.
Naples Cor. Courier des Etdts Unis.

AdDteS cor. Courier 0eS EtdtS THis
will speak only of CasamiccioIa. for |
have had neither the strength nor the
courage to visit FOrio, the principal place
IN lschla, nor LOccO Ameno, where the
victims were quite numerous. Casa
micciola is built in the form of an amphi-
theatre, and a portion of the houses were
built upon the eScarpments of the rock.
These houses have naturally suffered
most. They have all tumbled down. Those
at the foot OF the hill have stood the shock
best of all, and many of the bathers
lodged IN this part of the town were able
to escape. A hotel called the Hotel SauYe
was not in the least injured. AS you see.
1t was well named. At the moment the
shock was felt all the bathers were in
doors. The evening was COOL They
were in the parlOrs of the hotels singing,
playing and chatting, when suddenly the
ceilings came down and the people were
thrown into the very foundations of the
houses.
How shall l describe the spectacle that
presented itself to my eyes when l entered
the town! Imagine enormous piles of ma
s0nry forming barricades in the streets.
walls still standing, beams pointing sky
ward, broken furniture, yawning abYsSes.
confused and entangled masses of pIanks
and beams; and all this throughout an
immense extent of streets and piled up
almost perpendicularly On approaching
the ruins cries for help and piercing
shrieks could be distinctly heard. All
through the night those poor people
called for help, with nobody to belp
them. Their calls were answered
only by calls. The great
est difficulty was experienced in the work
OF getting out the wounded. The houses
from which the cries were most distinctly
heard were first taken in hand. The sol
dlers were admirable in the display of
courage and self-sacritice; but unfortu-
nately it would have required 10000 men
accustomed to such work to meet the diff
ticulty. You have probably seen a work
OF rescue undertaken in a town where
nothing Is wanting, to save some unfOr-
tunate workman buried under scaffold-
ing or pile of ruins. You know what
length of time and how much trouble and
precautlOn must be taken to save the
man without endangering the lives of
those who are endeavoring to get him out.
Then fancy the same scene in a town
completely ruined where everything is
wanting, while scorching sun renders
the task doubly difficult, and the men
must work, listening on one side to the cries
OF wounded men and on the other to the
piercing shrieks of women, implOring
help, wringing their hands in despair, and
tearing their hair. When you have pic
tured such spectacle you will have some
idea of what L witnessed during the two
days that | remained at Ischia.
On Sunday evening it began to rain,
and this added to the difficulty of the sit
uation. When one has witnessed the
scene that CasamicciOla presented on
that evening in the red light of the fires
that were started to allow the jaded SOL
diers to dry themselves and todrive away
the miasma, no battlefield and no bonn
barded town can have any surprise for
him. 1t would be impossible to describe
all the horrors that l have witnessed.
Several soldiers were crushed bv the fail
ing OF walls during the work of rescue.
To render the catastrophe still more
horrible the bodies in the ruins began to
decompOse. The Minister of Public
Works, who was on the spot, ordered that
immense graves be dug, into which the
bodies were thrown after having been
covered with quicklime. But there are
bodies in the ruins that cannot be reach
ed. Happily, steamboat with a cargo
OF picnic acid arrived. This acid was
taken from Rome, Naples, and nearly all
the cities. 1t was distributed among the
soldiers, who threw it into the ruins. 1t
is probable that, Notwithstanding the
prayers of those who say that they can
still hear cries in the ruins, this immense
charnel house will be covered up. Moth
ing else can be DONE To clear away the
ruins is imDOSSiblp