Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Anacortes, Wash. Ter.) 1882-1887, 1883-12-29
AN EARTHQUAKE ROMANCE.
Count Jepprs Wife and the Discovery
In the Ruins.

Count Jeppi, who possess an 'enor-
nous fortune and one of the oldest titles
of the Palatinate, had made a love
match. His young wife was daughter
of Prince Cinella, ethereal as Raphael
and radiant and blonde as Titan.
During eight months Of the year the
happy couple were in the habit OF living
at Florence. When the crosses choleurs
began they went to his coquette little
villa, draped with vine branches, on the
side of the mountain and near the sea
at Casamicciola. One evening last July
the Count left his wife after dinner to
ramble, according to his custom, along
the seashore. The night was superb.
| SCENE OF TERROR.
| Suddenly the earth trembled as if
shaken by the march of an invisible
army OF giants. The sky became over
cast with black clouds and the ground
cracked open, emitting blasts of sulphur
GUS smoke. The Count was thrown
upon his face senseless. When he be-
came conscious his first thought was of
his young wife. He retraced his steps
through the vllage-now mass OF
smouldering ruins, mangled humanity
and burnt men and beasts. Cries arose
on every side: "Padre Medre! Figlio!
Jesu Maria Santissima" Each stone
seemed to wall and moan. With cold
sweat dropping from his temples, Count
Jeppi stepped over dead bodies and
climbed up walls of tottering houses,
with the sole thought, "Shall / arrive in
time" At the corner of q street, q
hand, still trembling, projected above
mass OF ruins, and a plaintive voice was
heard crying for help. Count Jeppi
dared not stop. He turned his head
aside and hurried past. After having
missed his way, and having twenty
times crossed and recrossed his steps,
Count .Jeppi at last arrived before what
had once been his villa. A narrow end
of wall was all that remained, stand
ing in corner of which there remained,
quietly hanging from its nail, gilded
wicker cage containing young dove
which had been the favorite pet Of the
Countess. The Count felt himself be-
coming feeble as little child rs he
gazed upon the terrible debris.
"A VOICE AS FROM THE GRAVE"
Suddenly he thought he heard a voice.
The voice seemed to come from great
distance. He strained every nerve.
The voice was heard again. He recog-
nized it as that OF his wife. 81 will
save her." said the Count, and at once
set to work. He fell upon his knees
and began to dig into the smoking ruins
with his hands. The fine hot plaster
seemed TO run through his fingers like
water. He lifted up with his bleeding and
burning hands heavy stones and blocks
that fell back again, jammng and bruis-
ing him fearfully. The distant feeble
voice guided him. Suddenly il ceased.
He had been working for nearly an hour.
With the exertion of despair he re-
doubled his labors. Just as he was
about to faint away from exhaustion, the
debris upon which he was standing caved
in and revealed an empty space filed
with smoke. Count Jeppi jumped into
it, and stretching out his arms, felt
about in every direction. His hand at
last touched something soft and clammy.
1t was the dead body of his young wife.
He passed his hand softly over the face.
The mouth was opened, the eyes were
closed and the hair was tangled and
matted over the forehead. Caressing in
the darkness the golden tresses, he ex-
claimed: eff you are still alive, speak
or make some movement" Being con-
vinced of his wife's death, he tried to
lift her cut of the terrible tomb in which
he had found her.
TERRIBLE DISCOVERY.
Seizing her by the shoulders he tried
to raise her up. But she seemed 10
have become terribly heavy, as If an
enormous weight were attached to her
feet. At last, with one supreme effort,
he dragged the body near the opening.
| Rut scarcely had he done 30 when the
bereaved husband uttered cry like that
OF maniac. His wife pressed to her
heart the corpse OF a man who had his
right arm thrown about her fragile
waist, while his left held in its rigid
grasp white rose that had not yet
withered. The head was crushed and
no feature was recognizable. The man
wore no ring, and no clue OF any kind
could he discovered. The next day the
bodies were exposed to the villagers.
The Count stated that he believed that
he had found the body Of long lost
friend, and he offered 20 900 lire to any
one who would make known and prove
the identity Of the strangers corpse.
But all in vain. The Count had the
bodies buried separately in the cemetery
OF Casamicciola, and IL still seeking to
discover tine man who had stolen from
him his wife's heart.
.---s Q -
BRIEF NOTES.
Sonoma has about 800 olive trees.