The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1884-01-11
An Earthquake Romance.

Count Jeppi, who Possesses and en-
OrmOus fortune and one CT the Oldest
titles of the Palatinate. had made love.
match. His young wife was the daugh-
ter of Prince Cinella, ethereal as a Ra-
phael and radiant and blonde as Tit
ian. 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 coquet
little villa, draped with vine branches,
on the side of the mountain and near
the sea at at CasamicciOla. One even
ing last July the Count left his wife
after dinner to ramble, according TO
his custom, along the seashore. The
night was superb.
Suddenly the earth trenbled 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 sui
phurous smoke. The Count was thrown
upon his tace senseless. When he be-
came conscious his first thought was Of
his young wife. He retraced his steps
through the village--now mass Of
smoldering 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 timer At the corner of street a
hand, still trembling, projected above
a mass Of ruins, and plaintive voice
was heard crying for help. Count Jep-
pi 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 the corner Of which there remain
ed, quietly hanging from its nall. Il
gilded wicker cage containing young
dove which had been the favorite pet
of the Countess. The Count felt him.
self becoming feeble as little child as
he gazed upon the terrible debris.
Suddenly lie thought he heard .
voice. The voice seemed t0come from
q SICuI ulStuuCC. IkC CNcEy
nerve. The voice was heard again.
He recognized it as THAT Of his wife. II
will save her." said the Count, and ut
once went to work. He fell upon his
knees and began to dig into the smok-
ing 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,
jamming and bruising him fearfully.
The distant feeble voice guided him.
Suddenly it ceased. He had been work
ing for nearly an hour With the ex-
ertion of despair he redoubled his Ia
bors. just as he was about to faint
away from exhaustion the debris on
which he was standing caved in and
revealed an empty space filled with
smoke. Count Jcppi jumped into it.
and, stretching ont his arms, felt about
in every direction. His hand nj 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. Car
rcssing in the darkness the golden
tresses, he exclaimed: III you are still
alive, speak or make some movement.
Being convinced of his wife's death he
tried to lift her out of the terrible tomb
in which he had found her.
Selling her by the shoulders he tried
TO raise her up. But she seemed TO
have become terribly heavy, as if an
enormous weight was attached to her
feet. At last, with one supreme effort,
he dragged the body near the opening.
But scarcely bad he done SO when the
bereaved husband uttered a cry like
that of maniac. His wife pressed to
her heaS, the corpse of a man who had
his right arm thrown about the fragile
waist, while his. left held in its rigid
grasp a white rose that had not vet
withered. The head was crushed and
no feature was recognizable. The man
wore no ring, and no clue of any kind
could be discovered. The next day the
bodies were exposed to the villagers.
The Count stated that he believed that
be had found the body Of a long-lost
friend, and he offered 10000 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 Is still
seeking TO discover the identity Of the
man who had stolen from him his
wife's heart.