The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-12-26
A GREAT LOSS OF LIFE RESULT TING
THEREFR0M.
A DEATH DEALING LANDSLIDE.
In Italy an Immense Rock Falls Into
the Sea, Destroying Two Hotels, a
Monastery, and Several Villas -Four
Ships Crushed to Bottom of Sea.
Forty Children Drowned by Break
ing of Ice-EIeven Little Girls Burn
ed to Death I'm Quincy, Illinois.

aster took place this afternoon at Am
alfi, the popular tourist resort on the
gulf of Salerno. About 2 o'clock an
| enormous rock, upon which stood the
Cappuccini hotel, slid bodily into the
| sea, with a deafening roar and without
a moments warning, carrying with it
the hotel, the old Capuchin monas-
| terry below, the Hotel Santa Calerina
and several villas.
Many persons were buried in the de-
bris, which crushed four vessels to
the bottom Of the sea, destroying their
crews. The mass of earth which slip
ped was about so, 900 cubic yards.
The population is in a state of terror,
fearing fresh calamities. Troops have
cue work.
1t is believed that the loss of life is
heavy, including a number of monks
and occupants of the hotel. AS yet, it
is impossible to ascertain the IA
number
Amali is a small but lively town of
1000 inhabitants situated at the en-
trance of a deep ravine surrounded by
imposing mountains and rocks of the
iLiOSl picturesque lOTIHS. LIE Cdpu-
chin monastery was founded in 1912
by Cardinal Pietro Capuano for the
Cistercians, but came into possession
of the Capuchins in 1888. The building,
which stood in the hollow of the great
rock that rose abruptly from the sea
to a height Of 230 feet, contained fine
cloiSterS.
Brussels, December 22.-Upwards of
forty school children were drowned to-
| dow in on inn oooiInnf of I1raJino ~,
nea the French frontier. The chill
dren of the district had been given a
holiday, with permission to play on the
frozen river Lys. When the merri-
ment was at full height the ice broke
suddenly and the children disappeared.
A few were rescued, half drowned,
but the majority were drowned. Thir-
ty-six bodies have been recovered, but
others are still missing. The catastro-
phe spread CONSERVATION through the
town, where nearly every family suf-
fered loss.
Quincy, ILL.,, December 22.-While
the school children of st. Franci pa
ochiaI school, Seventeenth and Vine
streets, were rehearsing this afternoon
for an entertainment to be given next
Tuesday evening, one of their dresses
caught fire from a gas jet and ten MIN
utes later -four of them were burned
to death, two died an hour later and
five others died before midnight. Half
a dozen others were burned more or
less severely.
The fire started in a little dressing
room. Three or foul little girls We're
dressing for the rehearsal and laugh
ing gaily n On themselves. A dozen
others were grouped in the wings of the
stage near the foot of the stairs de-
| Scending from the dressing room. The
girls in the dressing room had nearly
completed their costumes when one of
them brushed against the gas jet. A
touch of the flame was sufficient and
in an instant her dress of cotton and
light cloth was in a blaze. She scream
ed and ran out of the room, communi-
eating the blaze to the others as she
ran.
One of the girls with her dress in a
blaze jumped out of a small window
into the stairs leading to the stage
and then down, the stairs. A flaming
torch she was, as she almost fell down
the stairs, and rushed into the groups
of children standing in the wings. They
were all clad like her in the fancy cos
tunes of cotton, lace and silk, and the
fire spread with incredible rapidity
from one to the other.
There were fourteen children in the
cast of the Christmas entertainment
and only a few escaped. 1t was over
persisted, seven were fatally burned
and others more or less severely in
jured.
All the telephone lines in the neigh
| borhood were in service summoning
surgeons, and in a very few minutes
nearly all the doctors in town were on
hand.