Daily Kennebec journal., 1908-12-31

The VSerapin brought records of num-
berless tragedies. There was one girl
on board the German steamer. her
clothing tattered and torn, who had
saved a canary bird. She was music
hall singer. Her pet had clung to her
throughout the terrible scenes and
perched on her finger the bird was
chirping merrily. 1t was the only happy
thing Oh board that terrible vessel.
The stories told by these unfortu-
nate refugees are remarkable, A SOL
dier named Emilio De Castro relates
that at the time of the disaster he was
sick in the military hospital. Patient
and bed fell by successive plunges
from the fifth TO the first floor and the
soldier was not injured.
A druggist named Pulco relates that
at 525 Monday morning he was on a
ferryboat in the port of Messina going
to Reggie. Suddenly a great chasm
seemed to open in the water and the
boat went down and struck the bot
tom. But the waters closed in again
and the ferryboat fioated safely on top
OF the succeeding wave. Most of the
people on board were swept off and
drowned. The boat was badly wrecked
board. After the first panic he landed
and found Reggie like a. city of the
dead. Pulco and several companions
tried to extricate some wounded from
the wreckage but this was almost inn
possible because of the crumbling con-
dition of the ruins. The druggist esti-
mates the death roll at Reggie at 50,-
600.
Another refugee declares that there
are in Messina today not more than
10000 people alive. Many are dying of
hunger.
The Duke of Aosta left here today
for Messina and Reggie on board a
torpedo boat destroyer.
The Russian cruiser Admiral Maka-
rolf also came in here today from Mes
sina With 400 injured on board and the
steamer Terepie likewise as brought
hundreds of survivors.
1t now appears from the recitals of
survivors that the destruction of Mes
sina and Reggie was due primarily to
the earthquake but the tidal wave 40
feet high. caused enormous damage.
SO violent was the motion of the at
mosphere coincident with the tidal
wave that several Workmen engaged in
digging a pit on the Calabrian side of
the strait were carried bodily up into
the air.
AS the waters advanced. piers,
houses and extensive gardens were
swallowed up in the flood. AT some
places on the coast of Sicily the water
rushed on to the earth for a distance
of 10 miles A naval officer who wit
L<,
"It seemed &C if two mountains, one
of water and ~ of land, fell fu-
riously towa ds each other as if the
land vomitcd human habitations into
the sea-
Nine thousand tents, each capable OF
housing tx persons, and 10000 pair Of
blankets have been shipped from here
to Sicily and Calabria.
The sea front at Reggie has been
complc ely swept away according to
statements of refugees. 1t is mass OF
wreckage from vessels of every kind
that ere in the harbor. 1t is impos-
sible ID approach Reggie by sea or BY
land Jror distance of IL miles from
tine ely, roads, bridges and foOtpaths
have ueen uprooted. Even the face OF
the country has changed. 1t has been
i'm ossible to get into Reggie, even
with automobiles. 1t is believed that
Il ore are still a great number of peo-
PIE in the ruins, dying, not from theil
injuries, but of slow starvation simply
because it is impossible to get in sup
plies.
Several Calabrians here who have
relatives and friends in the stricken
Il; t~:z %l,x..- a..
because it is impossible for them eth
or to go to their homes or get news OF
their loved ones.
The steamer Therapie is lying off Ma
pies crowded with refugees from iMessinn
-bereaved men. starving women ant
weeping children, all with the stamp OF
great fear still upon their faces. One OF
the refugees, man employed with a Ger
man cotton firm in the lost city, saiu:
"Messina is utterly destroyed. Nothing,
remained there when l left but a part of
the citadel. A few soldiers are the lone
survivors of the whole garrison. I was
asleep when the first shock awoke me
lit my lamp but all was quiet and
turned to sleep again. Suddenly fresh
shocks occurred, violent and terrifying.
4 arose quickly. but the house was sway
ing and my door was jammed. I tore the
sheets from the bed and made a rope
and lowered myself from the window to
The street. On Italian family of five per-
sons escaped from the house by the aid
Of my rope.
mo sooner were we in the street than
the house collapsed I tried to assist in
the work Of rescue but it was useless.
The horror and confusion were indescrib-
able. All day I wandered in the wrecked
streets. No food could be secured. had
only few nuts to eat. The head of my
firm was lost and his brother had to go
through the streets begging for bread
for his wife and children. There was no
organization in the work of rescue.
1.-THE prison was destroyed and the war
dens killed, but most of the convicts es-
capped. They prowled about the ruins
robbing> and numbering. They, cut off the
fingers of the dead and wounded to get
the rings. Some Of them were singing
songs of liberty as they piled their knives
"A Russian vessel lying in the harbor
was thrown into the street by the tidal
wave. Other vessels foundered. Rail-
way lines were swallowed up. The Square
known as the Campo Santo collapsed and