The Winchester news. [volume] (Winchester, Ky.) 1908-19??, 1908-12-30
CONSUL CHENEY
AMONG VICTIMS
American and Wife Lose Lives at
Messina-Dead Now Esti-
mated at 100000.

Washington, Dec. 30-That Arthur
S. Cheney, American consul at Mes
sina, Sicily, and his wife, lost their
lives in the earthquake disaster
which devastated that city, is indi-
| Gated by an official dispatch received
by the state department from Stuart
Lupton, American vice consul at Mes
sina.
The following dispatch came via
Malta, Maltese Islands, in the Medi-
terranean, being received there by
wireless from Messina by Consul VIII
liam Ii. Gale, and transmitted by him
to the state department:
1.-The Messina consulate destroyed
and consul and wife supposed to be
dead"
Consul Gale in forwarding the dis
patch by cable added that Lupton is
supposed to have escaped He stated
that a British warship had left Malta
for Messina to assist in the work of
rescue. "a
Arthur s. Cheney is a naive of H.
Iincis, but was appointed consul to
Messina from Connecticut Aug. Is,
1897. Stuart Lupton, who is from
Tennessee, was only recently ap.
pointed vice and deputy consul at
Messina and had just arrived at his
post, succeeding H. PIERCE, an Italian.
Rome, Dec. 30.-As a nation Italy
is paralyzed as the details of the
earthquake which disrupted the
southwestern portion of the PENN
sula, are being made public
With government estimates based
on reports from enough districts to
make it practically certain that the
total dead cannot be less than $4,000
and possibly as many more facing
death from injuries and exposure, the
true awfulness of the catastrophe is
revealed. In some quarters it is de-
clared that when the final count has
been made it will be found that fully
IS 10 persons lost their lives.
With population of 10000 and
containing many of the most notable
structures in Sicily, Messina's fate
is told in the two brief words,
PLOTTED out" A victim of the COM
bined wrat. Of earth and heat and
fire, practically nothing is left Of
what was the second city in the is
land.
To add, If possible, to the misery
of an already terror-numbed people
Mt. Etna is emitting giant clouds of
black, sulphurous smoke and waking
the, echoes of the Sicilian mountains
with its defamation and rumblings,
while torrent of rain driven before
biting north wind has intensified a
hundredfold the anguish of thousands
of halfclad provisionless refugees.
In the Calabrian district which
was only beginning to recover from
the effects of the earthquake of 1905,
Reggie was the center of the earth's
upheavel. The seaport CT Reggie is
| reported as no longer existing and
! the city proper is in ruins. The loss
Of life on both sides of the strait
and in eastern Sicily was enormous.
One of the refugees from Riggio
who was the first 20 bring the news
of the city's destruction, tried to
make his way to Sicily in sail boat,
but was compelled to return and f.
nally found safety at a peninsula port
In describing his experience he said:
''The sea was strangely, myster-
iously agitated and the heavens were
ablaze. Nearing Sicily, the clearing
smoke revealed the mystery; Mes
! sina was in flames. In the frenzy of
despair 1 turned my boat back to
Calabria"
Starving, bleeding from injuries
and almost insane from their terri
flying experiences, Messina's survivors
are fleeing in all directions. The
spectacle presented by the ruined
sea port is described as terrifying.
The tumbling buildings. both killed
and mutilated, while hundreds of
the injured imprisoned in the wreck.
age were abandoned to their fate by
the fleeing populace.
One of those who escaped said:
''The earth seemed suddenly to drop
and then turn violently ON its axis
The whole population, who practical
ly were precipitated from the houses
rent in two, were spun around like
tops as they ran through the streets.
Many fell crushed to death, and 9TH
ers, bewildered, took refuge for breath
beside the tottering walls, where
they soon met the fate of their com
panions."
Already British and Russian squad
rons have arrived at Messina. Sailors
and marines have been disembarked
and they have performed courageous
acts in rescuing the injured and re.
moving the wounded. A large mum,
Der of survivors have been trans.
fered to the warships, which are
transformed into great floating hos
| pitfalls. 1t is imperative that the dead
l no remOved from the ruins in ordor