The San Francisco call., 1908-12-31

Early Monday morning he was awak-
encd by a great roaring sound He felt
himself falling and thought he was in
the grip of nightmare. IT seemed to
him that he had awakened in hell, for
the air was filed with terrific shrieks.
He soon realized however, what was
happening. His bed struck the floor
below and he was still on 1t. IT paused
q moment and was again precipitated
downward. He struck the next floor,
but this gave way a once. and thus
man and bed went down from the hfth
floor of the hospital to the ground.
The soldier was not injured.
A druggist named Pulio relates that
at :25 o'clock Monday morning he was
on ferry boat in the port of Messina,
going to Reggie. Suddenly q gale of
wind arose, bringing a heavy sea with
it. Then a great chasm seemed to open
in the water and the boat went down
and struck the bottom. But the waters
closed in again and the ferry boat
floated safely on top of the succeeding
wave Most of the people on board,
however. were swept off and drowned.
The boat was badly wrecked, but it
fioated ashore. Pulio was still on board.
After the first panic he landed and
found Reggie like a city of the dead.
Nobody was moving in the streets and
the silence was broken only by. the
means and shrieks Of the wounded.
Pulio and several companions tried TO
extricate the wounded from the wreck
age, but this was almost impossible be-
cause of the crumbIing ruins. In one
of the square Pulio found a group of
people all completely naked The drug
gist estimates the death roll at Reggie
at 10000.
Another refugee says that there are
alive in Messina today not more than
10000 people. Many of these are dying
of hunger The people still III the city
have broken open the restaurants and
food supply shops and are feeding them-
selves as they may
The duke of Aosta left here this
morning on a torpedo boat for Messina
and Reggie
Thousands of Sicilians and Calabrians
are in Naples today from the north
seeking some means of communication
to the south by which to get news OF
friends and relatives
The Russian cruiser Admiral Makar-
off came in here today from Messina
with 400 wounded on board and the
steamer Therapie has brought hundreds
of refugees. Hundreds of Sici1ians who
have come over to the continent for
Christmas invaded the piers to learn if
their loved ones were among the people
on board. Others are seeking vainly
for a way to get down to Messina.
While the destruction of Messina and
Reggie was due primarily to the Garth
quake, the tidal wave caused enormous
damage In the narrow strait the
water formed into huge wave so feet
high. 1t then drew back from the Goa st.
as if gaining strength for an onslaught
that would obliterate the land. So vio-
lent was the motion of the atmosphere
coincident with the tidal wave that sew
eral workmen engaged in digging a pit
on the Calabrian side of the strait were
carried bodily up into the air.
Suddenly stopping in its backward
sweep. the waters of the strait hurled
themselves upon the two coasts. Inex-
orably they advanced, and piers.
houses and gardens were swallowed up
In the food Above several places on
the coast of Sicily the waters swept
over the earth for a distance of 10
miles The ground for a great distance
treInbled under the schock of the i'm
pact A naval officer who witnessed
this awe inspiring spectacle described
it in these words
1T seemed as if two mountains. one
of water and the other of land, fell fu-
riously, the one toward the other. and
as if the land vomited human habita-
tions into the sea-"
Nine thousand tents. each capable of
housing six persons, and oo.ooo pieces
OF blankets have been shipped from
here to Sicily.