The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-30

tens of thousands. Reggie is q sep ulchre of the dead. catania' suffered severely.
 Mount Etna. the volcano on the is- land Of Sicily Is active. The detona- tious are reverberating over catanta and add to the terror. Volumes of smoke are pouring from the crater. The work Of rescue is being pushed foFward with every possible energy, Trous are betAe poured Into the gone baak stne efforts at aucc8rs are as yet l utterly fnadeauate France, Great Britain and Russia are hurrying war ships to the scene.
 King Victor Emmanuel and queen Helena have left Rome for the. south. the work of relief. The Queen. re- fusing to let her husband go alone insisted upon sharing his dangers. The pope has made an appeal to ] Roman Catholics the world over for help. He has headed the relief Sub scription list with donation of t200.00O
 There Is consternation in Rome. The telegraph and newspaper offices are besieged by weeping crowds, demand ing news. Every fresh telegram tells the same story of death. destruction and desolatlon.
 Ambassador Griscom has telegraph ed to Messina and Palermo inouiring ! as to the fate of Arthur s. Cheney. of Connecticut, the American consul and Joseph H. Peirce, the American vice consul at Messina. Up to o'clock this afternoon no answer had been receiv- ed
 Vandalism Breaks Out. Vandalism of the worst kind has broken out and the government has adopted the most energetic and most severe measures for its repression. Robbers and looters are shot on sight.
 The prison at Messina collapsed. Some of the prisoners were killed, but the survivors made their escape and | joined the hooligans who were sack ing the city. Such confusion reign i ed that the robbers met with no re- sistance. The local chief of police lies dead in the ruins of his ofTice. The barracks at Messina were demolished. | The commander of the troops was killed outright and there were many victims among the enlisted men The government last night sent General Feira Di Cossatto, ani army corps commander, to take full charge of the troops in the devastated terri tory. One of his first measures will be to declare martial law
 The robbers pillagel the ruins of the shattered buildings and even stole clothing and xaluabies from the hodfea of the victims. They were not deterred by the flames that broke out in several sections of the city but took advan- tage of the light for their vandalism The night in Messina was, one of bor- TOT ndescribable-fire. robbery. daad and dying on every side. the citv in tho utmost confusion and the people panic . stricken and under spell of terror.
 Troops began to pour into MesAina last night and this morning q numher of steamers arrived from the peninsula with soldiers on board
 Patrols were at once organized and efforts made to bring about order, Cit- izens committees were formed ana helped heroically ire the work of rss- cue. Many courageous acts were ner- formed by soldiers and citizens alike and in some cases the rescuers them selves lost their lives In trying to help others. Toward morning. several nS the worst fires had been extinRuIshed the footing was under partial control and comparative order had been estab lished.
 Everything possible is being done to succor the wounded. but the relief measures are stlll utterly inadeoua. 4 Q owing to the immensity of the disas- ter The finest palaces churches ana theatres of Messina are heaps of ruins Countless dead bodies are scattered through the wreekage and their Je- composition will doubtless bring pesti- lence to add to the horrors of the sit Q |uation.
 The devastation over the entire dis trIct was more Or less complete. No part of the province of Reggio de Ca labrla escaped, The disaster was the most severe along the shores of the straits of Messina, where the cities of Messina and Reggie are situated. In more than one town the shocks lcausad gas metres to explode and destructive fires resulted.
 The flames helped from time to tima to swell the death list The eonheu- ration of the straits of Messina has been materially altered. The tidal