The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-31

of clothing from the smouldering ruins to protect themselves from the piercing winds. Terrible suffering Is inevitable before the much needed relief stores can arrive.
 The rescue parties. military, naval and civil. of different nationaiities. are performing prodigies. but the task be- fore them is almost hopeless. Added to the difEiculty of obtaining food and water there are no drugs or surgical appliances. HeartbreakIng appeals for help are heard on every side. Temper ary hospitals are being rigged up. but only comparative few can be relieved and the scenes of horror defy descript- ion. The survivors of the earthquake are suffering cruel extremities and Tn Messtna may be seen everywhere per- sons valnIy searching in the dust for morsels of food
 Late dispatches state that the City of PaImi contains ,5o0 dead and twics as nany injured Two-thlrds of the town was laid waste All of the villages ad- jacent suffered as seversly.
 The King has tslegraphed Premier Giolitta. informing hlln that RegEio is in the same awful condition as Messtna, and announcing that Russian steamer with 800 injured win arrive at Naples tomorrow. His majesty asks that all preparations be made for their recept- ion at the hospitals and requests that the ship ba sent back with all the prep arationstthat can be mustered
 Catania HHGe Furnace.
 Despatchos from catania describe fl as like huge furnace. The Ire spread to the buildings that had-not get fallen. completing the work of destruction.
 The Strait Of Messina fh now ehoked with corpses of men and animals
 At the present time there are twelve warships at Messfla. four Italian. four British and four Russian. as well as < number Of desfroyers and steamers. the latter belonging to the Italian General Navigation Company. The injured are being carried aboard the steamers and will bA removed to Naples.
 The relief work Is now well begun but hundreds of persons are wandering about the ruins like mad men. They are being given food and clothing as fast
 General Mazazzi. commas ndant at Ca tanzrc. has teiegraphed to. the govern ment that he has tried vsinly for two days tosreaeh Reggie by land and sea. The roads are impossible and the shore has been so torn and twisted as far as he travelled In Calabria that it is im1 possible to. approach the water.
 At the Ministry of Marine word has been received that frightful footing and pillaging occurred at Reggie. Thls place also overwhelmed. will have few survivors. as 1t haE been impossible for the relief expeditions to reach it.
 America May Send shlpa.
 The destruction of the American consulate at Messina and the death, of Consul Cheney, and perhaps the death also of the former Yice-Consul, J. Fl. Peirce. together with the ab- sence of W. II. Bishop, the American Consul at Palermo. leavee the United States without a representative in Sicily at the present time. Officials in Rome are considering the possibility Of the administration at Washington ordering one or more of the ships of the battleships fleet now cruising around the world to proceed to Sicily in order to protect American interests.
 So far all reports agree that there were few. if any Americans in Messina at the time of the disaster with the exception of Consul Cheney and his wife.
 Bagnara, town of 10000 people. north of Reggie. is reported as ami hilated. The entire population is said to have perished. Reggie. city of 50.O0O people, has been practically de- moIished.
 The detailed stories from refugees only add horror upon horror to the calamities of the fateful day.
 Fresh earth shocks were experience ed last night ct Pizzo in Calabria and Palermo, Sicily. They were not se- were.