The San Francisco call., 1908-12-31
WOUNDED BEING RESCUED
rf AND BIG TREASURE SAVED

CATANIA, Dee S0.-The latest news
from Messina is that progress is being
made in the work of succoring the
wounded survivors, but no attempt is
being made 10 remove the wreckage.
The troops and sailors have been
obliged to shoot down robbers. who
persisted in looting. The entire local
treasury of the Messina branch OF the
Bank of Italy, amounting to s2.000.O00.
has been saved, and is aboard an Ital-
ian warship.
The rescuers at Messina are rapidly
becoming exhausted. The fires have
not yet been put out. and there is no
water with which to combat the flames.
Many of the people still refuse to leave
the ruins of their homes. They cling
to the sites of their houses, crying out
that their only safety is in fidelity to
the wreckage. Force is~often neces-
sary to get them to the ships in the
harbor.
Large numbers in the suburbs of
Messina will not come back into the
city for fear of recurrence of the
shocks.
dispatch received here from Dep
uty Felice at Aiessina says:
"Organize squad of volunteers for
! rescue work. Send us food, for we are
survivors are leaving today for Catan-
ia. Receive them with love and fra
ternity. 1t is the duty of every family
in Catania to shelter a family from
Messina."
Only two members of the municipal
council of Messina survived the dfsas-
ter.
The bluejackets from the Rnss;an
warships at Messina have performed
valorous service They risked their
lives recklessly in the work of extri
eating the wounded Hospitals have
been improvised in the railroad station.
which is partially standing, in another
building and on board the steamer
Reina Margherita, but these are al
ready full. A roll call of the Eighty
ninth infantry reveals the fact that
there are only 10 survivors A man
named Roberto. the sole survivor of
his family, became mad from grief in
Catania today and committed suicide.
One of the Messina survivors saws
that only a small proportion of the
population escaped. Thousands of i'm
prfsoned and pinioned human beings.
unable to extricate themselves. are be-
ing burned alive. Others dying of their
injuries, while many are starving. The
streets are filled with confused masses
of brick and mortar, beams furniture
and chimneys. In many cases the
streets are twisted into fantastic
shapes.
The celebrated Avenue Palazetti.
which runs along the sea front from
the university to the postoffice, is quite
E impossible. All the public monuments
that were there have entirely disap-
peared. All the water pipes, sewers
and gas pipes of the city have been
destroyed, and water and filth are
flooding the streets Gas explosions oc-
cur frequently and result in the break
ing out of scores of small fires. For
several hours after the first destruc-
tive shock Messina was absolutely
without organized relief, for the reason
that the soldiers. the police, the doe
tors and nurses, by the hundreds, were
either buried or drowned.
The first work of rescue was per-
formed by volunteers from ships in the
harbor and groups Of heroic survivors.
who at great labor and personal dan
ger extracted many persons pinioned
beneath the wreckage
Messina's crying need today is for
doctors, nurses. food and fremen TO
combat the flames that still ravage the
city.
Doctors, nurses and fremen are be-
ing hurried into the wrecked city. but
the lack of food and water makes the
work of rescue difficult. The Russian