Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-12-29

aS sJl4Vds OAA 1AS
Rome, Dec. 20. South Italy and the
island of Sicily have been visited by
/ IN appalling calamity, the extont of
which cannot yet be grasped. An
\ earthquake yesterday morning wrecked
city after city and oblfterated smaller
towns and villages without number.
Then q tidal wave swept along the
Straits Of Messina and added to the
horror, drowning the people in their
helplessness and panic. Fire came to
Is complete the work Of destruction.
FLAMES broke out in the devastated
\ cities and countless numbers OF injured
/. men. women and children were burned
to death.
Any adequate estimate of the total
j casualties Is as yet quite inIpo ssible,
\ but the Rome Tribuna places the num-
{ Der at between 10000 and 10000.
The horror and destrnctiveness Of
I this visitation probably will exceed that
Of any earthquake IN Italy since 1888,
1 when 10000 persons persisted at Mes
Il sinaS alone.
e Reports Of heavy loss OF life arc.
coming in every hour from city and
town and nearly every village in the
4 stricken zone, and the story in Its de-
tail has only begun to be told. The
i horror grows Us further reports come
4 in.
Messina has been fre-sWept. The
dead there alone will run into the
4 tens Of thousands. Reggie is a sepul-
q clire Of the dead. Catania suffered
\ heavily
Mount Etna, the volcano ON the Is
/ Fand Of Sicily, is active. The detona,
5ftions are reyerbrating over Catania and
add to the terror. Volumes Of smoke
4 are pouring from the crater.
The work OF rescue is being pushed
forward with every possible energy
n Troops are being poured into the zone.
the efforts at succor are as yet
utterly inadequate. France, Great
4. Britain and Russia are hurrying VAL
4; ships to the scene.
s King Victor Emmanuel and Queen
Helena have left Rome for the south
q His majesty will superintend In person
$$sthe work Of relief. The queen, refns-
s5ing to let her husband go alone, in.
n Sisted upon sharing his dangers
~ The pope has made an appeal Is 70
e Roman catholics the World -overs for
help. He has headed the relief sub.
Ssscription list with q donation OF $780,
Il moo. II. ia
Tho telegraph and newspaper offices
9aare desieged by weeping crowds de-.
granding news Every fresh telegram
ftels the same story of death, destruc-
ss5tion and desoIation.
Ambassador Griscom has telegraph
ed to Messina and Palermo inqulrlng
II as to fate Of Arthur S. Cheney Of Con-
Il Joseph Fl. Pierce, the American vice
consul at Messina. Up to 3 o'clock this
Il afternoon no answer had been re-
Il ceived.
Rome. Dec. Ca special dispatch
received here from Palermo, Sicily,
& says the dead at Messina as the result
OF the earthquake and tidal wave OF
yesterday are estimated at 10000.
Il Scores still are alive beneath the ruins
ssof the city. Owing to the inadequacy OF
1.-THE means of rescue at hand. 1t Will be
impossible to bring these people out
alive. Other dispatches received here
place the dead at Messina at even more
appalling figures. The Tribune pub
Ssiishes a telegram saying the casualties
sSNill reach a total Of $4,000 persons.
This report has not been substantial
The Tribune estimates the total
Casualties In Calabria and Sicily at be-
TWEEN 10000 and 10000.
DISASTER IS STAGGERING.
NJ Rome, Dec. 29.--The disaster in the
/ province of Calabria and the island Of
Il Sicily has today assumed staggering
received from the stricken region
makes it moro apparent that the first
\ stories of the Widespread destruction
IsWere little. il any exaggerated. Mes.
I siIa alone reports 10000 victims but \ t.
ssis feared that this is only Il partial
| ports are coming in from other towns
giving estimates Of dead therein from
800 up to several thousand. Regio still
Eremains in it's isolation. It Is fmpos-
lsible to get word from the stricken city
land the silence gives rise to the most
Fearful approximations. 65
News has come from Messina. eight
slini1es north Of Reggie. but no reliable
5Iestinate of the dead there has been
Il nlade.
~ VANDALISM.
broken out and the government has.
3 taken the most severe measures for Its
repression. Robbers and looters are
shot on sight.
1.-the prison at Messina collapsed
some of the prisoners were killed, but
The survivors made their escape and
Z Ioined the vandals who were sacking
The city. Such confusion reigned that
he robbers met with no resistance
The local chief of police lies dead in
4 Ehe ruins of his office. The barracks
= 1t Messina We're demolished. The COM
handler OF the troops was killed out
Hight and there are many victims
s bn,onc the enlisted men.
( The government lastsn night sent Gen.
5-eiera Di FCossatto, an army corps
commander. to take full charge of the
troops in the devasted territory. One
Eof the first moves will be to declare
nlartialFlaw. The robbers pillaging the.
ruins OF shattered buildings even stole
clothing and raluables from the corpses
r,f the victims They We're not de-
Z kerred by the flames that broke out in
leveral sections, Of the city but took
advantage of the light for their vandal-
snl. The night in .Messina was one of
Eorlor indescrtbabl e-tire. robbery. dead
md dying on every side, the city in
he utmost confusion and the people
& trlder Il spell of terror. IA VI
- rgaops5 began to put into Messina last
lsht. and this morning a number of
teaners arrived from the peninsula
With soldiers on board. Patrols We're
4 pt once organized and efforts made
IA bring some order into the situation.
Bands of citizens We're formed and
Selped heroically in the work of rescue.
MANY COURAGEOUS ACTS.