Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-12-31

Palmi. perched jauntily amid orange
and olive trees. have become mere
blots on the horizon.
The appalling magnitude of the trag-
edy is being brought home to the peo-
pie of the north by the arrival of the
refugees from Messina.
The German steamer Saraphin came
into Naples early this morning with
500 refugees. The condition of the in
jured is pitiable.
A few of them have had their heads
and limbs bandaged, but many have
not yet received medical attention.
The Seraphin had to come to Naples
because all the hospitals in the prin-
eipal towns of Sicily are overlooking
while there are not enough doctors
and nurses for the work in hand and
medical supplies. bandages and sur
gical instruments are lacking.
Expect Fifty Thousand Refugees
1t is expected by tomorrow night
fully $4,000 injured persons win have
made their way to this city.
The municipality, realizing the diff
| ficulty of coping with such tremendous
| responsibilities, has addressed an ap-
| peal to the people of Naples asking
them to suecor and give hospitality to
the unfortunate Sicilians.
AlNtAy AlGclllS VI Trains BOIldliOl "
move the wounded from the harbor to
the hospitals is being made use of, but
still the conveyances are insufficient in
number.
Several buildings are being prepared
to serve as provisional hospitals.
Shortly after the Seraphin locked, a
gang plank was lowered and a few
persons We're allowed on board.
The refugees were found sitting in
leo A,1 fIrr.s
of great mental depression and were
utterly exhausted. They seemed hard
| ly conscious of their surroundings.
Most of them were held in the thrall
of their terrible experiences.
Aged Man Rescues Girl
One old man was carrying little
girl in his arms. The child was COW
cred with blood
us that your child?' he was asked.
mo" he replied. IT found her on
up and cared for her. No one claimed
her and / could not abandon her.
have had her in my arms ever since. y
With this touching explanation the
old man became oblivious to his ques-
TONERS and everything around him.
The Seraphin brought into this port
records of numberless tragedies.
Families separated; mothers moan
| ing and crying for their dead children;
husbands and wives lost to each other,
or a sole survivor wishing that he had
not been spared.
| There was one girl on board the
steamer, her clothing tattered and torn,
who had saved a canary bird. she was
a music hall singer and had chung to
her pet throughout the terrible scenes
of devastation until the bird was the
only happy thing on the vessel
Describes Fearful Awakening
The stories told by these unfortunate
refugees are almost unbelievable. A
soldier named Emilio de Castro relates
| that on Sunday, the day before the dis
aster, he was taken sick and was sent
to the military hospital.
Early Monday morning he was awak-
ened by a great roaring sound. He felt
himself falling and thought he was IN
the grip of nightmare.
| 1t seemed to him, he said, that he
had awakened in hell, for the air was
filled with terrific shrieks. He soon
realized, however, what was happening
His bed struck the floor below, and
he was still on it. 1t paused 81 moment
| and was again precipitated downward
He struck the next floor, but this
gave way at once, and thus man and
| bed came down from the fifth floor of
the hospital to the ground The sol
der was not injured.
A druggist named Pulio relates that
at 6:25 Monday morning he was on a
ferryboat in the port of Messina, going
| to Reggie. Suddenly gale OF wind
arose, bringing heavy sea with it.
! Then a great chasm seemed to open
| in the water and the boat went down
and struck bottom.
But the water closed in again and
the ferryboat floated safely on top of
the succeeding wave.
Swept off and Drowned
Most of the people on board, how
ever, 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
extrioate several wounded. from the
Wreckage, but this was almost i'm
possible because of the crumbling
ruins.
In one of the squares Pulio found a
group of people ali completely naked.
The druggist estimates the death
roll at Reggie at not less than 10000.
Another refugee declares that there
are alive in Messina today not more