Daily Kennebec journal., 1908-12-31
MORE HORRIBLE DETAILS.
Survivors Tell of Fearful Destruction
At Messina.

sjna survivors gave the following
account today of the appearance ol
that city He says that only Il Small
proportion of the total population es-
caped. Thousands of persons are st'il
buried alive in the ruins.
The flames are still making their
way slowly over the devastated area.
Imprisoned human beings, unable 10
rstricate themselves, are being burn
cd alive. Others are dying OF their m
iuries while still others are StarV-
ing
The streets are filled with masses Of
brick ard mortar, beams, furniture,
chimneys and roofs. 1t is Impossible
to recognize one thoroughfare from
another. In many cases they appear
as enormous crevasses or great ditch
es, Visited into fantastic shapes. The
celebrated Avenue PaiazZati, which
runs along the sea front from the uni
versity to the rostoffice. is quite i'm
passable. All the public monuments
that were there have entirely disap-
pearcd.
All the water pipes. sewers and gas
pipes Of the city have been destroyed
and water mud and filth are flooding
the torn streets. Gas explosions occur
frequently and resulted In the break
ing out of scores of small fire:.
For several hours after the flrst de-
structive shock Messina was absolute
ly without organized relief. as the mu-
nicipal authorities, the soldiers, tho po-
| lice, doctors and nurses by the nun
| dred 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 personal danger eX-
ricated many persons from the
wreckage.
Messina needs doctors, clothing and
food, and firemen to combat the flames
that still ravage the city.
! Torpedo boats that came IN here
this morning from Messina bring most
distressing reports. Contagion is now
feared to add to the other scourSes
| Doctors, nurses and firemen are Deins
hurried into the wrecked city but the
| lack of food and water makes the
| work of rescue very difficult. The Rus
sian and British warships at Messlna
have sent crews ashore and are per-
forming heroic deeds. The vessels
| themselves have been transformed in
| to hospitals.
The hospitals in Catania are crowd
ed and even the schools are uscd as
lnfirmaries The less seriously injured
of the survivors of Messina are being
sent to Palermo.
1t is reported from Messina that
Minister Of Public Works Bertolin
has arrived there. Assisted by Depu-
| T.li h1. f,oc
ganized several corns of volunteers fol
| rescue work.
Some of the refugees are telling o
their narrow escapes. After the frs
shock they were for a while i:rpriS
oncd in their ruined houses. Mann
waited in terror for the coming o.
light. They then made their way ou
and climbing over the Instructions IL
the sire cts. escaped to the open. The,
had to leave behind them under tht
ruins countless victims who called fo
help 1t was impossible to give succo
to many 1t is asserted that prObabi!
half of the fatalities occurred becaus'
it was Impossible for the survivors t
render assistance. Not the least of thu
suffering was caused by the torrentia
dcwnpour of cold rain. ---
Some of the refugees walked out o
Messina through San Giovanni. Pilmi
Scilla Cannitello, Favizzana an,
Bagnara and found practically ever.
one Of the villages destroyed.
T A woman refugee said las soon a
I could get out of my house. I ran il
the direction OF the water front. 1 no
ticed the greater portion OF the mai
thoroughfare of the city. the Via Carl
baldi. was destroyed. A thick dus
prevented me from seeing more thai
three feet in any direction. From ever
side l heard the cries of the injured
/ struggled through water and mud III
to my knees and succeeded in gain
5 ing one of the docks. From here wa
taken on board a cruiser in the har
bor"
Two doctors who succeeded i'll escap
ing from MessiIia report that full
two-thirds OF the city has, been ruin