The Detroit times., 1909-01-05
HOWL OF DYING WAS
j. GRUEsOME PART
OF DISASTER
r. MARION CRAWFORD GIVES
GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF iTAl
IAN eARTHoUAKE-AiR WAS
FILLED WITH ONE LONG MOAN

NEW YORK. Jan. 5.-F. Marion
Crawford. the famous writer, sends the
following graphic description OF the
Italian earthquake To the New YORK
American. The cablegram is dated
villa Crawford. SAINT Agnello oil Sor-
lento, Italy. II says
MY son-in-law has just returned
here after spending two days and Il
half in Messina, whence he barely os'
capped With his life In spite OF The
greatest courage and GOODNESS. ! give
bis narrative In his own words:
1T being impossible TO reach Mes
sina by ordinary means, | succeeded
in getting passage as a stowaway
aboard small steamer on Tuesday
evening and reached Messina on the
following morning at $50. To my
surprise. the lighthouse OF Faro, o1
the strait. was still standing. as well
as the fishing huts at it's base. and
the first impression was that the news
az the earthquake had been greatly
exaggerated. But as we advanced we
soon came In sight Of the awful truth.
"A dense black smoke rose In col
umns from the vast ruins Of the city
and was gently blown toward us by
the morning breeze. AS we drew
nearer we saw that the fine buildings
on the magnificent curved esplanade
that was such feature Of the water
front were all either completely de
stroyed or else rent down half cheir
height
Along the short compact crowd
Of people swayed and writhed, while a
strange howl OF voices, scarcely hui
man. reached our ears. II was the
howl of more than half the people,
who were already mad with terror,
and carrying out for help. for bread,
even for water.
"A steam launch from a man-of-war
approached us with per-emptory or
ners to land no one ON pain OF death,
which was no mere threat. Our cap
tain. however, asked permission for
himself alone to land. He lowered a
boat laden with provisions and ben
dages fo- the wounded, and the cap.
ain and six seamen got in. REGARD
less OF their protests. | let myself
down by line hand over hand and
dropped ;nto the boat The captain
would have forced me TO return. hut
the sealnen. were already pulling
Justify TO shore. When forty yards
from land every man Of the crew
| jumped overheard and swan ashore
al mad with anxiety for their families.
| | then took one oar and the captain
another and we pulled for the land.
City Strewn With Dead.
Instantly the crowd sprang upon
the boat to seize the bread we had
brought. We we're thrown down and
trodden underfoot by the famished
men, buL soon struggling TO our feet,
we fastened toward the ruins or the
city.
mo words can describe adequately
the horrors that met us everywhere.
At every step the ground was strewn
with dead bodies and fragments of
corpses torn to pieces. The air was
filed with one long moaning, which
sometimes sighed out from beneath
the ruins where thousands still lie
buried alive, but which was continual
ly sweIled by the cries OF the wounded
and dying In countless narrow streets.
THE stencil was fndescribable, ana
everywhere fires burned steadily
among the ruins, consuming the dead
and living together and filling the air
with the horrible fumes Of burning
flesh.
with the utmost difficulty reach
ed the remains Of the Hotel Trinacria,
of which only the front was standing.
This was at 1880 on Thursday. A
gang of Russian seamen was working
with splendid courage to bring out
those buried alive in the hotel.
Suddenly the ground rocked under
our feet, the front wall OF tho hotel
trembled and then fell in one mass
upon the devoted sailors, destroying
them to a man.
"By some miracle not one stone
touched me. and the panic-stricken
crowd swept me on 10 the Via MAJ
zinl, which was choked with dead.
wounded and dying. Here many Ital-
! ian surgeons were working Like mad
men 10 save such lives as they could,
where every convenience was lacking.