Marble Hill press. (Marbel [sic] Hill, Mo.) 1881-1923, 1909-01-28
7HERE NlERE SELVES OF NYDE5CRLSA6LE HORROR

over a calamity, Hardened as / was 10 caiastro
Plies. the pteouS sights which met my gaze A.
Messjna, Reggie and other cities more than once
drew tears TO my eyes
It was my good fortune to be one of the mem
bers of the party of King Victor Emmanuel and
Queen Helena. when the ruler visited the stricken
district and many times both the monarch and
his consort broke down completely upon viewing
the awful sights which followed the earthquakes.
fires and tidal wave
Survivors We're raying mauiacs and they royed
the brck.strewn streets. in many instances nude.
The stories told by unfortunate refugees who
retained their senses were almost unbelievable
A soldier named Emilio De Castro was in the
military hospital He awakened by tire
mendous roaring sound. He felt himself falling
and thought he in the grip Of a nightmare
II seemed to him that he had awakened in hell,
for the air was filed with terrifying shrieks. He
soon realized however, what was happening His
bed struck the floor below and he was still on 1t.
Ii caused a moment and was again precipitated,
He struck the next floor but this gave way at
once, and thus the man and bed came down from
the fifth floor Of the hospital to the ground The
soldier not injured,
A druggist named Pulco relates that at 20
minutes past five Monday morning he was on
ferryboat in the port of Messina going to Reggie.
Suddenly a gale of wind arose, bringing heavy
In the water and the boat went down and struck
the bottom. But the waters closed in again and
the ferryboat foated safely top OF the sue.
ceeding wave Most of the people on board,
however were swept off and drowned The boat
was badly wrecked but it foated ashore Pulco
was still on board After the first panic he landed
and found Reggie like a city of the dead NO
body was moving in the streets, and the silence
was broken only by the means and groans and
,,InJ Dull md rpU
panions tried to extrcate some wounded from the
wreckage but this was almost Impossible be-
cause of the crumbling ruins. In one of the
squares Pulco found group of people all com
pletely naked. One old man was carrying a httie
girl in his arms. The child was covered win
blood is that your child2' he was asked No,
he replied Yesterday found her on the pave
ment in Messina picEed her up and cared for
her No one claimed her and could not abandon
her / have had her in my arms ever since
With this touching explanation the old man be
came oblivious to his questioner and everything
around him.
The Serapn brought into the port of Naples rec
ords of numberless tragedies. Families separated;
mothers moaning and crying for their dead chill
dren; 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
canary bird. She was music NAH singer anu
had clung to her pet throughout the terrlDle
scenes of devastation. The BIRD was the only
happy thing on board the vessel
one of the Messina doctors was sleeping in
room on the third foor when the first shock came.
and saved himself by gripping the roof OF
neighboring house,
A ferrybo moored at one of the docks seemed
suddenly to be thrown high into the air 1t landed
on top of the dock safely.
The nerves Of the unfortunates were In such
condition that at the least noise they were prone
TO rush screaming from their rooms seeking 'he
omen streets. Signor Birot, the mayor of Brescia'