The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-01-22

o1CdCcSU DlSdSU0I Ol MOQGTn
 Times--American Consulate
 But a Heap of Ruins-How . He Made His Own Escape.
 Special from United Press)
 Washington, Jan. 22.-A thrilling
 story of the horrors of the Messina
 earthquake, destruction of the Amer
 ican Consulate and it's occupants, and
 his own remarkable escape is told in
 a mail report received here to-day by
 the State Department from Stuart K
 Lupton who was at the time vice-con-
 sul and who since has been appointed
 consul succeeding Arthur L. Cheney The report follows:
 1 T have to report that on the morn ] ing of December 18th the southern part of Calabria and the province of Messina in Sicily experienced a ser ious earthquake which seems to have
 been the most severe on record. At ! 5:2O l was awakened by a terrific
 shock. The motion seemed to be rock | ign from side to side. This lasted, ac-
 cording to my recollection only about two or three seconds. Then there was a pause of about half a second l followed by a much longer horizontal l shock lasting ten or twelve seconds, I l believe.
 ''The walls and roof of my room be- gan to crack and crumble, stones fell
 in the bed and the dust was so thick l was. almost unable to breathe. At 1 last; just as I supposed the house must l fall in, the motion ceased. I seized my l clothes and made my way down the stairs as best I could, having to jump l wide breaks in the stairway I ran 1 into a network of tangled wires, none ] of which were charged, luckily for me soon found my way to the water front and started for the consulate expected to find pr. and Mrs Cheney l in the street. Knowing of Dr. Che ney's laneness, I wished to render what assistance I could. I had not | proceeded more than fifty yards when I found myself walking in water up l to my knees in a place which I knew had been eight feet above the water. I came upon a pile of rubbish some fif- teen or twenty feet high, over which I clambered on my hands and knees. l By this time I began to see that the | affair was much more serious than l had at first believed but was still l in inky darkness and I could not form 1 any ideas as to the extent of the dis | aster. After three quarters of an hour | arrived where l supposed the consulate l to be and waited for daylight which | came in a few minutes. looked for the | consulate but could see nothing that 1 front seemed to be down. Here and | there a wall was standing. A few fires 1 were breaking out but owing to the | solid construction of the town they | made little Irogress. At the place I supposed the consulate to be there | was nothing but heap of ruins, iron beams. splintered wood, bricks and l stones in hopeless confusion. was not | sure of the spot and climbed over the | ruins to see if could find anything familiar.
 Finally I came across a battered teapot which I recognized as the property of Mrs. Cheney and remem- bering the spot where 1t stood was able to get my bearings. clambered directly over the spot where their room had been and called in the hope that they were still alive and that they i would answer. I heard nothing, how ever and further search revealed piano covered to a depth of about ten feet in rubbish. I knew that the Cheney's had no piano so I must have other. If the consulate went down immediately, knew it was absolute ly impossible for Dr. Cheney to have esca ped
 :, ...tNothing belonging to the office could be seen excepting the teapot.
 
 anything to aid the consul, I moved to another part of the city. Soon after started it suddenly occurred to me that it might be wise to put on my shoes which I had been carrying cautiously in my hand. People were beginning to appear by this time. some half clothed, others entirely naked. :. T had thrown part of my clothing away but found could get nothing. Many persons were calling from upper windows asking that someone come and: aid, but ladders were not to be had and they had to be left. Some men were trying to lower an old lady from the fourth story but as soon as the weight came upon the cord it broke precipitating the poor soul to the pavement. Another upper window was choked with rubbish out of which to call out but struck against the rail- ing with a stick trying to attract at ltenton. Withou add and tools it was impossible to do anything for him. terically shrieking and they seemed to be absolute maniacs. On the way I met an Englishman whom I knew and was informed that the house of the British vicar had collapsed and that not one of the nine members of his family had escaped. Another told me that he had managed to get his father out but that his wife and son were dead. Everywhere the story was the same.
 Later the news came to me that of the two thousand men who constitut- . ed the garrison of Messina, over one thousand five hundred were dead. Light shocks were felt every few min utes and added to the terror of the people. I went on board the steamer Chesapeake belonging to the Anglo American Oil Company and managed . to get a cup of tea and a sandwich. Captain Mort was very kind and told me to send people in need to him and he would do everything he could ] went again to the shore to see what { could be done and by night over sev- f, enty, principally women and children ( were on board. l
 About three o'clock rain began to fall adding to the misery of the peo- pie. Scores of them were to be seen sitting in all the squares or wider streets looking as if they had aban- | doned all hope. I was tired out and went to sleep. I was awakened by the cold and decided the best thing for C me to do was to follow the band of t