The Glenwood post., 1909-07-03
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Joseph Micale. an Italian printer ,
ow employed on Troy IN. " |
Italian newspaper, arrived in that city |
recently with his wife, Vincenza M.
hicale, tells tale of their narrowing |
experiences during the disastrous
earthquake which despoiled southern |
tally and portion of the island of |
Sicily on December 2S last, says the |
Troy Times. According to this story
'ecited recently through an inter
prefer. L. C. Carrolly. the young print
er and his wife, both of whom are
about 26 years of age, were buried for
nearly four days deep in the ruins of
:heir home and his printing office, both
located in the same building on the
Boulevard Cavour, in the Sicilian city
Of Messina. Their escape from death,
first, in the great upheaval and then
from starvation, was most miracu-
lous. In part their experiences were
described as follows:
In the early morning of the 2Sth
Of December l was sleeping peace
fully, when suddenly | was awakened
by the violent movement of the build
ing, and the bed and furniture were
thrown from side to side of the room.
All at once the roof came in upon us
and we went down in the wreckage.
Then everything grew dark and
knew no more. | learned afterward
that a large factory adjoining the
building in which was located my
printing office and our living rooms,
on the floor above it, toppled over
upon US. Words cannot describe the
terror that came over me when | re-
gained consciousness some time later
and found that my wife and |, both
still in our bed, were pinioned down
under mass of wreckage. All was
dark and we could move but little, but
there seemed to be air space, for
large timber about foot square
held the ruins above us and had prob
ably shielded us from being instantly
killed. How long we had been con-
scious we did not know, but as soon
as we began to realize our situa-
tion we shouted for help. We shout
ed louder and louder, but there was
no response. We kept this up until
at times, thoroughly exhausted, we
fell to sleep. We continued to shout
at intervals for long per,od-it
seemed like many days-until finally
we lost our voices from weakness and
could shout no more. Occasionally
we could hear some persons in the vi
cinity, but we could not attract their
attention, try as we would. My wife
and l were near together, and could
converse. l encouraged her all pos
sible. Finally in our despair, we
decided there was no hope of escape
and we might as well take our death
peacefully. Shortly after we had
made this resolve heard a group of
persons above us, evidently examining
the ruin, and with supreme effort l
was able to make sound which they
heard and answered. That was the
most joyous moment in my life, and
with it my reason went and l became
unconscious. My wife had already
lapsed into unconsciousness. The
next thing / remember l was in the
open air and four Russian sailors
were bending over me and giving me
some cordial. | learned atterward
that they had worked nearly five hours
to penetrate to our position. 1t was
about nightfall when they lifted me
out, but it was next morning before
they could free my wife, who is a
large woman, though they were able
to give her restoratives. We were
cared for by doctors and others who
acted as nurses until we were strong
enough to travel, and then were car
ried to a railroad train and taken to
Catania, where after hospital treat
ment we were provided for in tent
and given food and clothing through
the generosity of the American peo-
pie. We remained there at the hand
of charity nobly given, for about four
months Finally we secured free pas
sage to America, the land of hospital
ity. l don't know whether the tick
cts were provided by the government
or the Red Cross society. On the
evening of April 81 we arrived in New
York. We stayed for some time with
friends while l looked for work un-
successfully, because l have no knowl-
edge of the English language. l wrote
to my friend, John Rapisardi, publish
er of the Italian newspaper in Troy
and he offered to give me work tempo
rarily, and here l am. l can scarcely
express my gratitude to people who
came SO generously to my aid, and
ask nothing but work to enable me
to live honestly and become citizen
of this great republic"
A practical problem connected with
earthquakes is one that concerns the
architect-namely, the invention of
buildings which will be more capable
of resisting these continually recurr-
ing shocks. To those who dwell on
firmer ground 1t is extraordinary how
the Inhabitants Of earthquake coun-
tries can go on erecting ordinary
mAny-stoeeyed houses, which sooAer