Los Angeles herald., 1909-01-05
VATICAN OPENED
TO INJURED AND
PONTIFF WFEPS
1900 EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS
AT PAPAL RESIDENCE
PLEA OF PROTESTANT GRANTED
BY HIS HOLINESS
King and Queen Continue Work at
Messina-AwfuI Scenes Unfold
in Ruins of Wrecked
City

ONE, Jan. 4.-The Universal Brotn-
n, erhood spoken of by Archbishop
Ireland Of st. Paul was further
emphasized in Rome today when upon
the arrival OF 1900 wounded from Mes
sina and Reggie Mayor Nathan tele-
phoned the Vatican, asking whether
these unfortunates could be taken IN
there.
The Vatican replied in the affirmative
and the wounded were receicved with
open arms.
To realize fully what this incident
signifies, it must be explained that
Signor Nathan is not Catholic and
that he was at one time grand master
of the Masons.
The first 12O of the wounded sent to
the Vatican were received at the sta
ton by Monsignor Misitally, sent by
the pope.
The pope could not restrain his desire
to bring them consolation, and sought
them out. He passed through the
basilica of St. Peters over the arch
connecting the basilica with the hos
pital
Although he did not actually set foot
on Italian territory, he in reality wenr
outside the Vatican. The hospital, be-
longing to the pope, stands on italian
ground.
>
pital was the signal for an outburst
of emotion not only on the part of the
patients, but from the pope himself and
the members of his suite
Many Of those who were not graVelY
wounded insisted upon jumping out OF
bed to kneel and kiss the pontiff's
hand. The pope spoke consolingly tC
each unfortunate.
King and Queen Devoted
The king and queen of Italy today
on board the battleship Reginald Elena
at Messina have given the noble ex-
ample Of devotion. The king, with
some of his ministers at his side, has
been directing the relief work, vet he
has found time to visit the field hos
pital and encourage his stricken sub
jects.
The queen has been passing fifteen
hours a day beside the sick beds on
the Regina Elena, aiding, consoling and
encouraging.
The brunt of the work Of rescue has
fallen upon the sailors, foreigners as
we'll as Italians, and all have done their
duty nobly.
Praises of the Russians are on every
lip.
They hesitated before no danger,
digging under tottering walls or en-
tering the most unsafe shells when
asked to do so by some frantic woman
who had not lost all hope that hus-
band or child was still alive.
The correspondent made two tours
about the wrecked city through streets
piled twenty or thirty feet high with
debris. 1t was a wilderness of ruin
mile wide and tWC 'eS long
Beautiful churches 1endid villas in
the foothills, hospit, barracks and
the university, all shred the common
lot.
cathedral, the pride of Messina, is i'm
ruins, and little or nothing remains of
the relics of PhOenician, Greek, Roman
and Saracen architecture that marked
the stages of the twenty-six centuries
of Messina's tumultuous history.
Loss Irreparable
The loss to the world will be irrep-
arabic.
Here and there the correspondent
encountered salvage parties at work.
They were digging at the instance Of
some distracted wife or mother who
imagined she heard a voice, but usu-
ally there was no echo to the pathetic
calling.
One party was trying to dig out a.
girl whose crying could be heard plain
ly, but as the correspondent watched
there was sudden cave-in and there
after silence. In many places decom-
posing arms and legs protruded from
heaps of masonry and plaster.
Curious freaks of the earthquake were
to be observed. Standing walls had
fallen out, exposing one tier of rooms
above another in which nothing seemed
to have been disturbed.
Pictures hung straight on the walls,
lamps were on tables and vases and
flowers on mantel pieces. In one place
two buzzards, their beaks full of car
window ledge over the body of a, wonn-
an whose wealth of black hair covered
her face and shoulders.
Dogs and cats were killed by the SOL
diers whenever caught feeding on the
dead.
The buildings that best withstood the
shock were the old royal palaces, where
ten lost their lives.
The accounts Of all survivors agree
that the. devastation was accomplished
in less than one minute. The strata be-
low the strait slipped along the line
of fork, then a tidal wave rushed in
and out and all was over.
All say that when the shock came
they felt an upward thrust of the
earth. This was followed by an oscilli-
tory motion and the crust Of the earth
vibrated.
Stuart K. Lupton, American vice
consul at Messina, arrived one week
before the earthquake. He was stop
ping at the Hotel Vittoria, which was
half destroyed.
After finding that A. S. Cheney, the
American consul at Messina and his
wife had been buried in the ruins OF
their consulate, Mr.. Lupton took up
headquarters on board the warships in
the harbOr.
The correspondent visited the site of
the consulate. The building had coll
lapsed utterly. There is hope, how
ever, that the bodies and the archieves
may be recovered. Joseph H. Pierce,
the former American vice consul here,
and members of his family are also
among the dead. The only other Amer
leans known to have been killed are a
man named Joubert or Robert and his
wife, who were naturalized citizens,
and Joseph Giuseppe, a veteran of the
Civil War.
The American flag made it's first ap-
pearance in the harbor with the ar
rival today of the converted yacht
Scorpion, under command Of Lieut.
(COntfnued on Page TXyOl