The Mena weekly star., 1909-01-07
RESCUE WORK NOW
EARTHQUAKE REFUGEES ARE AR IRVING AT NAPLES BY
 THE SHIPLoA0.
REFUGEES PRESENT < SICKfNING SIGHT
Many of the Fugitives Are in De- plorabIe Mental Condition Through Frieht-Groups of 5ereaved Men, Starving Women and Weeping chii- dren Reach Safety-TaIe of Captain


 Naples, Jan 1.--The steamer Ther. apie is lying off Naples, crowded with refugees from Messina, bereaved men, starving women and weeping children, all with the stamp of great fear still upon their faces. One of the refugees, a man employed with German cotton firm in the lost city, said "Messina is utterly destroyed. Nothing re- mained when I left but part of the citadel A few soldiers are the lone survivors of the whole garrison.
 No sooner were we in the street than the house collapsed. tried to assist ill the W ork of rescue, but it was useless. The horror and confusion were indescribable. All day I wan dered in the wrecked streets. No food could be secured. l had only a few nuts to eat The head of my firm was lost and his brother had to go through the streets begging for bread for his wife and children. There was no or ganization in the work of rescue.
 "A Russian vessel lying in the har- bor was thrown into the street by the tidal wave. Other vessels foundered.
 The wounded refugees present a sickening sight. Some appear hardly human; others among the fugitives have no apparent injuries, but are in such a deplorable mental condition that they seem the worst of all The horror of that tragic minute is in- eradicably fixed upon their faces. On the relief ships the refugees were heaped everywhere. Some of them appar to be stricken with a kind of idocy, looking aimlessly before them; others completely mad, howl wildly The commander of the Therapic gives thrilling description of the rescues effected by his men when ais ship ar rived at Messina from Malta under in structions to convey the survivors to Naples Twenty different eonfagra tions were raging. As the vessel drew mp before the city it was surrounded by a fiotilla of boats and tugs loaded to the gunwales with men and women who piteously cried for food and drink for they had had nothing for 24 hours. On entering the port, tremendous clamor greeted their ears. It was the survivors screaming for help From the water front Messina appeared to be intact, as the facades of the fine buildings along that line of streets still were standing, but behind was emptiness and ruin. The principal square presented an awe-inspirng as- pect Everywhere were enormous cracks into which the sea poured, whence clouds of steam and sulphur ous vapors arose.
 To the right was a big, crumblins building where were heaped many corpses, whose desperate. attitudes and contorted features showed the horror of the death struggles.
 The crew landed. but the work of rescue was most difficult The ruins formed hlllocks 50 feet high under which thousands of persons were buried. The steamer was soon loaded down 10 it's utmost capacity with sur. vivors and then steamed to Naples.
 All along the way it was seen that the smiling villages on the Calabrian coast had disappeared. Both Scylla and charybdis had vanished with them.
 The Duchess of Aosta was indefati. gable i'll his ministrations, going from steamer to steamer and bringing to the sufferers a word of comfort.
 The wounded were carried to the ambulances between the files of sol diers to protect them from the too expressive manifestations of sympa- thy from the crowds that had gathered at the piers. The means of transpor. tation was agumented by strong arms of sympathizers. in which some of the more seriously wounded were carried in lieu of filters.
 The commander of the Russian bat tleship, Makharoff, who brought word of the American consul Cheney's death, described the fearful scenes at Messina. He declared that many of the residents Of that place had been buried alive, as groans were heard coming from far. far down in the fis- sures of the earth. which could only be approached with the greatest pre- caution. At these points the tottering walls threatened further collapse. The aneuished cries of the victims caused half frenzy among the sailors. who in several cases excavated under dangerous places and rescued wound. ed people. In other cases they reached dead bodies that separated in parts when efforts were maGs to drag them from the wreckage.
 For an entire day the Russian sail ors, divided into squads, gave assist ance wherever needed. Amid the ruins of the bank of Sicily they found a safe containing many millions and delivered it aboard the warship. From one house alone they rescued 10 per sons alive.
 Before leaving Messina the warship put stores of medicine and food ashore. During the crossing to Naples eight of the wounded died.
 Entertaining Pan Americans.