Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-01-02
SHIPS To SHELL CITY DEEP UNDER THERU|NS
Messnas Dead to Lie Under Consul Chees Body Beyond
Battered Walls. All Recovery.
ONLY MEANS OF BURIAL HOUSE A COMPLETE WRECK
of Bodies Makes Their Adjoining Building Topples Over
Recovery Impossible. Consulate
SEARCH FOR LIVING GOES ON VISITED BY CONSUL
Hotel Proprietor Describes
Ruin in aunt for the and himself
CONSUL

ROME. January 2.-Signor Serao. the
A. J. Osston, the English consul, resided
arrived here today. He says that outside
the consulate there has not been an Amer
lean resident in Messina for forty years
! past.
| The part of the house where Serao lived
did not fall. The Italian rushed out
| Immediately after the first shock and
| met Stuart Il. Lupton, the American vice
consul, on the street.
! Together the two men made their way
to the American consulate. They found
! it had collapsed completely, and they
came to the conclusion that A. s. Cheney,
the consul, and his wife were dead. They
made a hurried but unsuccessful search
! for the bodies
! Continuing, Serao says that with Mr..
Lupton he satisfied himself that the
guests at the Hotel Trinacria, which was
completely demolished, were all saved
with the exception of the Swedish con-
sui and an Italian girl. He does not be-
! lieve that there were any Americans at
| the hotel Taormina, where there were a
number of American tourists. is absolute
ly safe. 1t did not suffer from the earth
quake in any serious way.
Continuing. Serao says: 1T is impossible
for the widest imagination to picture any
thing more terrific than the destruction of
Messina. 1t seemed as if the entire city
mad been suddenly transformed into Il
whirlpool. We were petritied with fear.
| 1t was next to impossible to proceed amid
the pied-up wreckage, which effaced all
traces of former streets. There were
heartrending shrieks from the unfortu-
mates who had fled to the streets. 1t was
impossible to judge whether grief or ter
ror was the stronger feeling.
Climbing over broken beams shattered
walls and quantities of broken furniture,
we finally reached the spot where the
American consulate had stood
Called in Vain.
The consular building was about three
stories high. 1t had entirely collapsed. We
could hardly believe our eyes. Mr.. Lup-
ton climbed over the ruins calling out
Cheney, Cheney. He was confident tina t
the consul would answer him. He said to
me:
"'Daylight has not come yet. and that
! is why ] cannot see him. but he must
be somewhere in the wreckage.'
/ feverish but as time Wore on and ii was
still unsuccessful We finally realized its
hopelesSness. We saw ii would be i'm
possible to reach even the bodies of the
unfortunate Cheneys. In addition to the
col apse of the consulate a neighboring
building had been precipitated upon the
consular ruins. and the whole was q vast
/ mas, OF wreckage.
Touched b. the despair of Mr.. Lup-
ton. / tried to console him, saying that
D n,,If lty ho1 hSa ,,1h
safed the mercy of immediate death and
did not linger alive under the debris.
Cab1ed to Washington.
we then left the ruins of Mr.. Cheney's
home We had done everything in our
power. With Mr.. Lupton l went on board
the steamer Chesapeake, where we re-
manned for the rest of Monday. We
transferred afterward TO the British ship
Mnorca. Mr.. Lupton was anxious to
communicate with the department at
! Washington, and lie managed to get a
wireless message through Malta (this
message was duly received). Since this
time all communication from Sicily or
the peninsula has been practically i'm
possible.
a party of British sailors. went ashore
again. Mr.. Lupton was anxious to learn
if there had been any American victims
of the earthquake.
Believes Lupton Is Safe
ITO make assurance doubly sure We
;nterroSated everybody we met who
would be at all likely to know of any
Americans, especially the managers and
the walters OF the Hotel Trinacria. Thus
we were able TO ascertain that this hotel
where Americans would be most likely