The sun., 1909-01-17

almost every man In the detachment.
A moose was quickly made In a stout
rope and a 1.-the young private went
quickly into the bottom Of that suifooating 6
funnel. lie dug away with his hands
around the head Of the victim. He found,
fortunately, tnat a small arch had pro-
tected him from the worst Of the last dust
T.:Sa. In few moments the rope was
fixed and a dozen men dragged the poor
creature into freedom. He shrieked
with pain under the rough treatment
which the emergency made necessary,
but the waiting doctor, in hasty exami-
nation. could find no serious injury.
Tho strangest human spectacle ! have
ever seen was this plaything Of the earth
quake. There we're just two spots OF
color upon him. and those were his eyes.
There was look in them such as | have
seen but once before, and that was In
the eyes of three or four miners who had
been buried for twenty-four days in q
Pennsylvania coal mine nearly twenty
years ago.
The time of terror and even OF despair
had passed for him. A stupefed indiher-
ence, more pathetic than suffering, was
the only emotion they showed as he turned
his gaze slowly upon the eager faces
about him. Even his eight days beard
was white as paper after they hastily
tried 10 brush that awful, impalpable
dust from his face They did not stop
TO minister further 10 him. but struggled
with many painful jolt down the crum-
bling sides Of the hill which had 80 nearly
been his tomb and hurried him away to
the nearest Red Cross field hospital. /.
LEGS CUT OPP TO SAVE HEp.
One poor woman whom the rescuers
reached on Friday was found with her feet
pinned beneath an enormous mass oi
masonry. To release her with any OF the
appliances available In Messina would
have required many days. She herself
suggested that her legs be amputated
1t was done and she will live.
The most CHASTITY sight still remaining
is in the principal businesss street
Garibaldi. side wall Of high building
still stands, and over the edge of a bit
Of flooring on the fifth story there danglet
the leg Of n dead woman. High In the air
in full view Of all who pass II hangs. but
10 reach IL Is impossible. The next shsrr
shock Of earthquake will probably throw
down the wall.
do not like TO dwell upon the grewsome
features Of this disaster. Ono gets used
To the constant passing Of corpses borne
upon stretchers, and the long rows OF dead
in the trenches cease 10 arouse much emo.
tion. shall not soon forget, however
an experience Of three days ago. was
stumbling along over ruins piled two
stories high in what had been the middle
Of a street in the centre Of the town. Ny
foot slipped and landed upon something
soft. ] looked down and saw that had
inadvertently stepped upon a dead mans
hand.
DIGGING OUT BANKS TREASURE.
happened TO be present about noon
to-day at the rescue Of the great treasure
in the vaults Of the Bank OF Italy in the
Via Garihaldi and the work had startling
climax. This building was the strongest
in Messina, and IL had been specially
designed to resist earthquake shocks.
Against the protests OF the engineers. the
authorities had insisted upon a deep
foundation Of concrete. Above this were
several layers OF alternate iron and con-
crete upon which rested the strong room.
In this were stored the bulk Of all the
savings bank deposits Of Sicily, amount
ing to more than SO, 600 900 In gold and
cash and securities representing about
SIS. .00o. 900 more. The superstructure had
been badly damaged. but the strong room
was intact. A group of escaped prisoners
tried TO loot the place on the day of the
earthquake and several were shot by the
police and soldiers. Nothing had been
touched when the strong room was opened
yesterday for the first time after several
days work in removing the accumulated
debris. The specie was safely removed
under guard and taken aboard a battle
ship. To-day they got out the safe con-
tanning the bulk Of the securities. A
large force Of men guarded by a double
line Of 200 soldiers. slowly hoisted the big
st~el box to the surface. just after noon
Lhey had succeeded with tackle and ropes
IN dragging it through the entrance into
the street. As | watched the operation,
there came suddenly the noise Of terrific
explosion as if a iOO-tou gun had been
fired close at hand. The earth rocked
and vihrated and moment later the
walls of the building which had withstood
the shock OF a week ago. fell inward with
a great crash and up rose a suifocating
cloud of dust. The 200 soldiers dropped
their guns and fed in terror.
(As ! write these words, at 2i0 P. NJ.
another lesser explosion with the now
e., I,li In ~ sha - Ia
10 the deck Of the ship where have taken
quarters 70 watch the scurrying people
on the seafront and to hear their cries OF
alarm Tho safe with its millions re-
NAMED deserted for a few moments
until the savage execrat;ons of two or
three officers brought back the shame
faced troops. Had the shock come ten
minutes earlier half q hundred woIkmen
would have been buried in the ruins
and there would have been another small
tragedy to record.
More of the tottering walls Of the city
also fell in this shock, but l have heard
Of no fresh victims. Most OF the ruins
are deserted to-day. The stencil of the
dead is unbearable in most places. SO that
more accidents from repeated shocks are
not probable.
DREAM THAT SAVED A LIFE.
An eyewitness OF an extraordinary in
cident has just brought to me another OF
the many strange stories OF this mighty
tragedy. A Sicilian soldier who had es-
capped from the collapse of Monday
dreamed last night that his ilancee was
still alive in the ruins OF her home. Sc