The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1909-01-01
100000 DIE IN
ITALIAN QUAKE
MORE THAN SCORE OF CITIES
AND VILLAGES ARE IN
COMPLETE RUIN.
KING AND QUEEN ON WAY
Fears Are Maintained That Many
Foreigners Were Killed AS Hotels
Were Crowded With
Tourists.

Rome. - One hundred thousand
dead; Messina in Sicily and Reg
gian ond a score of other towns in
southern Italy overwhelmed, the
entire Cal2briah region laid waste;
this, rs the earthquake record SO far
>/as is at present known from the re-
ports that are coming slowly into
Rome on account of the almost com
plete destruction of lines of communi-
cation to the stricken places.
The death list in Messina ranges
from 10000 to $4,000; that of Reggie,
which with its adjacent villages
numbered $4,000 people includes al
most the entire population, At Palma
1000 are reported dead at Cassano
1000. at Cosenza 500; and half the
poulation of Bagnara about 1000. The
Monteloone region has been devastat-
ed and Riposto, Seminara, San Gio
ami, Scilli, Lazzaro and Cannitello
and all other communes and villages
bordering on the straits are in ruins.
The king and queen of Italy are
now on their way to Messina, having
sailed Tuesday night from Naples
aboard the battleship Viteorio EN-
manule.,
War Vessels Reach Scene.
\ British, French and Russian war
ships were steaming toward the
south and already several of the
ships of Great Britain and Russia
have reached Sicily. Officers and men
of these ships have performed heroic
service in the work of rescue.
It is feared that many foreigners
have been killed as a number of the
hotel at Messina and doubtless at other
places were crowded with tourists.
Little is known of the fate of the
diplomatic representatives of the
foreign powers stationed at these
posts, although the Italian govern
ment is using every effort to relieve
the anxiety felt on their account.
There is the %tgravest danger tina
a pestilence will follow the destruc-
ton of the towns, where, on account
of the vast havoc wrought, bodies will
lie unburied tor days and weeks.
Those which escaped death, many OF
whom are badly wounded are making
thei way by the thousands to the
nearest place of refuge. Their suf-
ferings even now must be intense, as
they are without food or clothing.
Stunned at the magnitude of the
calamity which has overtaken fellow
countrymen. all Italy mourns for the
stricken privince of Calabria and the
island of Sicily. Accustomed for cen
turtles to earthquakes, Italy stands
ever in dread, but none was prepared
for the disaster which, in the fraction
of a minute Monday devastated cities
and towns, and caused the death of
thousands.
Messina whose tragic history, has
been marked by tidal waves and war,
and which was the center of Mondays
terrestrial maelstrom was shaken to.
ruins. T.
Flames burst forth to complete the.
city's destruction and to burn alive
untold numbers helplessly, pinioned
beneath the fallen walls and broken
timbers. The strait of Messina was
shaken and twisted by the earth's
trembling. Mariners report the chan.
mel changed beyond recognition. The
ports and villages on both the conti-
mental and Sicilian ST. es were wreck
ed or inundated and all light houses
along the coast were swallowed up.
Navigation now is dangerous and In
some places impossible.
The Calabrian district which was,
only beginning to recover from the eff
fects of the earthquake of 1905, vas
the center of the earth's u~pheayal.
The seaport of Reggie is reported as
no longer existing and the city proper
is in ruins. -
The loss of life on both sides of the
strait and In the eastern part of Sicily
was enormous. One of the refugees
from Reggie, who vas the first to
i bring the news of the city's destruc-
ton, tried to make his way to Sicily
in a sailboat, but was compelledto.rel
turn and finally found safety, az: a
penincular port. In describing his Eek
perience he said: "Fne sea was
strangely, mysteriouslys agitatea and
Z the heavens were ablaze. Nearing
B Sicily, the clearing smoke reveaaed-tfre
mystery, Messina was in famessAs4n
! the frenzy of despair. | turned my boat
back to Calabria."
Starving, bleeding from injuries and
]. almost insane from their terrifying
!, experiences, Messina's survivors are
\ fleeing in all directions. The spec
I tacle presented by the ruined seaport
i; is described as terrifying. Tumbling
81 buildings both killed and mutilated,
while hundreds of the injured impris-
oned in the wreckage were abandoned
\ to their fate by the fleeing populace.
IL One of those who escaped said: