Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1909-01-14
AMID THE RUINS OF THE QUAKE
Scenes of Horror in Southern Italy's
Stricken Cities.

Scenes of Horror in Southern Italy's
Stricken Cities.
The full story of Italy's earthquake
horror will never be told. 1t is too
vast, too stupendous. Writers will
chronicle the fact in graphic language
how Messina, Reggie and other towns
i'll Sicily and Calabria sank to ruin by
earthquake, or tidal wave; but the
scenes of chaos, OF terror, of suffer
ing, of agony and death which lol-
sacrifice; the deep depths of human
depravity and crime-these can never
be chronicled.
Yet this aftermath of suffering, and
of hope leading to despair and death,
was almost boundless in its horror.
The sufferings of those buried in the
ruins are beyond realization. Day
after day, in cold and rain, sick and
wounded, they lay, hoping for the re-
lief that for many came too late or
came not at all. Rescuers tell how
some famished person was dug from
the ruins, only to die as the long
wished-for cup of water OF morsel OF
food was held to his lips. The bodies
of many have been found bearing
mute testimony to the fortunes ell
dured before merciful death ended
their sutferings. Many died after hav
ing gnawed their arms and hands, evil
IDENTIFY deliriOus from pain and hunger.
Other bodies had parts Of shawls and
clothing in their mouths. Many there
were who sank to final sleep, hearing
the voices of loved ones working in
the ruins for their release And many
perhaps thousands-raved and grOan-
ed in their torturing prison chambers
until the advancing, merciless Cor mer
ciful} flames ended their sufferings.
Sicily, as we'll as i'll the chief cities OF
Reggie and Messina, the sufferings OF
the survivors We're intense. In the lit
tie village of BashOne. III Calabria, the
inhabitants, who had been isolated foI
four days and deprived of their usua.
food supply, ate cats and dogs and
chewed pieces of leather found in the
ruins. Only one doctor survived in this
village, and he was forced to use prun-
ing knives in his surgical work, which
was performed without anesthetics.
The eating of dogs @as a common &C.
currence in Reggie and Messina. and
what perhaps was more horrible was
that the dogs, rendered savage by hun
ger gnawed the bodies of the dead and
even attacked the living. Among the
ruins men and women, scantily attired,
searched eagerly for morsels of food
and ravenously devoured the stray
crusts of bread they happened upon.
Even when the work of relief was so
organized that practical aid could be
extended the people fought among
themselves and with the soldiers over
the distribution of supplies. Their long
exposure to cold and hunger had made
them almost savages. Many in their
despair had committed suicide. and
some, after having been rescued and
while on ships bearing them to Naples
Palermo or Catania. had become sud
denly insane and plunged into the sea.
One man on the ship to Palermo seized
the body of his daughter, who had just
died of her sufferings, and attempted
to jump into the waters.
Some of the inhabitants of Messina.
with all the ruin and desoation around
them. are camping out in the cleared
spaces of the city and beg not to be
driven away This clinging of the peo-
pie TO the site of their ruined homes is
the surest sign that Reggie and Mes
sina will be rebuilt At one time there
was talk of demoishing the cities ard
leaving their sites a waste for nature
TO cover with her mantle of green. but
now the government is determined that
the work of reconstruction shall begin
as soon as possible.
One phase of the situation that one
cannot escape is the feeling of hope
lessness that has fallen ON many of the
survivors Some of them actually re-
fused to take food, saying it was use
less TO try to live, since they were
doomed to perish in some other earth
quake Some, despite the lifelong
habit of praying, now refuse to ask
divine protection, owing to their con-
viction that God has doomed them to
destruction.
Even the pretzel baker insists tina:
~ r-or, GIRO ioh GOODS