The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-01-03
TRIED TO
RESCUE CHENEY
Wee Consul Endeavored to
Search Ruins Of Wrecked
Consulate.
NO HOPE FROM THE FIRST
FEW AMERICAN TOURISTS EVER
VISITED MEssINA.

Rome, Jan. 2.-Signor Serao the pro-
prietor OF the house in Aessina where
a j. OgstoD. the English consul, resid-
ed, arrived here today. He said that
outside the consulate there has not
been an American resident in Messina
Tor forty years past The part of the
house where Serao lives dill not fall.
The Italian rushed out If the house
Immediately after the first shock and
met Stuart d. LuptOn. the American
vice consul. OH the street
Together the two Eien made their way
TO the American consulate. They
! found II had collapsed completely. and
they came TO the conclusion that y. s
theney. the consul. and his wife were
dead. They made hurried but unsuc-
cessful search for the bodies
Few American Victims.
Signor Selao said that with Mr.. I.uu-
ton he satisfied himself that the guests
at the Hotel Frincario, which was Gem
pieteiy demolished, were all saved. with
the exception of the Swedish consul
and an Italian girl. He does not be-
lieve that there were any Americans at
this hotel Toarnna, where here xgert-
q number Of American tourists, is alb
solutely safe. 1t did not suffer from the
great earthquake in any serious way.
Continuing, Serao says: TT is iinpos-
sibe for the widest Imagination TO pic
ture anything more terrific than the de-
structicn of Messtna- 1t seemed as If
the entire city had been suddenly trans
formed into a whirlpool. We were petri-
fed with fear. 1t was next to impossi-
be TO proceed amid the piled up wreck
age, which effaced all traces of all for
mer streets. There We're heartrending
cries from the unfortunates who had
ned TO the streets.
Search for Cheney.
Climbing over broken beams. .6a.-
tered walls and quantities of broken
furniture, we finally reached the spot
where the American consulate had
stood. The consular building was abous
three stories high. 1t had entirely coll
lapsed. We could hardly believe our
eyes. Mr.. Lupton climbed over tne
ruins. calling Cheney, Cheney He was
confident the consul would answer him
He said to me.
daylight has not come vet. and /
that is why I cannot see him. but he |
must be somewhere in the wreckage.s
Our search became more ana more /
feverish. but as time wore on and Il vas /
stun unsuccessful, we finally realized I
Its oIelessness. We saw 1t would be 4
impossible to reach even the bodies of
the unfortunate Cheneys. In addition
10 the collapse of the consulate, a neigh
boring building had been precipitated
upon the consular ruins, and the whole
was a vast mass of wreckage.
Tried to Console Lupton.
Touched by the dispair of Mr.. Lup-l
ion, tried to console him, saying that /
Undoubtedly the Cheneys had been
Souehsafed the mercy of immediate
death and did not finger alive under
the debris.
We then left the ruins of Mr.. Che
hey home. We had done everything
IN our power.
Later. Mr.. Lupton and I. together
with party of British sailors. wen,
ashore again Mr.. Lupton- anxious
to learn if there had been any American
victims of the quake. / was able to re
assure him, as having lived In Messins
FOR fosty years in constant touch with
the american eonsuls, I never knew of
single American resident. Further
more. few American tourists came TO
hessina-