The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1909-01-29

over calamity. Hardened as | was to catastro
Plies, the piteous sights which met my gaze at
Messina Reggie and other cities more than once
drew tears to my eyes,
1t was my good fortune to be one of the men,
bers of the party of King Victor Emmanuel and
Queen Helena, when the ruler visited the stricken
district and many times both the monarch and
his consort broke down completely upon viewing
the awful sights which followed the earthquakes,
fires and tidal wave.
Survivors were raving manacs and they roved
the brick-strewn streets in many instances nude.
The stories told by unfortunate refugees who
retained their senses were almost unbelievable.
A soldier named Emilio de Castro was in the
military hospital. He was awakened by tre'
mendous roaring sound. He felt himself falling
and thought he was in the grip OF nightmare.
1t seemed to him that he had awakened in hell,
fer the air was filled with terrifying shrieks. He
soon realized however what was happening. His
bed struck the floor below, and he was still on it.
1t paused moment and was again preciptated.
He struck the next floor but this gave way at
once, and thus the man and bed came down from
the fifth floor of the hospital to the ground. The
soldier was not injured.
druggist named Pulco relates that at %
minutes past FIVE Monday morning he was on
ferryboat in the port of Messina going to Reggie.
Suddenly gale of wind arose, bringing heavy
sea with it. Then great chaSm seemed to open
In the water and the boat went down and struck
the bottom But the waters closed in again and
the ferryboat hoated safely on top of the sue
ceedng wave. Most of the people on board
however, were swept off and drowned The boat
was badly wrecked but it foated ashore Pulco
was still on board. After the first panic he landed
and found Reggie like city of the dead No
body was moving in the Streets and the silence
was broken only by the means and groans and
shrieks of the wounded. Pulco and several COM
panions tried to extricate some wounded from the
wreckage but this almost impossible be-
cause of the crumbng ruins. In one of the
squares Pulco found a group of people all com
petely naked One old man was carrying little
girl in his arms The child was covered with
blood is that your child?" he was asked NO."
he replied. Yesterday | found her on the pave
ment in Messina. I picked her up and cared for
her. No one claimed her and could not abandon
her | have had her in my arms ever since"
With this touching explanation the old man be-
came oblivous to his questioner and everything
around him.
The Serapn brought into the port of Naples rec
ords Of numberless tragedies. Families separated ,
mothers moaning and crying for their dead chill
dren; husbands and wives lost to each other or
sole survivor wishing that he had not been
spared There was one girl on boar-l the steamer,
her clothing tattered and torn, who had saved a
canary bird She was a music hall singer and
had chung to her pet throughout the terrible
scenes Of devastation. The bird was the only
happy thing on board the vessel.
One of the Messina doctors was sleeping in a
room on the third floor when the first shock came,
and saved himself by gripping the roof of a
neighboring house.
A ferryboat moored at one of the docks seemed
suddenly to be thrown high into the air. 1t landed
on top of the dock safely.
The nerves of the unfortunates were in such a
condition that at the least noise they were prone
to rush screaming from their rooms, seeking the
open streets. Signor Birot, the mayor of Bresca,