New-York tribune., 1909-01-01
WOUNDED AT PALERMO
MANY TALES OF HORROR
Shocking Scenes in Messina and
Reggi0 Described.

Palermo. Dec. 31-The roads between Paler-
and Messina filled with long, sad pro-
cessons OF wounded refugees.
The walls Of several Of the principal buildings
of Messina still standing. but they are so
weakened that they vii! have 10 be demolished
as as possible to prevent fatalities among
the rescuers. Only yesterday when the King
there, the facade of a fve-story building
collapsed only a few hundred feet from where
his majesty stood.
Iud0vico Fulc. a member OF the Chamber OF
Deputies, who was at Messina at the time OF
the earthuuake has arrived here He looks
like a ghost. He tod of the narrowing death Of
his brother, the Deputy Nicolo. and the efforts
TO save him. From O'Clock Monday morn
ing until midnight he could hear the desperate
cries OF his brother without being able to reach
him. Notwithstanding frantic efforts. At mid
night the groans gradually died away and moth
ing afterward heard.
Two priests have arrived at Messina from
Scylla. on the Calabrian coast. They confirm the
previous reports that this town Of 5000 inhabi-
tants has been annihilated. They say they
are practically the only survivors. They es-
' capped with their lives because at the time OF
the shock they in the vault of the church.
a part of the building which resisted the general
collapse. The priests say also that the disaster
SciIian side. The coast has been ravaged for
a distance Of thirty miles.
Survivors from Reggie beginning 30 filter
in here. They all tell the same story Of indie
scribabe horror. For two days the survivors
were cut off from the outer world. Their sig
nails for help brought response. Looters took
possession of the ruins. and ultimately respecta-
BILE citizens were forced to themselves with
revolvers and fight for food to stave off starva-
/ ton.
The station master at Reggie says that i'm
mediateIy after the first shock chasm eighty
feet wide was opened in the earth From this
there gushed forth a food OF boiling water, some
lets OF the squirting liquid rising to the height
Of an ordinary house. Many injured persons
in this vicinity were horribly scalded by the
flowing stream
AS the station master made his way TO a
place of safety he human joints sticking
out from the Of ruins Frenzied rela-
tives. with bare hands. strove to free their dear
ones from the fallen masonry, while shriecks
and inprecations from the miserable fugitves
rushing half naked and bleeding through the
streets. filed the air.
Looking toward Messina one can five huge
columns of smoke AT the village of San Gre
gorio there are one hundred dead. At Sbarre
superiore the survivors of the disaster surround
everybody who goes by. crying out. I'VE
starving: in Gods name give food" But the
passersby have no food to give. The village OF
Misitano is no more. Hundreds of bodies are
decomposing in the streets of this hamlet. .
The dead in Reggie mutilated and distort
ed Their faces are set in expressions OF in
finite terror Many of the injured will die
They appear demented Some laugh. others
cry. 4 one-armed man came out of ruined
house and started ghastly dance. He cried
out that the whole thing was only dream, that
Reggie safe, and that his wife and chill
dren were uninjured and peacefully sleeping in
their beds.
The stream of refugees from Reggie contiues
20 pour III. The steamer Umberto has arrived
here with four hundred. ninety-five of whom
are wounded. The captain Of the Umberto says
that nearly hundred escaped prisoners
caught in the act of looting. He says that he
saw famished survivors seize dogs, tear them
TO pieces. and eat the flesh ravenously <The
steamer Sicania has landed three hundred sur
vivors from Messina
\ naval observer Of the destruction of Mes
sina says there were four tidak waves ranging
in height from - to 80 feetC Thirty minutes
elapsed between The rolling N OF the first and
the final destructive onslaught OF the last wave
The weather in Calabria continues abominable
Heavy rains fall. and at night the thermometer
goes below freezing.