The Springfield herald., 1909-01-08
RESCUE WORK
IN RUINED CITIES
LIVING PERSONS TAKEN OUT OF
wREckAGE AFTER FIVE DAYS
SUFFERING.
AWFUL REVELATIONS
TROOPS WILL GUARD MESSINA
AND CLEAR OUT ALL ITS
INHABITANTS.

Rome.-The bombarding the ruins to
prevent an epidemic are considered
premature. Even after five or six days
the living have been taken out of the
wreckage. and there are still living
people under the ruins of Messina. A
few were taken out Monday, but they
cannot survive.
Instead of burning the ruins of the
city to prevent disastrous epidemic,
it is now understood that the authori-
ties have decided to clear Messina of
every living person and surround 1t
with a Gordon Of troops in order to
keep it absolutely isolated.
Millions in money and valuables and
important records which are buried
deep, must first be removed.
The first shocks of the earthquake
raised the bottom of the straits be-
tween Messina and Reggie about 1.4o0
feet. This has been ascertained by
soundings which have been made.
The tidal wave at Messina, It is
stated by experts, was not more than
eight feet high, while it was double
that height at Reggie. AS conse-
quence, the loss of life at the latter
place was proportionately greater than
at Messina.
The gruesomeness of the scenes
during the first few days cannot be
exaggerated. The Associated Press
correspondent saw a baby, alive, held
tightly in the arms of its dead mother.
and also living woman with three
dead below and two dead above her.
The herosm of the injured was mar
velous. There was no complaint be-
cause of crushed limbs and terrible
wounds. Most of the people seemed
unable to grasp what had happened.
Each morning at dawn the funeral
procession begins. Ten thousand SOL
diers and sailors are at work among
the ruins. They carry the wounded
to the ambulance stations and the
dead to places which have been pre-
pared with quicklime for burial. This
continues until dark, when search
lights from the ships in the harbor ia
cilitate the work along the shore.
After the third day the odors from
purifying bodies were nauseating, but
the sailors and soldiers made few com
plants.
Each new shock threw down an oc-
casional standing wall, and the crash
ing of the debris was unspeakably ter
rifying. Those who were engaged in
the rescue work here for the first few
nights could hear the cries of the i'm
prisoned under the nearby buildings
The work of the King and Queen
aroused all the rescuers to tremendous
enthusiasm, and as consequence men
labored almost without rest.
Curious freaks of the earthquake
were everywhere to be observed
Standing walls had fallen out. expos
ing one tier of rooms above another
in which nothing seemed to have been
disturbed. Pictures hung straight on
the walls, lamps We're on tables, and
vases and flowers on mantel pieces.
In one place two buzzards, their
beaks full of carrion, were summing
themselves on window ledge over the
body of a woman, whose wealth of
black hair covered her face and shoul-
ders.
Dogs and cats are killed by the sol
diers wherever caught feeding on the
dead. The buildings that best with
stood the shock were the old royal pal
aces, where ten lost their lives.
The accounts of all survivors agree
that the devastation was accomplished
in less than one minute. The strata
below the strait slipped along the line
of fork, then tidal wave rushed in
and out, and all was over. All say
that when the shock came they felt an
upward thrust of the earth. This was
followed by an oscillatory motion, and
the crust of the earth vibrated