The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-05
People Are Bordering on
 Panic. MESSINA AND REGGI0
 MAY BE EVACUATED Two Former Cities Have Ceased to
 Exist.
  PoIiutisn Is overwheIminx And it as . Serious Problem to Get The Living Awsy-Repsrt Net
 Exaggerated.

quake of Caiabria and Sicily is not yet at an end. Further heavy shocks have been predicted. and scientists declare that others still more severe should be expected January and January c
 when the relative position of the sun and moon will produce the greatest strain on the crust of the earth. Several minor shocks were experience. ed Saturday and many lettering walls were thrown down, but 1t Is not known that any persons were killed. The new quakes are starting the fires afresh aud the people are in a condition bordering on panic.
 Messdna is to be evacuated eutireiy as soon as possible. The disposition of the dead Is ope of the greates problems confronting the authorities
 Two days spent amid the ruins of Messina and Reggie bring convincing evidence that the horror of the situa- ton In the straits of Messiua has in 10 sense been exaggerated.
 Messina and Reggie have ceased to exist. In the ruins of the former citv two thirds of the inhabitants lie buried
 while at Reggie one half the people lost their lives. lMessina counted 1Be.- 900 and Reggie 50.000 souls.
 Sickening stenches arise in the de. composing bodies and the air for many miles out to sea is polluted. vultures are congregattng to prey upon the dead It would be a blessing if fire ehoufd reduce what Is left of these two cities to eashes 1
 The radius of ruin and death extends back with decreasing intensity for forty miles on the maipland and for thirty miles in Sicily.
 The work of rescujng and transpcrks | Anaer Aha .4..a "a. vors is attended with the greatest con. fusion, The task of digging out and burysnx fne dead ct both MessinA and Reggfo has been abandoned and all efforts arc away.
 Although confused and without sys- ried on bravely by night as well as by day. Searchlights on the warshipa flood the ruins with their rays and give light to the salvage parties.
 Example Of DevOsisn.
 The King and Queen Of Italy on board the battleship Regina Elena have given a noble example of dsvo- tion. The King with some of his ministers at his side has been direct ing and supervising the relief work yet he has found time to vist the field and speak words of encouragsment to his stricken subjects. The queen has been spending fifteen hours a day be- side the sick beds on the Regina Elena, aiding and consoling and encouraRinx. The brunt of the work of rescue has fallen upon the sailors. foreigners as we'll as Italian. and all have done their duty nobly.
 Praises of the Russians are on every lip. They hesitate before no danger, digging under tottering walls of enter ing the most unsafe shells when asked to do so by some frantic woman who had not lost all hope that husband or child was still alive.
 The correspondent made two tours about the wrecked city through streets piled twenty or thirty feet high with debris It was a wilderness of ruin mile wide and two miles long. Beauti- full churches, splendil villas in the foothills. hospitals. barracks and the Two-thirds Of the magnificent Norman Cathedral the pride or RaessIua. is m ruins and ntIis or noInSng renaans or the relies of Phoenician. Greek, Roman and Saracen architecture which marked the stages of Messina's twsnty-six cen- turtles of tragic and tumultuous his- tory. The loss to the world will be ir- reparabIe.
 Here and there the correspondent encountered salvage parties at work They were digging at the instance oE some distracted wife or mother whe imagined she heard a voice but usually there was no echo to tine pathetic call girl. whose crying could be heard plainly. but as the correspondent watched, there was a sudden cave in and thereafter silence.
 In many places decomposing arms and legs protruded from heaps of masonry and plaster.
 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 were on tables and vases and flowers on mantle pieces. In one place. two buzzards. their beairs full of carrion, were stunning them selves on a window ledge over the dead body of a woman whose wealth Of black hair covered her face and shoulders. Dogs and cats are killed by the soldiers whenever caught feed ing on the dead.
 Although the air in Messina Is heavy with the stench Of purifying bodies. several groups of Sicilians have camp ed out in the cleared spaces of the city and obstinately refused the tnvi- tation of the authorities to move away.
 Survivors DaMed.
 The survivors of the disaster are so dazed and worn out that they are quite incapable of describing their expari- ences conneetedly. but the accounts or all agree that the devastation was ae- in less than one minute. The strata below the strait slipped. then a tidal wave rushed in and out. then all was over. All those capable of analyzing their sensations say that when the shocks came they felt an upward thrust of the earth. This was followed by an osciliatory motion ana the crust of the earth vibrafed
 The correspondent visitSd the site or Z the consulate. The building had enl-k