The Huttig news., 1909-04-17
FIRED ON SAVIORS
DASTARDLY WORK OF CONNECTS
 AT REGGIo.
Sailors with Rifles Landed to Pre- serve Order and Prevent Lootine in the Cities Stricken by the
 Recent Earthquake.


 The following incident was re- counted in secret report sent by Capt. Cagni of the Italian navy, now in command of the battleship Napoli, the first war vessel to reach Reggie after the earthquake, to the minister of marine.
 As soon as Capt. Cagni reached Reg gio he landed in a boat accompanied by party of officers and men. a score in all, in order to arrange for the or ganization of relief parties No sooner did they set foot on shore than about hundred escaped criminals armed with rifles they had stolen from the barracks opened fire on the party.
 Cagni and his men were unarmed, so they returned to their boats and signaled to the battleship to detach at once 200 sailors armed with rifles and two quick firing guns. Within ten minutes the sailors were landed. Cagni assumed command, lined them on the beach and gave the order to march.
 The convicts opened fire on them from behind the ruined houses. The sailors fired a volley in the air, and then, as the convicts continued to fire, Cagni ordered his men to fire on the convicts, which they did The firing continued for five minutes, until most of the convicts were killed and the remainder surrendered
 Capt. Cagni in his report does not state how many were killed, but he says that his first step was to secure all the escaped convicts he could find, convey them on board in irons. and sail to port in Sicily, where he hand ed them to the police, and he did this before rendering any help to the vic tins, as he considered it of the Ut. most importance to free the city from this band of looiers
 Many of the earthquake survivors owe their lives to strange circum- stances. Some fell bed and all, from top stories to cellars and were not hurt. A sacred picture served as a shield from the crumbling walls to another, which some were shot from
  taining any injury.
 There are many cases of wives say ing their husbands, which shows that Italian women under stress of circum- stances play a better part than the men. One courageous woman dug out herself, her husband and five children.
 
 Another young girl with two small brothers was taken out after eight days, living in a corner of a cellar upon which nearly all the rest of the house had fallen. She dug for three days with her hands until she had opened a small hole for air and by reaching out her hand and signaling she caught the attention of a squad of soldiers. who rescued the trio just as the two children were about to die.
 A party of soldiers removed DOT tion of crumbling wall at Messina, which blocked a room in which hus- band and wife were discovered in bed Their heads appeared first side by side on the same pillow The husband was dead, while the wife was alive. A sol dier, seeing this, took off his coat and covered the mans face to hide it from the wife.
 Never mind," she said "I know he is dead and his arms are around me-
 When the bodies were removed it was found that the poor man had em- braced his wife when he died, and the doctors had to amputate the arms to detach the dead from the living body The wife did not cry.