Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1909-01-08
THE ITALIAN
EARTHQUAKE.
Most Fearful Calamity Probably of
al! History.

oered IN Italy and wherever the new,
goes as the greatest catastrophe appar
emily In the worlds history. Messina
Reggie and score of other towns !,
the southern part of Italy, were over
wheimed by an earthquake of such vas
proportions as to stagger comprehen
sion. The estimate of dead in the cit,
of Messina alone reaches SO. 600. a
Reggie and adjacent villages 45 600
and many populous towns and village.
are completely obliterated. After 81,
days 1t is estimated that at least 20. Oet
persons are still buried in Messina' >,
RUNS, some of whom are thought II
be still alive, although of those rescued
so far nearly all were dead. The
effiuvia from the bodies of dead mer
and beasts is frightful and is sure 70
spread pestilence in addition to the ruin
already wrought.
Naples, Catania, Palermo and other
cities are already crowded with the
sufferers, and still not more than half
OF them have been cared for in even
the slightest degree.
Doctors on the scene estimate that
5000 of the injured in Messina alone
will be crippled for life. Many have
broken backs and injuries to their brain
that will make them helpless charges
upon the country the rest of their lives.
The spectre of insanity growing out
OF the quake is one of the most distress
ing phases of the calamity. Wherever
the rescuers have gone they have found
dozens OF demented survivors, perma-
nently bereft of their mental powers
AT least 100 of these have taken their
lives.
Wor1 from Reggie says that city is
now completely abandoned by the sur
vlvors. Therewere only about S, 900 out
of population of 35, 600 that survived
the quake and tidal wave, and these
have been transferred to other towns.
Reggie has disappeared from the man.
never to be replaced. The town will
live in history hereafter as a mere
memory, like Herculapeum and Pomoeii.
The first earth shock at Messina lit
orally threw down the city and almost
every street was completely buried
under the walls that had fallen. furni-
ture and other debris practically cutting
OF every avenue Of escape.
Then came the tidal wave to inundate
the city, and the living and dying were
caught like rats and drowned or had
their brains dashed out by being thrown
by the rushing waters against piles of
masonry and rubbish.
There are stories of fights between
the soldiers and looters, the mad rush
of crazed and starving survivors for the
supplies of food, the lack of system in |
the work Of relief, the devouring of |
bodies by mad dogs and carrion birds. |
and many other of the grewsome re-
ports from the stricken region vouched
Tor by eye-witnesses, including CORE
spondents, who declare that language
is incapable to express the full horror
of the situation.
messages from the rescue parties
that are now skirtiug the Sicilian and
Calabrian shores say that everywhere
they are finding the destruction of the
smaller towns almost complete.
The coasts are lined with bodies that
are still being washed up by the sea.
the victims Of the tidal waves. Wreck
age of every conceivable sort, from
boats to houses, is piled along the
coast for miles.
Our Congress has appropriated $780,
100 to the relief Of the stricken Italians.
md money is pouring in from many
'ther quarters.
The King and Queen fastened to
southern Italy and did all they could
% alleviate the distress. In the panic
queen Helena had her chest bruised in i
he crush, but she heroically stuck il /
ut to aid the dying and wounded. The
luke OF Aosta also sustained injuries.
AS provisions are landed troops with t
ayonets keep back the starving mobs.
AS soon as there remains no more v
wing in the ruins of Messina the city L
I'LL De 'bombarded by the warships. G
hat'the dead may be as far as possible t.
overed up by the remains of their Il
wellings. h
The returning battleship fleet was h
ne to arrive at Messina yesterday. 1t G
Ill take up its part there in the work Il
I relieving the sufferers. 81
Under ordinary circumstances. the W
sappearance under the sea of a group
islands, carrying a precious burden III
$4,000 lives (more than were lost in Il
ercuianeum and Pompeii combined. CO
ould be appalling to the human mind. d
hat IS what happened few days ago W
the Lipari Islands. group of volcanic h;
lands in the Mediterranean, near the t.
'ast of Sicily. But so small was that is
'tastrophe in comparison with the OF
'eater horror of the earthquakes dew 81
tatlon in Southern Italy and the fe
and of Sicily, that probably very few tie
'wspaper readers recall the circum- G,
ances even at this brief lapse of time. hi
lie earthquake of 1903 challenges all
story for parallel in wreck and ruin
d IN the extent of desolation and of
StructIOn of human kfa