Weekly Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1908-1909, 1909-01-01
GIVES THRILLING
STORY OF QUAKE
ITALIAN PHYSICIAN SEES HIS OWN
HOME CRUMBLE LIKE
SAND
TIDAL WAVE 200 FEET HIGH.
Rush of Water Followed by Grinding,
Crawling Feeling Under Feet and
Ground Rises and Falls.
LOOTERS ARE SHOT BY SOLDIERS.

PALERMO. Dee. 30-Dr. Pietro Ca
vallo, a physician and village magistrate
at Cotenzi. a small town which was al
most entirely destroyed by the quake,
gives a thrilling picture of the devasta-
ton and loss of life in the quake.
DR.. Cavallo's story, translated from
the Italian, follows:
1.-THE quake came with little warn
ing. The day had been warm and fair.
the sea was placid, and several miles
distant l could plainly see the cliffs of
Sicily.
L went out for little summing in my
garden when quite suddenly the sky be-
came overcast. not so much with clouds
as with trembling haze. l glanced
out at sea. and, to my surprise, | saw
great wave. like a tidal wave, sweep
inc toward the shore although the air
was calm.
Then instantly there came a grind
ing, crawling feeling under foot. The
sensation was like stepping unexpected
ly on some living creature in the dark
and feeling it move under ones foot.
The ground rose beneath one. seemed
to twist and then settle back into place.
There were three distinct shocks at first,
and l should judge they took perhaps
half a minute.
Houses Crumble Like Sand.
My house crumbled into ruins 1t did
not fall; it seemed to disintegrate slowly
and collapse. In a minute everything was
quiet again and L came out of my daZe
of horror.
Il rushed into the house and found
that my servants evidently had been
killed. | could not see them, but they
were buried under the debris.
"Around me the village lay in ruins
Houses everywhere were shaken down.
People ran through the streets. with hor-
rible wounds, screaming, and dripping
blood. | started to attend to the suffer
ings of some of these when a new shout
Of terror made me glance out to sea.
Wave 200 Feet High.
GA tremendous tidal wave was bearing
down on US, straight from the MedIter-
ranean. 1t must have been 200 feet high
and it extended for miles. The village,
like many Calabrian coast villages, was
situated at a height of $50 feet over
the sea and this alone saved it from en-
tire destruction.
This tremendous wall of water struck
the cliff and burst in great waves over
the village. | was caught up by the wa
ter, but as my home was situated in the
highest part of the village my life was
saved.
Il clutched the brances of a tree and
held on for few seconds till the water
subsidized. Half the village was gone.
The cliff had crumbled away and the
wreckage strewed the beach l could see
unfortunate human beings struggle to
their feet only to be sucked back into
the maelStrOm by new waves.
'Everyone who could feet did So We
escaped up the hills, while new tidal
waves Numbered below us, and we saw
the last of the village swept into the sea.
There were some 400 souls in the little
town; | do not think that fifty escaped.
''All of us were wounded. | did what
| could to aid the injured, but [ had no
Instruments or medicines. Several had
lost arms or legs and We're scarcely able
to drag themselves along. | made tour
niquets out of strips of clothing and
stopped the flow of blood, but this was
all | could Go.
"Out of one family of fourteen only
a mother and her youngest babe sur
vived. The rest had been drowned by
the tidal wave. The mother was ter
ribly wounded, but nevertheless strug-
gled to carry her infant to safety.
i tried to help her along, but her
wounds were so serious that she at last
fell dead. | carried the infant for some
time and then gave it to a woman who
had lost her own children.
"A young bridegroom, whose wedding
had been celebrated with great festivities
in the village a few days ago. and whose
bride had been drowned. deliberately cut
his throat in sight Of all. 1t affected no
one; we were so horror stricken at what
had already happened that one more
death did not seem to make great differ
ence.
Several persons were driven mad by
horror; one woman threw herself over Il
cliff and was dashed to death.
In some places I found that the tidal
wave had penetrated miles inland,
drowning families like rats in trap,
and carrying fishing vessels a mile or
two inland.
Il went through some twelve or four
teen villages, and not one of these was
unframed. Most of them were total
ruins, with scores of dead in each. The
people were afraid to enter their homes,
if these were left standing. They
camped out in the open, in most cases
with nothing to cover them or protect
them from the elements.
The soldiers are coming into the
earthquake district fast and are shooting
hooters wherever they are found. l saw
one man who robbed a woman's corpse
Of some jewels caught and executed.
HE was lined up against a wall, Civ
ell thirty seconds to pray-there was no
priest at hand-and shot down. They are
shooting every robber they find.
The distress is terrible. especially
from lack of food and clothing, for near
ly all the supplies are gone. Thousands
will die of starvation unless aid is
prompt"