The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1909-01-07
WALKS MANY MILES
AMID awful RUINS
PARTISAN CORRESPONDENT TELLS
GRAPHIC STORY OF EARTH
QUAKE HORROR.
MAKES DANGEROUS JOURNEY.
Travels from Palni to Messinl Atoot
Among Scenes Of Dreadful
Devastation.
PEOPLES CONDITION PITIFUL.

PARIS. Jan. 1.-The special CORE
spondcnt Of the Matin, who has just ar
rived at Messina after an adventurous
journey on foot through the wasted
Calabria region, sends Il vivid story OF
the scenes Of devastation.
The dispatch was sent by special boat
to Naples, from which point it was teIe-
graphcl here
IL arrived at last Mt Mcss!na, with my
legs almost dropping off, after trampins
thirty-one consecutive hours, covering
distance Of forty-one miles" he says.
My nerves never will recover from the
atruCiOuS impressions to which they were
subjected. and my eyes will retain, as
long as they remain open, the VISION
of death and devastation which 0ppfes-
Scs them. y mOurnful silence covers Inc
country Ike Il funeral pail.
Goes from Palmi Afoot.
Il proceeded as far as Palmi by train,
and thence afuot. Six or seven lnhan-
tants accompanied me to Tropead, ana
decided to reach Reggie at whatever
cost Two or three railroad iremen cut
off from home while on duty, by the
catastrophe, were returning 10 seek news
of the fate of their families. They pre-
torches.
We marched in Indian file through
the tunnel from Palmi to Baguara, IoIu-
ing hands and stumbling over ballast
heaps The roof of the tunnel was
cracked everywhere, and now ana theh
rocks fell.
whole families were encampcd around
wood fires and smoking torches. Many
of them were wounded. Men, women
and children, stupetied and crouchlhS
among the stones, looked NJ us with n
vacant glare, as if their thoughts were
wandering.
Sea Birds Only Food.
Some distance along we came upon
families roasting sea birds, which had
been killed by the tempest and cast
upon the beach. Others had the strans-
est objects packed in sacks. In reply to
questions as to what had happened at
Messina and Reggie they made vague
and desolate gestures and continued TO
gaze at us like stalled oxen.
after two hours march we saw Bag
nara perched on the spur OF mountain
overhanging the sea. The country mouse
of the mayor, on the summit OF the rock,
was half tumbled into the sea, but the
mayor was safe. He was giving orders
for the installation of telegraph WIRE
in Il freight car.
Every house in the town and sur
rounding country was in ruins. Little
palaces were open like cut pumegranates
in sections. In one | saw tumbled beds
and disordered dining rooms. Seated
on the broken wall was 4 man selling
bread at eXorbitaut prices. amld enc
rus of curses and maledictons. Another,
demented, was trying to dig into the
ruins with his fingers. How many dead,
1000, 2OO0-who knows!
"The once prosperous San Giovanni
was another awful sight The udal
wave smashed the jetties, overturned the
six molcs and swept the entire passage.
The railroad station. the wireless sta
ton, six ferry docks and the hospital are
all destroyed -Four thousand lnhab-
itants are buried beneath the ruins.
The witnesses of that terrible night
relate that the sea rose up as though
lifted by subtcrranean explosion. Sur
viyurs here aud there are huddlcd in
wagons which were half buried in the
sand. They are wounded and naked.
Not Il soldier had arrived, not a morsel
Of bread remained. When we found
them they were worn by n struggle over
a few provisions they had discovered in
freight car, but there were now gone
Reggie a Charnel House.
Fifteen kiometers further we en-
tered the town of Reggie. Those who
saw Reggie few weeks ago would not
hc able t. restrain their tears. | wcpt
like a child, as / saw uutspread before
me where the town had stood an ocean
Of ruins. NOTHING was standing all
were dead all had bo killed. Palaces.
churches, theatcra AND banks no longer
exist.
THE ictty with its two stations had
been carried away to sea. \ ear was
standing close mt hand, against which
girl Of T. had been hurled. The girl 5
head was cut off and fioatcd out to sea,
the body hung on the door jam of the
car. The waters had poured down the
Via Marina, cutting off retreat and
drowning those who had not already
been killed. The two other main thor
oughfar"s, the torso Garribaldi and the
T torso NSchvnouSc, were completely OBJ
structrd 10y enormous heaps of blazing
ruins. ! was stunned at the complete
ness Of the disaster.
Only Death in Sight.
"Novcr in Imagination have | felt SO
strong an impression of death; not n soul
/ living in this smoking charuel house; not
n human voice. II WAS n terrifying ST
/ lcncc. Ruins were piled upon ruins.
Among the debris | saw furniture and
womeu's clothing. \ house cut in two
/ revealed three SlpriCG, Il bed. IN which n
man lay dead. crushed 10y Il falling beam;
n bridal chamber from which the bride
seeking to escape, also lay dead on tho
threshold; another, Il purlOr, in whicli
there was nothing but a mirror and por-
traits of King iIWHhert and Count Ca
YOUR could bear no more. My heart
bursting with grief and horror. asked
/ the eternal question: The survivors
. perhaps five or six thousands the dead
] >, IN,