Weekly Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1908-1909, 1909-01-01

Queen, while a veteran, pointing to his
majesty, said:
This is worthy of the son of King
Rumbert. who, l remember, risked his
HE amid the ruins of Caca Mlcclola
when it was destroyed by an earthquake
and stood at the deathbed of Neapoli-
tans when, during the cholera epidemic
OF 1854 the victims in Naples amounted
to a thousand daily, and later person
ally directed the rescue work during the
floods at Denesia."
Situation Summed Up.
The premier has received a telegram
from Sig. Felice, a deputy at Messina,
summing up the situation as follows:
"Messina is completely destroyed
RACED 10 the ground. The victims may
be numbered by tens of thousands The
cont1agratlon which is still raging is com
pleting the destruction of the city. Sal
wage implements, fremen, and soldiers
must be sent instantly. The disaster ex-
ceedS the widest imagination"
The volcano of Stromboli is active and
the seas around the island are very agi-
tated and dangerous to navigation.
From latest estimates today it is feared
that the total number of victims in
Sicily and Calabria will reach more than
100000, while the damage to property
will be several hundreds of millions.
Just before the Kings departure yes
terday one of the crowd of notables, see
ing their majesties off exclaimed:
Surely the presence of their majes-
ties will be sufficient to console the I'M
happy people"
Don't talk nonsense" the King re-
torted sharply.
Survivors Lose Mind.
Many survivors at Catania, Sicilq, tenn
porarily lost their reason, and when
questioned concerning the disaster glare
at their questiOHerS and mutter inco-
herently and ceaselessly:
''Messina is destroyed"
Persons arriving at Catanzaro from
the coast state that Messina is still blaz-
ing, despite the tOrrential dOwnpour of
rain. News reaching CatanzarO from the
! outlying districts in Calabria indicates
that thirty-tive towns and villages have
been wiped out, with the number of dead
in that district alone exceeding 10000.
4 The few survivors are mad with terror
| and have fled to the forest clad noun
tain slopes, where they are subsisting
on roots and the bark of trees.
No news has been received here re-
garding the fate of A. S. Cheney, Ameri-
can consul at MeSsina, and his wife. All
private and official efforts to ascertain
whether Mr. and Mrs. Cheney are still
alive have resulted in failure.
Ambassador Griscom received a tele-
gram today from Reichenberg, Austria,
making anxious inquiry regarding the
couple. The message added that Mrs.
/ Cheney's parents were at Reichenberg.
Islands Are Devastated.
Cable communication with the Aeolan
islands, twenty-five miles north of Sicily,
is interrupted. 1t is evident that the
line is broken, and it is feared that the
islands also have been devastated. The
Lon Of ha &c ho iclo Of
Lipari, and the capital town has popu-
lation Of $4,000.
DEVASTATION IS AWFUL.
CATANIA, Dec. Boone of the Mes
Sina survivors says that only q small
proportion Of the total population es-
| capped. Thousands of persons are still
! buried alive in the ruins, where they are
suffering slow death by torture.
The flames ate still making their way
slowly over the devastated area in an in
| exorable advance. Imprisoned and pin
toned human beings, unable to eXtricats
themselves are being burned alive, others
are dying Of their injuries, while many
are starving. The streets are filed with
confused masses of brick and mortar,
| beams, furniture, chimneyS and roofs.
In many cases the streets appear as enOr-
nous crevasses, twisted into fantastic
shapes. The celebrated Avenue Palaz-
Eau, WHICH runs dlOuS the Sed lIOuI IIOLI
the university to the p0StOt1ice is quite
impossible. All the public monuments
that were there have entirely disap-
peared.
Dangers from Explosions.
All the waterpipes, sewers, and gas
pipes of the city nave been destroyed,
and water and fifth are flooding the torn
streets. Gas explosions occur frequent
| ~ and result i'll the breaking out of
scores of small fires.
For several hours after the first de-
structive shock Messina was absolutely
without organized relief for the reason
that the municipal officials, the soldiers,
the police, doctors, and nurses by the
hundred were either buried or drowned.
Refugees, telling of their escape, relate
that after escaping from their ruined
| houses they waited i'll terror for the COM
ing OF light. They then made their way
over the distractions in the streets to
the open places. They had to leave be
hind them under the ruins countless
victims. who called for help in heart
rending tones.
1t is asserted that probably half the
fatalities occurred because it was quite
impossible for the survivors to reader
prompt assistance. Not the least of the
suffering was caused by the downpour
of cold rain.
Some Of the refugees from Messina
lSSSGu through san NIONdllll, ttIiliI,
Scilla. Cannitello, Favizzana, and Bag
nara, and found practically every one Of
the villages destroyed.
y woman gave the following account
of her experiences:
LAS soon us | could get out Of my
house | ran in the direction of the water
front. | noticed that the greater por-
ton of the main thOroughfare of the city.
Via Garibaldi, was destroyed. From
every side heard the cries Of the wound
struggled through water and mud up TO
of the docks. From there | was taken
oil board a cruiser in the harbOr.
while on my way down to the water,
cropping through the dust and darkness,
a band of about 100 persons rushed upon
town. They separated me from my com
panion, whom | never saw again"
Two doctors who succeeded in eScap-
ing from Messina report that fully two
thirds of the city has been ruined. En-
tire streets have caved in. One of the
doctors was sleeping in a room on the
third floor when the first shock came and
saved himself by gripping the roof of Il
neighboring house.
4 ferryboat mOOred at one of the
docks seemed suddenly to be thrown high
into the air. 1t landed on top of the
dock and was left hanging there by the
receding waters. This was the first in
timation of the crew that anything had
happened. The captain of the boat says
With dawn came an overwhelming pic
t,yr-o o. t,+I Tlo, +,., i