The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-01-05
~HEART-RENDING STORIES.
Told by the Survivors of the Horrible
CataStrODhP.

Aoio OS lC u tiNoES VI tIIe ItokI III
Catastrophe.
Messina, Jan. 2.-The stores relat-
ed by the earthquake survivors in the
hospitals and at the food supply sta
tons, where rations are issued twice
a day, all reflect the horrors of the
fatal 2Sth of December. There were
many miraculous escapes, but the
cases of bereavement are without
number. a cobbler named Francesca
M~issiano relates that Immediately af-
ter the first shock he and his wife
and children rushed out into the
street. Fires were breaking out all
around them. Hearing groans from
a pile of debris near by. the cobbler
made a hurried examination. He
found two girls dying. The head'of one
vas split open, while the chest of the
other had been crushed in. The cob
bier picked up a baby, but it expired
in his arms.
Seized with mad terror. the man
fled towards the sea. 1t took his
party two hours and q half to ira
verse the heaps of ruins between his
house and the water front. After
placing his family in safety he re-
turned to seek his mother and sisters,
but he was obliged to give. UP the
effort. 1t was impossible to make his
way back to his home. During the
thirty-six hours the cobbler passed
oliiolLS IN III ~ viz NV < III Z
than 5000 or 5000 survivors. This
man owes his safety to the fact that
he lived in a II story house. He
says that no help arrived for thirty
hours after the catastrophe.
SiSnor Nidalia, the proprietor Of Il
local newspaper, relates that he was
experimenting the printing of an edi-
lion when the shock came. He man
aged to get out to the street before
he building in which he had been in
collapsed. and he CROPPED his way to
the Place favour, which had been
transformed into d huge creyasse. For
the first ten minutes after the initial
shock, one long cry of anguish seemed
to rise from the city, then there was
comparative silence for Il short while.
The worst shocks were. over by e
o'clock. Nidalia made his a to his
home and found his family under the
ruins. 81
As. Vidalia was telling his tale a Wild
looking individual in strange cloth
ing came up to the cor,
T also am bereft Of all my fam
ly," he Interrupted. Il am now alone
n the world like yoU+ VidaIia.i It
was. evident that this man was half
the ruins but his two sisters had been
Killed. Later he died of his injuries.
a countryrnan who came into tn
city after the disaster found his only.
brother dead. He carried the body
on his shoulders back to his native
village and buried it in the church.
yard.
al actress named Flora Parma, re-
"~7 +hah whs1~ she was lvio~ holt
buried in wreckage she heard Nc
Voice of d lieutenant OF artillery close.
at hand. The man had recognized
her but his plight was worse than
her own. "Signorina, for PHYS sake
say me-. Can for some one to res
cue us. Don't leave me. [ was at
the theater last night and l APP
plauded your singing. | have a
mother: don't leave me to die"
The woman was eventually dug out
by some sailors. She remembered
the lieutenant and led her rescuers to
where he was pinned down. He also
was saved.
The Mother Superior of the ST.
Vincent military hospital. saved a man
and q woman at the risk of her own
life. She released, alone and unaid-
ed, Col. Minicci and his daughter
from the ruins Of their home.
\ major of infantry was disinterred
with the greatest difficulty. Half of
his body had been freed when dark
ness came and the Major told his
rescuerS that he was all right for the
"i"H+ and that they could come back
in the morning. The program was
armed out, and by Z o'clock Thurs
day morning the mar was entirely
freed.
An infant clothed in a night shirt
was rescued We'll n ~uninjured, after
having lain for four days on a square
yard of flooring in a house that was
otherwise entirely demolished.
There were three fresh earth shocks
yesterday at half past eight in the
morning, 1.35 and 1916 D.. M. The
last was the most severe and aroused
widespread panic. The people en-
Camped round the railroad station
started on Il mac flight III having no
place to 20 o o stopped, irresolute.
The women prayed and sang hymns.
When the trembling ceascd they re-
pass the night in fear and trereda-
ton.