The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1909-02-27
NUNS IN The EARTHQUAKE.
Their Letters Tell of Conditions in
the Stricken Reqion.

The following extracts serve to illu-
inmate the darkness of the situation in
Calabria. They are from letters sent
by Sisters OF the Little Company of
Mary to their hospital in Rome (where
nine victims of the earthquake are
lying woundcd). OF course, they were
never destined for publication. and the
reader viii sec at a glance that they
have not been edited"
THE sight of Palmi is too dreadful
very few of the houses intact. The
piazza is full of tents, and these full of
wounded. Two of the patients have
heart trouble. The bishop has never
slept, and he is always going about.
Two priests accompanied Us up here
10 Procopio, and one of them is remain
ing We passed through Seminana
and St Anna. and two other villages,
and all are in the same state of de-
struction. In Palmi 665 bodies are
buried in one big grave, and there is a
terrible smell from the place. We are
staying in room made up of pieces of
boxes, and | think there are nine or ten
sleeping in it. 1t is almost impossible
10 pass over the ruins-I cannot say
streets, as there are none"
Here we are in Procopio. wet and
muddy; so dirty you would hardly know
us, also very tired. The poor feriti' are
all improving: some very satisfactory
ly, others very slowly, but YOU cannot
imagine the dirt. They are most of
them in a most pitiable condition, and
il is impossible TO get bed and body
linen for them. / think that more or
less their heads are not quite right, and
their nerves are in awful condition; and
no wonder for they live, ! may saw. in
npTnGf1rll 10
TO another they may have another
earthquake. Many of the poor are get
ting pneumonia, and nearly all have
coughs. The street is the general hos
pltal, as all who can come to be dressed
in the streets, and wait their turn
standing up or sitting on stones. There
is not a single street passable, and we
are kept climbing up and jumping
down the whole time. There
are q great many cases OF bronchitis
and pneumonia. We do not remain
with the sick and wounded at night. as
il is not possible. There are only a few
sheds, and all the poor survivors are
obliged to turn into them for the night
it is wet, cold and miserable, and not
standing room in the sheds In the
shed where we sleep there is the poor
man with the heart trouble. and five
women, making eight in all; and in
deed it is d great treat not to have
more, as there are between eighteen
and twenty-four in the others. The beds
Tor the sick consist of bags of straw on
the floor. 1t is too dreadful. and 7 am
not ashamed to say that the sights that
meet US at every turn often bring tears
to my eyes"
one man, with his leg broken. has
wing beside him on the straw his son.
IH years old. with his leg horribly torn.
He has lost his wife and three daugh-
I'rS. one poor man. all wounded from
mead 10 foot almost, his wife with A
baoy month old, would make YOU
acne. They have lost three other chill
uren, but they are all 50 good: although
lhey cry very much. they thank God
ana Our Lady for saving them. There
is another poor young thing with three
lovely little girls left a widow. Her
NuSDanc, after carrying out his family
WIN his father and mother. went abont
LOT Jlrce days getting the dead out Of
inc deprls and burying them. He died
Suocenly-paralysis of the brain the
doctor says. He was a perfect martyr
yesterday Sister c. fell, but did not
hurt herself-you cannot imagine what
me climbing is like. in the afternoon
IL was very muddy and l slipped and
leh from quite a height Thank Cod
was not hurt much-my side little
out 1t is better. ! shall bandage to-
IiEht. as II still hurts, but nothing Sc
rious"