The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-01-02
BRAVES DEATH
IN AWFUL FORM
Eyewitness Paints Picture of
Manifold Horrors in
Sicily.
SEES NO RAY OF LIGHT
TELLS OF THE MISERY THAT
STRIKES MEN DUMB.

Paris, Jan. 1.-The special correspondent
Of the Matin who just arrived at Messina
after an adventurous journey on foot
through the devastated Calabria region,
sends vivid story Of the scenes of devas-
tation. The dispatch was sent by special
boat to Naples. whence it was teie-
graphed here"
Il arrived at Messiua after tlaH1ping
thirty-one consecutive hours, covering a
distance Of siNty-sCvcn kilometers forty
one miles,. Ny nerves will never recover
from the atrocious impression 10 which
they were subjected and my eyes will al
ways retain the views of the death and
devastation which Expresses them. A
1oufnfui silence covers the whole country
like a funera; pail.
proceeded as far as Pslni by train
and thence afOot. Six OF seven inhabitants
accompanied me to Trohesd. and I de-
eided 10 reach Reggie at any cost.
Danger in the Tunnel.
Two or three railroad firemen cut off
from nome While at duty by the catas-
fophe were returning to seek news Of
the fate of their families They preceded
me, brandishing resinous smoky torches.
we marched in Indian file through the
tunnel from Palmi to Bagnara holdin :
Eands and stumbling over ballast heaps.
The roof of the tunnel was cracked every
where and now and then rocks fell in the
inches of the track. Whole families were
encamped around wood fires and smoking
torches. Many of them were wounded.
Men, women and children. stupefed lay
the catastrophe, and crouching among the
stones looked at US with a vac mt glare
as If their thoughts were wandering.
Later We came upon families roasting
sea birds which had been killed by the
tempest and cast upon the beach 9th
ers had the strangest objects packed in
sacks. In reply to questions as to what
had happened at Messina and Reggie thex
~ afAa.
continued TO gaze at us like stalled oxen
After two hours march we saw Bagnara
perched on the spur of the mountain over
hanging the sea.
Coins Misery Into Money.
The country house of the mayor on tn .
summit of the rock was half tumbled into
the sea. but the mayor was safe. He was
giving orders for the installation of a tel
egraph wire in a freight car. Every house
in the town and surrounding country was
IN ruins Little palaces were open, Xix ;
cut pomegranates in sections. In one 7
saw tumbled beds and deserted dining
rooms Seated on the wall was a man
selling bread at exorbitant prices amid a
chorus of curses and maledictions An
other was trying 20 dig into the ruins with
his fingers. How many dead-one thod-
sand, two thousand~who knows?
After eleven hours we had covered only
thirty-four kilometers- At Scylla we de-
cided to rest, but rest was impossible
The whole countryside except to the north
was completely blotted out. Walls were
standing. but interiors had collapsed, car
rying down the sleeping occupants.
"A few kilometers further on Cannitel-
10 presented still more terrifying sight.
Almost at the same moment as it was
overthrow by the earthquake it was
swept by the sea. 1t is no more.
MuffIed Calls for Help.
The country is but a charnel house,
whence a horrible stencil arises All the
houses are heaped into one pile of ruins
under which the dead and wounded lie.
From the ruins muffled voices calling for
help reached US time and time again.
THE once prosperous San Giovanni was
an awful sight. The tidal wave smashed
the jetties, overturned the six moles and
swept the entire passage. The railroad
station. the wireless station ferry docks
and the hospital are all destroyed. Four
thousand inhabitants are buried beneath
the ruiz s
The witnesses of that terrible night
relate that the sea rose up as though
lifted by subterranean explosion Sur
vivorS here and there are huddIed in
wagons which were half buried in the
sand by violence. They are wounded and
naked; Not soldier had arrived not a
morsei Of bread remained When we
found them they were worn by a str1lg-
gle over a few provisions they had dis
covered in freight car, but these were
gone.
Fifteen kilometers further we entered
the town of Reggio. Those who saw Reg
gio few weeks ago would not be able
to restrain their tears / saw ahead
where the town had stood an ocean of
ruins nothing was standing: all the pee-
pie had been killed. Palaces. churches
theatres and banks no longer exist.
The Crime of the Sea.
THE jetty with its two stations had
oeen carried away to sea. a car was
standing close at hand, against which a
girl OF Y had been pushed Her head
was cut off and floated out 70 sea; the
body hung on the door-iau, Of +ba -