Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-01-05

nobly. Praises of the Russians are on
every lip. They hesitated before no dam
ger. digging under lettering walls or
| entering the unsafest shells when ask
c' 70 do so by some frantic woman who
had not lost all hope that husband or
child was still alive
tn, corr spondent made two tours
about the wrecked city, through streets,
piled 20 on 80 feet high with debris 1t
MAS a wilderness Of ruin q mile wide
and two miles long. Beautiful churches.
SptendiG villas in the foot hills, hospi-
tails, barracks and the university all
Sharci the common lot TWO-thiTdS of
the magnificent Norman Cathedral. the
pride of Me$Sina, is in ruins and little
or nothing remains of the relies of the
Phornician, Greek, Roman and Sar-
aeon ;trchiteC ture Which marked the
stages of MeSsnaS &c centuries of tu-
multuoCG history. The loss to the world
will be irrepairahlc.
Tho correspondent encountered sal
wage parties at work. They We're dig
glng ut the instance of some distracted
wife or mother who imagined she
heard a voice, but usually there was
no echo to the pathetic calling one
party was trying to dig cut q girl
" hose crying it is said was to be heard
plainly, but as the correspondent
watched, there was a sudden cavern
and thereafter silence.
In many instances bioated and de-
composing arms ard legs protruded
from heaps Of masonry and plaster.
Standing walls had fallen out, expos
lng one tier of rooms above another,
in which nothing seemed to have been
disturbed. Pictures hung straight on
the walls lamps were on tables and
vases and flowers on mantle pieces. In
one place two buZZards, their bcaks
fun of carron, were summing them
selves on a window ledge over the
dead podv of a woman whose wealth of
black hair covered her face and Shout
ders Dogs and cats we're killed by the
soldiers whenever caught feeding on
the dead. The buildings that best re-
sisted the shock We're the Old royal
ualace. now the prefecture, and the
archbshnps palace. where 10 of the IN
mates lost their lives. Although the
air. in Mcssina is heavy with the stencil
of putrifving bodies, several groups of
Sicil,ans have camped out in the clear
est spaces in the city and obstlnately
refuse the invitation of the authorities
to move away.
The survivors of the disaster are so
dazed and worn out that they are quite
incapable OF, describing their expert
ences connectedly, but the accounts
of ali agree that the devastation was
accomplished in less than one minute
The strata below the strait slipped
along the line of a fault; then tldal
wave rushed in and out, and all was
over. All those capable OF analyZlng
their scnZations say that when the
shock came they felt an upward thrust
of the earth This was followed by an
osCillatorv movement and the crust
of the earth vbrated. Few of the sur
yiyors are able ~ explain how they es-
capped. They knew only that amid 1all-
ing plaster and masonry they managed
to lump safely from windows or STUN
BILE down crumbling stairs.
stuart X. Lupton. the American vice
consul at Messina, arrived at ms post
one week before the earthquake. He
| was stopping at the Hotel Nitt"fla'
which was half destroyed. Mr.. Llip-
toms experiences already nave heei
related ir these dispatches. After sat
isfying himself that A. 5. Cheney, inc
! American consul at Messlna, ana ms
wife were buried beyond hope OF re
| covery in the ruins of their consulate
| Mr.. I.upton took up headquarters or
| board one of the WarShips IN the mar
| bnr.
The correspondent visited the site
# the consulate. The building col
lapsed utterly There is hope however
| mat the bodies and the archleves may
be recovered. Joseph II. PIERCE IN
former American vice consul here, ana
| several members of his family are arse
among the dead The only other Amer
! leans known to have been Killed ars
an American named Jonpert or ROD
ert and his wife, who were naturall|ec
| citizens. and one Jose Giuseppe, vet
eran of the Civil War. AS to the tour
| ISIS supposed to have neen IN the VI
cinty it is almost impossibl" to OBJ
! tain exact information. but the most
careful inquiries indicate that there
v,ere none in Messina ut the time OF
the quake. The register of the fIote'
| Vitteria shows no American names.
| Two English women. Blanche KAN
and q Miss Smith. who We're stopping
at this house. were saved. The regis
ter of the Hotel Ternacria, the other
hotel patronized by foreigners. has not
been recovered but there is reason to
believe that no Americans were among
the guests If any Americans We're IN
Reggie or Messina last Monday and II
they have not yet been heard from the
worst must be feared The othe'
towns of Sicily have sent no news OF
the killing or wounding OF any Ameri-
can citizens.
CONTINUED on Page Two.)