Omaha daily bee., 1909-01-03

already are occupying a portion of the
San Ferdinando palace, the royal house
providing everything. The duchess OF Aosta
has transformed into a hospital the large
hall of her palace at Capo di Monte. The
duke of Aosta has now gone to Reggie.
where he is continuing his work of allie
waiting distress.
Entire Train Disappears.
1t is stated here that a train which left
Reggie early on the morning Of the earth
quake carrying passengers, and Of which
nothing has been heard since, was over
whelmed by the tidal wave following the
earthquake.
Almost all the people Of Reggie and Mes
sina, it is said, are making UP their minds
to abandon their beloved cities. One man
who lives at Messina said:
"It ia not without tears that one aban-
dons the place where he and his ancestors
were born and where many of his loved
ones lay at rest in the cemetery; but l
have decided TO say goodbye forever to
my native land. 1t is the cruel necessity
OF defense against cruel nature"
As an indication of the progress that Is
being made in bringing order out of
chaos the railway line from Reggie to
Cantanzaro was again put in operation
| ldSl lkll z - 80 u SASoN ~ NN~ @N
however, of $50 feet, over which passen-
gers and freight must be transferred
from one train to another. The distribu-
ton of food also is being made more reg
ularly in the affected Districts. and many
Of the starving therefore have been re-
lieved temporarily. Many persons living
along the coasts of Calabria and Sicily
paddle out in canoes to the large steam
ers passing through the straits and re-
quest and receive food from them.
Pope Chafes at Confinement.
It is said that nobody in Italy envies
King Victor Emmanuel his "rrand OF
mercy more than does Pope Plus, who al
ways has felt that his place was with
the stricken earthquake sufferers. Hav-
ing been prevented from going there, his
holiness has tried to keep In touch with
the prevailing conditions as much as pos-
sible and has offered the bishops of the
affected zone all that he could give. His
latest gift has been another 100000. the
pontiff has never so much regretted the
loss of the liberty he enjoyed as patriarch
OF Venice. Now is the time he would like
again to be free to paw his pectoral
cross for the benefit Of suffering man
kind.
The following telegram, dated \S:45 p.
m, December 80, sent by William II.
Bishop, the American consul at Palermo,
to the Associated Press here, reached
Rome early this morning:
mo news regarding Arthur S. Cheney
american consul at Messina). 1t is be-
lieved that he and his wife died to-
gether, the consulate at Messina having
collapsed. Mr.. Lupton, the new American
vice consul at Messina. was seen shortly
after the disaster. but no answer has
been received to kilograms sent him"
Statistics of Disaster Unreliable.
Exact statistics of the dead and the sur
viving still are impossible to obtain, be-
cause all the dead bodies buried unuer
the ruins have not yet been eXcaYated'
It is equally impossible to make any &C
curate account of the survivors, for they
are today scattered from one end of the
country to the other. The only figures
that can be given are reached by calcu-
lating the total populations before the
disaster and subtracting therefrom the
numbers that are supposed to have sur
vived. The result is, Of course, approx
mate. on this basis is made the estimate
that about $4,000 people have left Mes
sina and the Messina
As the total population of the city and
commune was about $4,000 and as there
are about $4,000 people still In the dis
trict, the dead probably number to $4,000.
The victims are increasing daily, not only
through the dying Of the injured, hut
also by the many suicides committed by
desperate survivors whose minds have
given way under their terrible expert