The Detroit times., 1909-01-29
|MEsS|NA REDUCED
! TO RUINS IN Z
SECONDS
ONE SHREK AROSE FROM WHOLE
TOWN, THEN THERE WAS a
SUDDEN THUNDER OF A THOU
SAND WALLS.


were an odd crew and twice as many
as the Nord America was made II
fold. At dawn the decks were full; IL
was not hard TO leave the beds on inc
door even II they had not all peen
rervously anxious FOR the first glimpse
OF the ruined city.
Nowhere on earth rs there Sign
more beautiful than that OF the Straits
of Messina. High mountains line the
horizon-they were covered touaS
with snow. From them descends q
series OF lower hills, come shaped ana
s terraced with olives, to the sea. AS
the ship sailed into the bay the tints
OF the Italian dawn made IL wonder
land OF green and blue and pink. II
seemed a paradise. Then, suddenly
as the ship turned the point-horroT
and OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES spread ruin
on ruin. Churches, public buildings
houses lay In one great heap or ruD'
Lish, save where the skeletons or hali
q dozen houses stood cracked and tot
tering. They emphasized the desoia-
ton. without them one would hardly
have imagined that city had existed
on that spot Over all a cloud OF
smoke made a sullen trail across the
sky.
No one spoke. The writers stood
staring like statues, except that here
and there some one Involuntary
raised hand TO shut out sight that
could hardly be borne.
A City of Ashes and Dust.
Messina. the third port OF Italy is In
absolute ashes and dust. No words
could be too strong to give an idea OF
the extent OF the calamity Every
thing is gone. The few buildings that
preserve a more or less unbroken front
are ruins within. The Palazzo Num-
cipio the solid facade OF which has
resisted the earthquake, Is in names,
while lesser fires burn in three or four
other parts of the city. Nothing-ao-
solutely not one habitable building
a left Of city of 1879 inhabitants.
In the harbor warships OF Italy,
Russia, France. and England are an
chorec. and with them many ships.
from little boats to great liners ike
the Campania and the Duca di Geneva.
All are busy. The crews or the battle
ships, who are digging for those pos
sibly still living, have been reinforced
by ten or twelve thousand Italian
troops. The ships OF war are hospi-
tails for the reception OF the injured
as soon as they are dug out; as the
liners come In they are transferred
and carried with all speed TO Palermo.
Naples. Syracuse, Salerno, and other
nearby towns. The smaller boats run
In close of what is left of the wharves
and take the dead little way down
the bay to spot where they are
buried In great trenches. No one ap-
pears 10 have slept or rested since
the work began.
As the writer sprang out OF the row.
boat on to the pebbly beach, a heap
Of white cloth lay within two or three
feet aud, unprepared to be greeted az
once by the tragedy of the place, they
turned toward II In idle curiosity. 1t
was the corpse OF woman still hold
Ing child tightly in her rigid arms.
IL q small park were tents or SOL
diers and little groups OF terror
stricken refugees crouching together
In hastily made novels of boards. Some
sat In boats that the waves had
thrown up. For the most part they
stood stolidly about; only occasion
ally a woman sobbed, with her face
IN her hands. Wrapped in their bright
colored shawls, a strange note OF bay
ETY. In the midst of the desolation,
these silent figures OF grief sat, fright
full to see, and watched the soldiers
digging In the rubbish that covers
those they loved, while groups OF sol
diers and sailors marched slowly
along, bringing in the results OF their
search.
Along the Corso Vittorio Emanuele
the debris has been cleared sufficient
ly to make 1t possible to walk with
tolerable ease--only tolerable ease
for to begin with the street is badly
cracked and Is several feet higher in
some spots than In others. Moreover,
hundreds OF barrels of lemons have
been thrown up from wrecked boats
and lie In slippery rottenness along
the way Some houses have in their
fall made such piles OF rubbish that
= not even the heroic efforts of the dig
gers have been able In five days 20
make much impression. and as one
chambers over these heaps the stencil
OF the dead beneath rises heavily.
Only the Corso seems passable even
to this degree. Workers report that
Il IL impossible to get far. Even work
ing day and night there are whole
quarters yet untouched. Here at the
center II is possible TO speak with n
certain definiteness about the tragedy,
though not even now with as much
precision as one could wish. Actual
statistics cannot be compiled for a
long time-perhaps never. Today Ger
tain military officials were convinced
by the figures at hand that the dead
IN Messina alone will number over
10000. The population was. in roun
numbers, 10000 Some 5000 have
been actually dug out OF the ruins
while a rather larger number were
found seriously hurt, but not buried
This would give about $4,000 as the
number who escaped, and this figure
small as II Is, seems exaggerated &c
many ofiicials. In the center OF the
town practically no one escaped.
The facts OF the earthquake have
long since been cabled from many
sources, but there has naturally beer
80 much guess-work that II may be
well to gice I'm a few words the cir
cumstances under which the cataclysu
occurred. The great shock was al
first said TO have lasted twenty-five
seconds. a length OF time that seemed
even at first 10 be rather unlikely
The German consul tells me that ter
seconds would be nearer the truth
Al about $3.50 o'clock every one wa.
awakened by the hcaying OF the eartl
ana subterranean roar. The mex
seeond--so runs the dramatic stor,
- ~ <cuoul--nno ahriaL arooa fro.,