Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-01-01
SURVIVORS DESCRIBE
AWFUL MOMENTS OF
EARTHQUAKES RAGE

ROME, Dec. GA young doctor
named Rossi, at Messina, gives a. vivid
account of his experience.
The doctor was preparing to leave
Messina by an early train, the day of
the disaster.
Suddenly the profound silence was
broken by an extraordinary noise like
the bursting of a thousand bombs,'' he
says. '''This was followed by a rush
ing and torrentiaI rain. Then I heard
a sinister. whistling sound that I can
liken only to thousands of red hot iron
rods hissingNn water
Suddenly there came violent rhyth-
mic movements of the earth, and the
crashing down of nearby walls made
me realize the awful fact of the earth
quake.
Failing glass, bursting roofs and a
thick cloud of dust added to the horror
of the situation, while the extraordin-
airy double movement, rising and fall
ing at the same time, crumbled walls
and imperiled my life.
"I rushed into the room where my
mother and sister were, and succeeded
in rescuing them.
II was also successful in getting out
of the house a number of other persons
who had given themselves up for lost
Then some soldiers came and helped
me, and together we dragged forth sew
tering walls of a palace
Falls Into Apartment Below
Another survivor of Messina says:
"The first thing recall is that l was
thrown out Of bed. The floor collapsed
and I fell into the apartment under
me. Here / found distracted woman,
searching for her sister and a son,
whom later she found alive.
I'VE remained in the ruins for TWEEN
tyfour hours, entirely alone, without
food or drink. Our ears were assailed
with the cries and means of the wound
ed. We were as in a tomb with dead
bodies beside us.
Every time sounds were heard from
the street there would come an out
burst of piercing cries for help from the
injured, hidden and pinned down in the
Wreckage.
Tuesday morning we finally ven
tured forth. We passed over streets
that were vast creVasSes, and climbed
over great mounds of ruins and wreck
age that were all that remained of the
finest palaces of MeSsina."
This refugee lost his two children.
He arrived in Rome half clad, while
his wife was clothed in little else than
an old counterpart.
Just as the British steamer Ebro was
preparing to leave Messina with refu-
gees an outburst of frightful cries was
heard from the shore.
Maddened by Horrors
The refugees on board saw a crowd
Of maddened persons of every age
break into the customs house. Some
were naked, all were half demented,
and they were injured and bleeding.
They sacked everything that came to
their hands, seeking food, drink and
clothing Revolver shots rang ont over
the horrible din and confusion.
Finally tongues of flame shot UP in
the darkness. Messina was burning,
and masses of flames in the darkness
showed where the fire was completing
the destructive beginning Of the earth
quake.
A few skeleton houses here and there
are all that remain of the once beauti-
full town.
Ghoul-like figures fitted in the semi
AS the Ebro steamed through the
straits it was seen that many once
smiling villages on the neighboring
shores had been completely obliterated
or were nothing more than heaps of
shapeless ruins.
Paolo Riz, the mayor of Capriolo,
reached Rome today from Messina,
where he had visited Monday. He was
awakened by the fearful force of the
first shock. The r Dor If his room fell,
and, half unconscious, he was precipi-
tated into a mass Of rubbish. His body
lodged in a niche in wall and he was
pinned down by a heavy beam and
nearly smothered. He lay in this posi-
ton for five hours, expecting death at
any moment.
once a man passed by and the mayor
Continued on Page TEMP