The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1914-05-12
AND ETNA
DESTROY MANY TOWNS
Dead Are Numbered at 173,
While Many Are Injured.
RAILROADS ARE TIED UP.
Inhabitants Near Burning Mount
Flee-Affected Zone Presents
Spectacle of Ruin and Death.


and destruction to many villages near
Mount Etna. The number of dead up
to tonight was officially placed at
173, with about $50 injured. A large
part of the devastated territory has
not been inspected.
The affected zone extends from |
Zaffarana, the highest village on
Mount Etna, to the sea between Aci |
Reale on the south and Giarre on the |
north. 1t includes LInera, the CEN
ter of the disturbance, Pisano and |
Santa Vernina. Iini Iinera alone, |
10 persons were killed and 800 in
jured. In Bongiardo, 13 dead and
27 injured, have been taken from
the ruins. At Consintini, 16 were
killed and many injured. At Passo
Palmo, two persons were killed; at
Malati, twelve; at Santa Veneria.
six; Santa Tecla, two; Santa Maria
Virginie, eight, AroirI, four.
These villages and many smaller
places were leveled.
The entire district today presented
spectacle of desolation, ruin and
death. Many of the injured had not
been taken from the debris. All train
service had been abandoned owing
to the collapse of bridges, broken
track and obstructed tunnels.
For centuries this section has suf-
fered from earthquakes, owing to the
activity of Mount Etna. Yet it is
thickly populated as the land is fer
tile, vineyards growing with little
attention.
BODIES LYING IN ROAD.
At tire central point of the distur-
bance dozens of bodies were lying
along the roads. many so badly
crushed they were unrecognizable.
The injured lay in the open, awaiting
assistance.
Where Linera stood is a mass Of
ruins. Those houses which did not
collapse entirely were so broken as
to emphasize the completeness of the
disaster. The village consisted of
about 500 inhabitants. Most of the
. people escaped because the shock oc-
CURED when the men and some Of
the women were working in the
fields. From the vineyards, they
saw their houses falling, and when
they arrived, breathless, at their
homes, they found only wreckage,
with some of their people buried be
meath it.
This accounts for the fact that
most Of the victims at Linera were
women and children.
Gen. Trabuochi and Moconsatta
: are in command of the work of res
4, cue which is being taken up vigo--
ously by soldiers. fremen, policemen
) and Red Cross volunteers. 1t is ex-
pected, however, that weeks will pass
before the full extent OF the disas-
| ter can be ascertained; as it is be-
lieved many peasants are buried un-
derneath their homes in the isolated
l country districts.
l SHOCK AT CATANIA.
At Catania, the strongest shock
l lasted six seconds. Electric lights
} were extinguished and the street rail
1 ways were put out of service. People
I rushed firm he housee. shops and
cafes. Many jumped into boats and
B others crowded into the squares. Al
E the hospitals patients ran to the court
yards lmploringi help.
Many pitifui episodes occurred. Al
6 Bonglardo, an old woman, the only
g survivor of family OF eighteen, re-
entered a half wrecked house in
. search for her grand children. She
r returned with a little girl alive and
: rushed in again. Almost immediate
j ly the house collapsed, burying hel
e under the wreckage.
C At Consentini, young soldier
}. who should have left Thursday on hii
return to Libya, obtained leave o
absence for three days to witness the
e marriage OF his sister. which was Il
s have occurred Sunday. He Is amont
d the victims.
Monsignor Vigo. bishop OF Ac
8 Reale, reamined for twenty-fou
d nours In attendance on the injured
g villagers.
:. Refugees declare that the loss !
d as great as in the Messina disaste
of 1908.