The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1915-01-23

hall of the chamber of deputies like
wise was cracked.
City of Mourning.
AvezzanO, Jan. 15.-This is city OF
tears and mourning It is filed with
dead and wounded and wrecked
houses. 1t is like the ruins of a GENE
terry. Those who escaped the destruc-
ton caused by the earthquake went
herOically to work to rescue those
penned under the fallen walls. They
could not seem to understand the de-
lay in sending aid to them from Rome,
and other centers, forgetting that
more than twelve hours passed before
knowledge of the gravity of the disas-
ter reached the outside authorities
Almost all the civic officials of
Avezzano, including the mayor, the I'M
der-prefect. the judges, the command
er. of the carbineers, parish priests,
monks and nuns persisted. The col
lege, with more than a hundred girl
students, collapsed
Cries from Those Entombed.
The governors of prisons, jailers
and the doctors and patients in the
hospitals were carried down in the
wreckage. The only notable person
who survived was the head of the po-
lice, Signor Ottavi, who, though
wounded, has labored since the first
overthrow to give succor to the in
jured.
Desperate appeals for help are
heard on all sides from those under
wrecked buildings, but the efforts of
Ottavi and the few hundred survivors
have availed but little, for they lack
implements with which to extricate
the victims.
Assistance Came at Last.
About fifty persons, all of them
wounded, were taken out with great
difficulties They lay without shelter
and without their wounds being
dressed owing to a lack of medical
supplies. Later doctors arrived and
operated on some of the injured by
the light of blazing torches. They then
were removed to the station, where
they were made as comfortable as
possible in trucks.
Assistance came at last from Ar
soil and AquiIIa and this morning
large rescuing parties arrived from
Rome and Pescara.
One Town Ripped Open.
Thirty thousand soldiers have been
distributed throughout the earthquake
district and already large quantities
of provisions and clothing, together
with wood. for the construction of huts,
have arrived.
A tour of the towns and villages
around Lake Fucino disclosed vast
destruction The town of Magliano,
! in the territory of the MarSi, seems to
have been ripped open. It's historic
belfry, which arose about three hun
dred feet, collapsed. In the church
below all the chapels were ruined ex-
cept that of the Savior, where an i'm
| mense cruciix is standing intact.
while everything about is scattered
and broken.
Freak Escapes of Citizens.
In Pescina, the cathedral belfry and
| the house of the bishop have disap-
signor Bagnoli, the Bishop of Pescina,
and twenty Carmelites living with
him has been found and it is feared
that all have persisted.
The work of rescue at Avezzano
was carried on with much greater
vigor this afternoon by the soldiers
and skilled workmen, who arrived
from all sections, and still despairing
| appeals could be heard from those
| buried.
One boy was found uninjured inside
| of a stove. Two nuns were rescued
from a cellar and an old man was
taken from the basement of a house
where he had been protected by a
wardrobe which had fallen across the
wall.
ct was not an easy task to go from
AquiIla to Avezzano, although the dis
lance is only forty miles, as the au-
| thorities had requisitioned all means
of transportation for relief work. This
was true especially of motors, but the
correspondent was allowed to use one
of these on condition that he carry
medicines, blankets, tents and food.
Refugees in Freezing Cold.
1.-The journey in the middle of the
night was quite normal until the
! crests of the Apennines near OWN
doll were reached at about five thou
sand feet, where there was intense
cold and snow. From there the road
descends in steep zig-zag toward the
high plateau of Marsi, the redeemed
valley of Lake Fucino.
"On both sides of the roads the
peasants houses and farm buildings
were nothing but broken and tottering
walls, The tragedy began to unfold
itself when Celano was reached
There most of the houses had fallen
and the remainder of them were in an
unsafe condition.
The surviving population, wounded
starving and almost frozen, was
spread over the country. The motor
car was stopped every few moments
by persons who implored assistance
and soon its contents had been dis
tributed among these. Then there
were pitiful lamentations from the
people, who asked to be taken t.
where it was possible to be cared for
the lake and the surrounding noun
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