The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1915-02-26
.EKTRAGTs TELL
H0WEARTHQUlkE
TERRQRRE ROME
Mr.. and Mrs. Clarence Smith
Have Horrible Expefiehcesih Ii
=. Midst Of Devastation
HOLY CITY REPEATEDLY +.
ON THE VERGE OF RUIN
Several Times House They occu-
pied Was Twisted and Torn
ByseismlcWayes : /
HOLY CITY REPEATEDLY !. N.
ON THE VERGE OF RUIN

e. t 4
W.. o. Smith has furnished the fol.
lowing extracts fronir letters received
from his son Clarence and wife, writ.
ten in Rome few days after the great
earthquake: -.
.IaEhlAry 15,--we trust TO the iourn.
ais to tell you that all who have kept
their heads and mot jumped ont of the
windows. are safe in Rome and no
lives have been lost, and we believe,
ms you have not cabled, you are wen
informed; otherwise we would teie.
graph at once. that We are safe IL was
& Roftfble, tsffiac eaperiehse. CAR
ehee was Up and j was dfesking when
dows. ratified like mad and TIE walls
Sirieked and grosned like wild beasta
And u LASTED thirty,ffe seconds, get,
ting worse ana worse 50 that we were
fnre the house was going over. BY
that time Clarence and 7 were under
a, main hall door arch and Mr.. and
Mrs. Moore getting down the stairs
from which they. were pitched almost
on their heads and had to SIC and
hold on MS best they could. XII
Ko-;e Narrowly Escapes 3SS
Walls are cracked from end 20 end
in our house and pieces of eornice NOR
tar etc, Uttered every room. But we
were spared No one remembers s1eh
an earthquake here in Rome. 10 went
TO the seventh degree. II it had gone
to the eighth we in Rome would now
be under the ruins Of its every build.
ing. All the, adjacent towns are raEed
to the ground and the difficulty of saw.
ing those Who are buried under their
houses ssintensi6ed by the enormous
piles Of stone and debris to pass OVER
and work upon. But the papers mo
doabt give an these details. -
Friends Of ours took blankets. wine
and food In their auto 10 one OF the
ruined towns yesterday and said they
heard means and groans and cries FOR
help .andef every step they took Vi
WIS so narrowing and they were so
hclniess; that they could not remaia.
There are no facilities for heatine
away the big stone and it Is super
human work to. GET TO the poor ere,
atures buried beneath, One woman
saved bad given birth to child nm
deESthe cement. Both were alive and
saved u have my hands full coIlectE
ing clothing, etc., and distributing n
at the station az the trains with the
wounded arrive. Food and soup 10
also supplied IL taxes my nerves to
the utmost to see the poor things, es.T
pecially the children, suffering tortures
The tears stream down my face as J.
kSna then things ana often help to
put them on for many cannot stand,
or their arms and hands are useless,
The awful shock has made US very
nervous. but when we think what vi
might Rave been and what others are
sntferin., we do not even speak of our
OWE little woes. a.. rex. wi
Fifty Thotssnd Persons Killed +.cI
JanuPry 17--What nextf Margher-
ita and l are again savedi This time,
from being killed by q dreadful earth
qhake, which, only huBdred kiIomes
tiers from Rome, killed and gravely In,
iured $4,000 persons and made many
thousands of others homeless. II the
Earthquake in ifs strongest part here
had lasted Ionref, THIS stone building
would have fallen on u.s. As it was
SOME Of the doors can be closed only
with difficulty, many cracks Appeared
tn wallsia ceilings, and many pieces
Of the plaster fell down, Other parts
Of the ceilings threaten 70 fall, as bad
cracks .indicate For thirty six sec
oRds, the earth shook SO numerically,
and ton thirty seconds more the houses
Of Rome sw4yed violently. For dnc
minute ami six seconds, Rome shook,
and about lS5 or 200 times since, only
once or twice hard. We never want
TO feel another earthquake.
Oma of the afraa4a oaar So 4. o. :. ~. n
OF, because of some deep cracks in
high stone house on one side Of its
narrow course, Two women, hearing
the wall above cracking, jumped from
the third story of that house onto the
stone pavement and were taken off in
q. cab, For half an hour, most OF
Rome was in the streets and squares.
Cars and, other vehicles cannot ipass a
church, the top Of the tower Of which
is leaning dangerously. The figure of
St Paul on the high column in the
Place Of the ColOnna, has turned some
toward the left away from the Ans.
ttian embassy. o. .-lt
Game Distressing scsnes . ~. = i
is For several days after the earth
Quake more. than four days ago--we
wee very dizzy from the rocking we
bad received. The. house ereaked and
tu9bled, so we felt sure that our time
had come. Now, we see disfgured
refugees about, one Of whom, wo- |
man, was gthirty,two hours under q l
ruin But, most OF the refugees who
are. here, 30 far, are not wounded. It'll
is pitiful TO see the ambulance-l
closed by eaFtains--pass, and friends
talking to the wounded people inside, |
and the weak tones from within the |
ambulances. Our nerves are tlnstrupg,
and every trembling of the house |
frightens us again. But such an earth |
qpske as this comes here about once d
centuryas In Messina- -and the earth |
hiss settled down, gradually, agaib.
The first night after the earthquake
WI, did not pHdress. At three a. m.