Evening star., 1915-01-16
District a Great Cemetery.

are credited to the three score or more
| of towns and villages that 1elt the
| effects of the shocks.
District Great Cemetery.
| Just how severely the Marsica dis
! trict suffered. in which Avezzano Is To-
Gated Is best told in a terse telegram
which Mgr. Bagnoli. bishop Of the Mar
| sica region, sent to Pope Benedict. The
! telegram reads:
! The Marsica diocese has been trans
I formed into great cemetery. AVez-
zano. Capelle and Paterno raZed and
almost all inha bitantS dead. EccleSiaS-
{ tics, some dead. some wounded.
"a few villages III the diocese are i'm
muue but generally desolation reiens.
1T is AN immense and distressing catas-
| trophe.
| The Pope in reply to this distressing
| informa tion wired the following:
Being the father of all the faithful.
but first of the unfortunate. am
| pierced with grief by this immense
II extend my arms to my unhappy
| children and am praying for peace for
the dead and comfort for the surviv-
ors."
More wounded having been brought
| to the Santa Marta Hospital. which Is
| close to the Vatican, the Pope again
visited the patients there to comfort
| them. To each he gave medal
| King Victor Emmanuel and the queen
| Mother Margarita made the rounds OF
, the hospitals in Rome yesterday, visit
| ing the injured, of whom NUMBERS are
arriving hourly.
! Grateful to Americans.
| The American ambassador, Thomas
| Nelson Page will visit the earthquake
district today or tomorrow. The am
| bassador has agreed with the mayor,
| Prince Colonna, that the best way for
| Americans to participate in the relief
| of the victims is to do so as private in
dividuals
! The kind sympathy. generosity and
tact of the Americans. by which they
will not infringe on 1taly's decision to
decline foreign official assistance.
though they will still largely contrib
ute as private individuals to alleviate
suffering, are causing profound senti-
ment of gratitude. The staff from the
American embassy visited the earth
quake disaster yesterday and Witness
ed the work of rescue. They saw some
of the victims eXtricated alive from
the ruins and also visited the camps
where refugees are centered. They
gave such help as they could, which
was ratefully received. They in
quired about the victims and gained
the information that there were no
Americans among them. although some
are said to have claimed American cltl-
zenship. as they had lived in the United
States for tine.
The American automobile was greet
ed everywhere most cordially. 1t was
the first embassy to show tangible
sympathy by sending its staff to the
scenes of desolation.
Dwellings Crumbled to the Ground.
Col George NJ. Dunn, the American
military attache, motored to Avezzano
and returned from that place last
night.
In speaking of what he had seen, he
said:
II never dreamed of such a horrible
situation. The whole town is ruined, as
every house is down and only three
stables remain intact. Churches. pal
aces and dwellings have crumbled' to
the ground. What once were streets
are now full of debris to the height of
six or seven feet.
Within a short time the work of
rescue will be useless, as all those
buried under the ruins will be dead.
The entire population is extinguished.
the people being either dead or wound
ed in hospitals.
''The dead in the ruins compose the
greater percentage of the Inhabitants.
over 10000 were killed at Avezzano
alone, while the remainder of the pop
tically all injured. Very few escaped
without wounds, because every house
collapsed at once and nobody had any
chance to run out. Thus the hecatomb
is worse than that of Mes ilna, as it oc-
CURED within thirty seconds"
Col. Dunn said that AveZzano was
now provided with all kinds of sup
plies, and that the attention of relief
parties must be turned to the smaller
and less accessible villages.
Trains Filled With Wounded.
The railway service is now running
regularly to the earthquake districts.
and on their return each train is filled
with wounded, most of whom are be-
ing transported to Rome, where they
are being cared for in a most admira-
BILE manner. Prince Colonna, the may
or, is doing all in his power for the
injured He has been on his feet for
over fifty hours and is giving splendid
example of tireless activity. The Ia
dies of the aristocracy, including some
Americans By birth, have taken their
places in the hospitals and are helping
to nurse the injured.
A committee of American ladies has
been formed to help in the relief of
the sufferers. 1t is headed by Mrs. Page,
wife of the American ambassador. and
includes the other ladies of the embas-
sy. This committee will work in con-
junction with the general committee
of Italian ladies, which Is headed by
| the wife of Premier Salandra.
| Goods collected by the Americans will
be distributed under the direction of
the general committee. The Rev. Wal
ter Lowrie, formerly of Newport, who
knows the earthquake district thor
oughly. has gone to the scene and will
report to the committee where help is
most needed.
Supplies Carried to Victims.
Automobiles containing members of
the Roman aristocracy left Rome at in
tervals throughout the day, carrying
relief stores to the earthquake VIC
TINS The family of the Duke of Tor
lomina has gone to Avezzano. the dis
trict which is closely connected with
the traditions of the ducal house.
Prince and Princess Teano, the Duke
Gelassio Gaetani, who lately has COL
| lected large sums of money for Bel
gian relief. and the Countess of Spileti,
president of the women's movement in
1 Italy. were among those who went to
, stricken districts.
| ply all the stricken villages with oil
| for illuminating purposes at the ex-
| pense of the city of Rome. This will
| enable the rescuers to work through
out the night
! refugee arriving hero from Mag
! liano-di- Marsi says 1900 persons are
dead in that locality, and that barely
| 200 persons survived the disaster. Aft