The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-01-26
FATHER SHRIEKS
 OVER HIS ESCAPE

(Continued from Page D these estimates to Do approximately correct.
 Only oue of the buildings around Chillar's Plaza remained standing The hotel, the police station. the cathedral, the post office, and the telegraph building were all in ruins and fire still ragged in some of them
 Lieut.. Commander Saved
 I met Lieutenant Commander Julio Santibanez of the navy. He had been en route to his base at Talcahuano and had stopped here for the night, staying at the Gen. tral hotel, which was full.
 T was standing near a door," he said. T ran out with another man. We were the only ones saved. The other guests, the owners, and the servants perished"
 The one building standing on the Plaza was white, of three stories. The owner invited me in and his daughter, asked what she had ex- perienced, said the house shook "like jelly"
 The hospital had remained stand ing, though great crack was visi- ble in one of its walls. Two doc tors were working frenziedly. They already had performed 40 opera tions, working without anesthesia or other surgical materials as none were available. They begged me to get word to Santiago that they needed gauge, ether, and other med- ical supplies most urgently.
 Barracks Wrecked
 The barracks of the OHiggins h. fantry Regiment were wrecked and the soldiers had removed the bodies of two of their officers. The colonel in command had marched the sur viying members of the regiment to the ruined Plaza from where he was ruling what remained of Chillan and its populace under martial law. hav- ing commandeered ali food supplies and all vehicles. He was ration ing he foou and had organized the survivors into various brigades, one to gather and bury the dead, an- other to salvage anything worth 1t, another to clean up debris.
 The city, of course, was entirley without electric lights. The quake had wrecked the waterworks and water was very scarce. I asked at thu white house on the Plaza for water. With elaborate apologies, l was given a glass of milk.
 Messages Given to Writer
 came here in bombing plane Of the Chilean army and I wore the regulation flyers helmet, lent me by my host. This attracted attention to me as wandered about, and sur- vivors, assuming that I was return- ing soon to Santiago, pressed mes- sages upon me to carry to relatives there. accepted more than 800 of these for delivery. They were crude ly scrawled on bits of paper, and. being vocal. were more eloquently pathetic than the corpses.
 A few read: r.
 "Remigio, his mother and daugh- ter. are dead.
 "Baby girl hurt. Papa paralyzed."
 we are well, but we don't know where Albert is."
 "Carlos and wife are dead"
 %Carmencita dead. Blanquita nightly injured. Rest we'll"
 Birds Eye View of Ruins
 Ny trip here gave me birds eye view of the extent and the course of the quake. Leaving San- aago we first encountered the quake zpne at Talca. We circled the city, and saw only two houses collapsed. The next towns we reached were Mirafiores, Logavi, and Copihue where, 1t appeared from the air, the typical adobe cottages of the working classes had been, without exception, levelled.
 At Parral the view was even more violent. We saw ruined houses, empty streets, and a cluster of white tents, apparently put up to house and treat the survivors. But 1t was over San Carlos, that I saw the full force of the quake. It was in utter ruins, 1t seemed from the air, with not e building standing.
 We flew over Conception, the third largest city in Chile, before landing at Chillan. From far off we saw a great column of flame and smoke. An entire city block was on fire. About six city blocks in all, appear ed to have been destroyed, but the historic cathedral and the buildings of the ancient university, which gives Conception its name of "The Athens of Chile" seemed intact. We dropped message, enclosed in cloth and weighted with two heavy bolts, into the middle of the Plaza Armas, which read: "Intendente: Govern ment sent a train of medical sup- plies which with the minister of in- terior left Santiago this morning Captain Byers."
 Airfield Ruined
 We returned to Chillan. The air. field was ruined and we landed In the pasture of Senor ValenZuela, who. in answer to our questions, said sadly that Thousands were dead" He brought up his old Chevrolet to take us to the city, five miles away. We drove along a road in which there were cracks eight inches wide. The farm houses along the way were in heaps. At the city's edge, we abandoned the car because the roads were choked.