THE ITALIAN EARTHQUAKE

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2417, 4 February 1909, Page 5

THE ITALIAN EARTHQUAKE

CABLE NEWS

THE DESTRUCTION OF MESSINA. SURVIVOR’S THRILLING STORY. United Press Association. Copybight FREMANTLE, Feb. 3. A survivor gives a dramatic account of the destruction of the boautiiul sea front at Messina, called tho ialazzata, owing to its numerous palaces. In the early morning suddenly a terrible detonation occurred. I here was a violent convulsion on both sea and land, which shook men and tilings. The sea seemed to withdraw. Tho ‘ ships were thrown one against tho other. Tho lines oscillated,, lamps waved and trembled, and all lights went out. Suddenly there was complete darkness. With an enormous roar the sea rose to a height of several metres and'then fell again. Like a monstrous liquid avalanche it tell with a frightful splash on tho harbor front, smashing the pier and breaking the embankment, and then invading the beautiful promenade, it rushed against a row of monumental palaces on the sea front, knocking them down and disembowelling them, suffocating under rts rage thousands of people who were surprised in their sleep. At last retiring, it dragged with it corpses, furniture, and goods of all sorts.

A FEARFUL SCENE. DEVASTATION AND DEATH. FREMANTLE, Feb. 3. • Lower Messina, the richest quarter, >and where stood the best hotels, was now a shadow. The quays sunk, walls were destroyed and palaces wiped off. Clouds of dust like a thick fog enveloped the scene. Those who were not victims of the tidal wave and lived in the inner part of the city or in 'houses on the hills at the back, had been thrown out of bed by the formidable shock. Most of the people were buried under the trembling walls, roofs, balconies, porches and columns which fell everywhere with a tremendous noise. A silence like death followed. Then the silence was mixed with the shrieks of the wounded. By dawn the still distant laments had all been extinguished. Tho darkness was deepened by clouds of dust. Suddenly pillars of flame blazed out from tho broken gas mains, and spread through the ruins, burning the beams and furniture, and putting a frightful end to the agony of many poor creatures in imprisonment under tlie debris. Clouds of smoke thicker than dust, red with the sinister reflection of the fire, rose, turning slowly into the air as from an immense pyre. Naked, covered with blood, and aghast with terror, a few survivors tried to escape from the area of the ruins, but the old familiar ways were no more. There was not a trace of' streets and corners known from boyhood where Messines© could have walked blindfolded; all was chaos, bricks, beams, iron, wood, and lime entangled in a waste of broken furniture.

A LONDONER’S NARRATIVE.

A MARVELLOUS ESCAPE. (Received Feb. 3, 6.30 p.m.) PERTH,"Feb. 3. The narrative of Mr. Constantine Doreea, a London sharebroker, who was one of ten who survived out of eighty in the Hotel Trinacria, at Messina, gives a vivid description of the scene of horror after the first crash, Mr. Doresa found his bed standing by an abyss, the whole side of the hotel having fallen out. With the aid of sheets torn into strips he loavered Mr. Sweede and his wife and baby, who were in an adjoining room, to the street, and followed himself. All round buildings were falling with terrible crashes. Frightful screams were rising -on all sides.

BRITISH SAILORS’ BRAVERY. 4 thrilling”tale of heroism. . (Received Feb. 3, 6.30 p.m.) PERTH, Feb. 3. Captain Owens, tho mate, Mr. Read and thirteen sailors of the Afwen and some Russians went ashore with ropes and ladders to 600 if they could save any on the high buildings, they hcaid little children crying piteously on a building which was ready to collapse. Mr Read reared a ladder against the lowest balcony, and then turned to Smith, one of his seaman and said, “Now, Smith.” It seemed like sending the man to certain death, but Smith without a word was up the ladder and on to the first balcony, where he caught a stone lowered by means of a string by the children. To the string he attached ahg l ne _ The children hauled this. up and made it fast. Thence lie climbed on the crazy ruin, and found so many children that ho could not manage all himself. Captain Owens turned to Mr. Read, who instantly went P to Smith’s assistance. One by one they lowered the little creatures m safety. Mr. Read’s, next feat was to release si woman buried to the wan* in the ruins while a fire was blazing ' all round. With a saw he cut a