ITALIAN EARTHQUAKE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 240, 19 March 1915, Page 2

ITALIAN EARTHQUAKE.

SOMK EXCITING INCIDENTS'. At Avc'ZJ'iuio Court, TUvibi's wife and iivo children had si marvellous escape, after entombed for two days. Tim count tiling to tli«* ruins of his palace, and spurned tin l condolences of sympathisers. Tie was desolved to do everything to extricate his family alive, unci his tenacity was finally rewarded. Oiu- of ihe mosi. im-ideuts of tlie earthquake has reference to 'the saving of a little child by Ki niv Vict-ir, who was visiting Avf-snnno. and while climbing over the ruins he heard a child's voice.

He at once caused a search to he made, and a little <j;irl of three \va* safely rescued. Ihivinu' Vlis 'Majesty's visit a man white with dust, e:nn,- from the debris with a child in his arms. lie stated that lie had escaped without, ;ud from the. ruins of a house of two stories which fell upon him. A heavy table saved him from boinj* crushed. . Tin* Bishop of Sera, who learned Naples of the catastrophe to the town. 1 left Naplofl at once. On his arrival fit Rora lie caused an altar to lie erected on the mills, and celebrated Mass. Ten thousand survivors leadened lo tin* s',K\t. and, kneeling on the debris, list-ned lo Mass. At the elevation another earthquake occurred. The Bishop steadfastly lifted tlie chalice, imploring in a loud voice the mercy of God. Those present responded with anguished cries. Witnesses declare that never could a more tragic scene have been witnessed. Mr A. West, the special representative of the London Chronicle, who made a complete tour of the devastated districts, has sent to his paper a vivid description of the scenes of devastation and death. We make these extracts:--

Directly opposite Avezzano, on the farther bank of Lake Fucino, whose reclaimed lied is now one of the most fertile tracts in Italy, and whose drainage some seismologists believe to have ben a contributory cau'e or tin; earthquake, stands, or rather stood, amidst imposing scenery, the hill town of Pescina. The fact of its being founded on rock did not avert its overthrow. Indeed, from one side only the bold, bare outline of the rock itself remains. Part of the fine baronial castle that crowned its peak crushed upon the underlying buildings on the slopes, and these in turn fell upon others lower still, pulverising everything that lay in their path, and blocking up the liiver Gioveneo, that flows at its base. At the base of Pescin's rock, right, down to the riverbed, the mountain has leapt asunder several yards far a length of 1300 ft. Bystanders told mo that a middle-aged woman was toppl-d ■looft down this slope by the earthquake, -and yet escaped unhurt! Pescina. itself I is, after Avezzano, the worst-fated town [in Abruzzi—a malodorous mausoleum ! enclosing 3SOO dead out of 5000 citizens.

PRIEST KILLED IN lIIR PULPIT. One local clergyman was crashed to dentil in his pulpit; and in another church the parish pnest, clad in Mass vestments, lay dead, tightly clasping the ciborium, for he was struck down while in the act of administering Holy Communion. Two sons of the sacristan of San fliuseppe Church were stunned by fulling stones. When they recovered consciousness they hastened to seek their father, and were horrified on seeing his dead body beside the altar. Maddened with grief, the poor boys rushed xvildly to the bridge over the torrent, and threw themselves into the icy water. An heroic infantry lieutenant, who did not wish his name to be published, slaved single-handed for three days and nights a'mong the ruins of a church to get at the parish priest, Don Filippo dc Tommaso, who was able to converse with him most of the time. At imminent risk to his life, the lieutenant had himself lowered b/ cords 30ft down a hole, at the bottom of which the priest was wedged, and seven hours later he brought out the priest, who, however, succumbed from double pneumonia.

HALF THE POPULATION BUKIED. Sitting upon the nibble of what was once lier cottage, I came upon a halfdemented mother, who kept on wringing her hands and prying "Mia Leila Carmela, mia bella Carmela; see Siginore, iiow beautiful she is." Before her eyes lay the nude body of a girl of 15 and three other bodies. Here, as indeed everywhere, in the track of the Angel of Death T met little companies of weeping Rachaels extolling the virtues and physical comeliness of their dead in that wealth of poetic expression in which the Italian tongue is unsurpassed. A few miles further ilown the road is Ortuceliio, a small city which has experienced many strange vicissitudes since the days when it was sacked by the Saracens. Here about half the; total population were smothered under the falling church while hearing Mass. At a villa inhabited by a rich family named Incarnati, all -perished except, the cook, who was rescued after seven days. She has spurred on the diggers by insisting that she was the lady of the house. The injured taken away to Rome from this place numbered about a thousand.

The vast Abruzzi region is almost devoid of hospitals, and the people are still terrorised by incessant shocks of earthquake, as many as OS of which were counted in the space of 24 hours. Near Montagorvino Rovella Mount Montagnano has split in twain for a length of about 4000 yards, ami a lake of azurecolored water, with a surface of 300 square yards, has been found in a hollow in the ground.. A terribly realistic picture of the desolation of the countryside is given by an Italian correspondent. "We arrived on a magnificent green plain. In the centre was a great grey spot. I asked an old man 'What is that, a stone quarry.? He replied: 'That was Magliano'—an old town which formerly had 4000 inhabitants. Asked 'What are you doing here?' the old man said, 'I have lost all my sons, my nephews, and my wife. Now I am 'waiting for death.' Continuing the journey we saw the facade still standing of a villa, the rest of which had been destroyed. Upon the wall was a placard, 'To let.' "