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Newspaper
Fort Wayne Weekly Sentinel
Location
Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States of America
Date
Dec 30, 1908
Page
1
Widespread death and destruction plague multiple urban centers as outbreaks wipe out large portions of populations. Officials report high casualty rates and urge strict containment measures amid scarce medical resources.
Rome reports a vast seismic disaster in Calabria and eastern Sicily. Tens of thousands dead with many more wounded. rescue efforts hampered by ruins and superstition. King Victor Emmanuel and Queen Helena visited Messina, where devastation includes churches, barracks, and the station wreckage.
Premier Giolitti receives telegram from Deputy Felice in Messina confirming complete destruction by fire after the earthquake. The deputy estimates Messina’s death toll will reach tens of thousands.
A Calabrian disaster reports Palmi destroyed with about one thousand dead and many injured. Bagnara also suffered heavy losses with substantial casualties. A villa at San Giovanni was flooded 2,500 feet inland. Palmi houses around 10,000 and Bagnara about 7,500.
Dispatch from Catanzarro reports only a few thousand of Reggio's population surviving or escaping harm. Lieutenant General Fiera Di Coassatto orders looters shot on sight. Martial law to govern the earthquake zone. Reggio, eight miles south of Messina, numbered about fifty thousand residents.
Rome dispatch from December 29 states the minister of Marine received a wireless estimate of about fifty thousand dead in Messina. There is no news yet from Reggio as of 5 PM.
The dispatches describe the ruins and inadequate rescue means making extraction impossible. Other reports from Messina claim casualties reaching seventy five thousand, a figure not yet substantiated by verification. The Tribuna publishes the telegram with the alarming total.
Mount Etna near Catania shows considerable activity with loud detonations and heavy smoke. The observatory director links the eruption to yesterday's earthquakes that devastated Calabria and Sicily, though a major eruption is not expected.
Flushing news details Captain Peter C. Hains Jr. and Claudia Hains amid their separation. Samuel C. Reid testifies Captain said his wife confessed loving Annis, signaling mental distress. Reid, linked to Kentucky and Rome royalty, is cited by defense.
Knightstown Indiana December 29 three men were killed and one seriously injured in a head-on collision between two freight trains on the Big Four railroad four miles south of Knightstown. Engines wrecked five cars demolished cause unknown. Victims named include Charles Fisk engineer Wabash John Ramsey fireman Wabash Ray Anson fireman Greensburg John Meyers engineer Wabash badly scalded Brakeman E Wilson North Vernon badly bruised.
A telegram from Messina reports the minister of the interior has learned that bodies of several English travelers and thirty Germans lie buried under the ruins of the Hotels Trinacra Victoria and Bellevue after a disaster.
Princeton Indiana gadb H E Agar fled town last night en route to Texas after facing forgery charges. Bondsmen consented to departure as he reportedly settles affairs in Evansville and St Louis where he met his son Asa. Family plans to follow later with no further demand for return.
The Tribuna in Rome estimates total casualties in Calabria and Sicily at sixty thousand to seventy thousand as of today December 29.
News from Messina reports the Hotel Trinada in Viva Garibaldi was obliterated and about one hundred foreigners, mainly tourists, perished. The once well regarded hotel stood in a popular tourist district.
A Rome dispatch says the Pope has been informed that the whole religious communities of Messina and Reggio including bishops priests monks and nuns have perished in the earthquake and fire.
Reports from Cassano and Cosenza speak of heavy deaths and wounded as a quake destroys cities and towns across Calabria and Sicily. A tidal wave and fires compound the catastrophe with Messina and Reggio described as vast graves. Etna erupts while international relief sails toward the stricken zone.
Mack Lem a leper from China died at Harrisburg Municipal Hospital of tuberculosis after months of lung trouble. He had lived in isolation since July 1908 as the city’s costly, voluntary charge with maintenance often around 175 to 200 dollars per month. He kept a private stove, cooked his own meals, and incurred large bills including a 37.50 charge for cravings from a Chinatown house in Philadelphia.
Indianapolis hosts teachers from across the state for the fifty-fifth annual State Teachers' Association meeting. County superintendents join in statehouse sessions as sections and divisions discuss work, results, and new methods. Retiring president Dr Elmer B Bryan will speak. George W Benton new president will deliver inaugural. L D Harvey of Menominee will discuss education of girls for the home. Sessions run three days.
Evansville Indiana December 29. Robert M Nickels former city council member and Evansville resident for thirty years died at his home at age 65 The obituary notes his long service to the city and ties to Evansville.
County Clerk Joseph N. Mason returned from Indianapolis where clerks auditors and Business Men's club outlined a bill to introduce at the next legislature. It seeks a state inspector with field deputies to check county offices with costs borne by counties and inspectors funded by the state. The plan aims to standardize county business statewide. The Fort Wayne Ladies orchestra will perform for the Modern Woodmen's team during New Year events at the Grand Dancing Academy.
Fort Wayne to host a major waterways convention as the Chicago Cincinnati and Toledo Deep Waterways association forms a parent body at Defiance Ohio. Officers include Arm berry Randall Fox Shepard Conway Logan and plans call for a national event with 1000 visitors and subsidiary groups along the Toledo Fort Wayne Chicago route.
Six applicants from Wheeling West Virginia compete for five spots in the philippine service examination. The contenders include one candidate from Stockbridge and others from distant points.
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