THE WORLD'S MOST CRUEL EARTHQUAKE 



375 



city rising amphitheater-like from 

 the sea with a dazzling whiteness 

 of houses along the water front, 

 which present a picturesque con- 

 trast to the dark, rocky hills cap- 

 ped with castle ruins and forts 

 in the background. The harbor, 

 which is shown in the general 

 view of Messina, is the largest 

 and safest in the kingdom of 

 Italy. It is over 30 fathoms 

 deep, spacious, well furnished 

 with quays, and defended by a 

 fort and citadel. As many as 

 5,000 vessels call here annually, 

 bringing wheat, cotton, wool, 

 hardware, etc., and taking away 

 cargoes of lemons, oranges/ al- 

 monds, silks, wine, essence, oil, 

 etc. 



In the city itself, which con- 

 tained about 150,000 inhabitants, 

 were several wide, handsome 

 streets, including Corso Gara- 

 baldi, Cavour, and Vittorio Em- 

 manuele, all of which are paved with 

 granite blocks and ornamented with 

 statues and fountains. Interspersed be- 

 tween the houses or occupying prominent 

 corners were over fifty churches — the 

 most ancient being the Duomo — a Pa- 

 lazzo Reale and Palazzo Municipali ; also 

 a large hospital (Ospedale Civico), a 

 custom-house, (Dogana), and a theater 

 in which Aida was sung the night before 

 the catastrophe. It was a live city, the 

 harbor and pier being usually full of 

 boats and people, and every hour 

 brought a trainload of freight to be fer- 

 ried across the straits or loaded direct 

 for shipment to foreign ports. 



Its historical record of over 2,000 years 

 includes bombardments during the Punic 

 and Roman civil wars ; also by the Goths 

 and Saracens ; a loss of 40,000 inhab- 

 itants by plague in 1740; an almost com- 

 plete destruction by earthquake in 1783, 

 with a death roll of 29,515 and property 

 loss of $26,000,000 ; another bombard- 

 ment in 1848 and another loss of 16,000 

 by cholera in 1854. In a memoir by 

 Deodat de Dolomien, published in 1784, 

 this earthquake is described as follows : 



American consulate 



) ■ u 



SKETCH OF MESSINA 



Showing principal buildings, the city wall, and sickle- 

 shaped harbor 



"The destructive shock of February 5, 

 1783, was sudden, instantaneous; noth- 

 ing preceded it, nothing announced it ; it 

 broke forth and destroyed at the same 

 moment ; it did not give time for flight ; 

 . . . a larger part of the misfortune 

 of Messina can be attributed to the lack 

 of solidity in the structure of the build- 

 ings." 



Both of these and many more of Dolo- 

 mien's statements are equally descriptive 

 of the recent disaster. Subsequent vio- 

 lent earth tremblings occurred in 1894 

 and 1896, the last important one being on 

 September 8, 1905, and causing a death 

 roll of 529. 



On the opposite side of the straits is 

 Reggio, a seaport of Calabria, 10 miles 

 southeast of Messina. It, too, was a 

 flourishing, opulent city of 45,000 inhab- 

 itants, with spacious streets and beau- 

 tiful buildings and a history similar to 

 that of Messina. Scilla, Faro, San Gio- 

 vanni, Catona, Pellaro, Terresa, and 

 Scallita are other towns which border 

 this luxuriant shore-line and which also 

 suffered destruction. 



