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FALLING WALLS , Awaka the People of Messina Who Fled to Die IN FIRE AND FLOOD Awful St'oiios Witnessed by Few Survivors of lCurthquako Who Are ltutionul to Tell of Tlieir Fvptriencos?Thousands of People laterally Tumbled Out of Homes. Catania. Dec. L'O.?The following graphic story is told by a woman who arrived here from Messina this morning, badly injured: " 'Infernal' is the only word that will adequately describe the fearful and terrifying scone," she said. "When the llrst shock came, in^sl of the city was fast asleep. I was awakened by the rocking of the house. Windows swayed and rattb'd and crockery and glass crashed to the floor. The next moment i was violently thrown out of my bed to the floor. 1 was half stunned but knew that the only thing to do was to make my way out doors. The streets were tilled. Kverybodv had rushed out 5n their night clothes, heedless of the rain falling in torrents. Terrified shrieks arose from till sides, and we heard heartrending appeals for help from the unfoitunate pinned beneath the ruins. "Walls were tottering all around us, and not one of our party e\p? clod to escape alive. My brothers an 1 sisters were with me, and in a frenzy of terror we groped our way through the streets, holding our own against the panic-stricken people-, clambudng over piles of ruins, until we finally reached a place of comparative safety. Hut this was not done before 1 | n ii.-t mi ui;n UUWII illl'l Dildl.V I II .1O l'( I l?y a piece of furniture that fell out of the upper story of a house. "All along the road we were jostie<l by fleeing people half clad litre ourselves. The houses seem -d 'to he crashing to the ground in whatever direction we turned. "Suddenly the sea began to pour into t,h'e town. It seemed that this inus.t mean the end of everything. 1"ife on-coming waters rolled in a 'huge wave, accompanied by a terrifying roar. / "The sky was aglow with the rc#-*" Hoot ion of burning palaces and other buildings, and as if this was not enough, there suddenly shot tip into the sky a huge hurst of flame, fol lowed by a crash that seemed to shake the whole town. This probably was the gas works blowing up. "Eventually we reached the principal square of Messina. Ue??* we found two or three thousand utterly terrified people assembled. None of us knew what to do. We waited in agony of fear. Men and women prayed, groan*d and sh'Meked. I saw one of the big buildings fronting on Hie square collapse. It seemed to me that scores of persons were buried beneath the ruins. Then I lost consciousness and 1 remember no more." A wounded soldier from Messina said: "The spectacle was terrifying beyond words. Dante's 'Inferno' gives you hut a faint idea as to what happened yesterday morning at Messina. The first shock came before tl e sun had risen. It shook the city to its very foundations. Immediately the houses began to crumble. Those of us who wore not killed at once made our way over undulating floors to the streets. Beams were crashing down through the rooms and the stairs were equally unsafe. "I found the streets blockaded by falbm houses. Balconies, chlmni-ys. I>el! towers, entire walls had Icon thrown down. Front every side of me arose the screamings and moan-: tugs of the wounded. The p-ople were half mad with excitement and fear. Most of them had rn-dted out in lltirlil nlnl lino In ?i litll/i while v'? wore all shivering uinl -r a torrential downpour of rain Kvoryw lie re there were dead bodies, nude, disfigured nnl mutilate 1. in the ruins I could see arms and legs moving helplessly. From every quarter came piteous appeals for aid. "The portion of the town down near the water was Inundated by rite tidal wave. The water reached to the shoulders of the fugitives and swept them away. "The city hall, the cathedral anl the barracks crumbled, and other public buildings and dwellings without number were literally razed to to the ground. There were two hundred customs agents at the barracks; only 11 were saved. At the railroad station only eight out of 200 employes have been accounted for. "Many of those who succeeded in escaping with their lives are incapable of relating their experiences coherently. I questioned all who were in a condition to taiV. Most of them told the same story. They said the first thing thoy knew iliey were thrown out of bed, and amid crashing ceilings and falling furniture managed to make their way to the street. Then In the blackness of night and amid a pouring rain that added to their horror and distress, MANY CAS MS. riiirtcon People to 1h? Tried for Their Lives. Greenville, Dec. 31.?The first jlrcult court for the year 1909 wl'l he the court of general session which convenes on tlx* third Monday in January. Judge S. \V. (J. Shlpp will preside and this will be his first appearance in Greenville. Solicitor Don ham will also mase his first appenranee in his official capacity a? this term and the new sheriff anil clerk of court will make their debut. There are on the docket for trial at this term of court 13 nturdecases. The murder record of the county for the past three months .ias been alarming. Those who will stand trial for their lives are: Hud Gambrell, colored, who Is charged with killing a negro by the? name of Jackson; Posy Harton, white, who is charged with the murder of Abe Dill, white; Jess Harrison, who is cnarged with the nnir ler of Fred Ruble, white; Tad Foster, colored, who is charged with the murder of Cootie llill; (ins Drown, colored, who is chaivred with Die murder of John Swinger: Will Dritton, while, who is charged with the murder of Jim ?>urgiss, whit' : Sam Hurnslde, colored, who is charged with the murder of Arch Dock, colored; Will Kvatis and lOarle Wilson, colored, who are charged with the murder of Jim Miller, colored! Vice flniiiiinn > i-" et ...... ..... ...... I .... I ..1 , 1 i\FV . V ! I <\ |>" mnn. I,r*e Perkins and Wiss SuPlvan, colored, who are charged wi'h the murder of .Jo.11 McfJedana. white; Policeman Hendriz Hector, charged . it h killing a negro burglar; . negro man hv the name or Hoslry, charged with killing bis wife, and the ease against Koviey will prohahly bo railed at this term. * (iAvrc nim <jooi> dosic. Drunken Negro Terrorized Occupants ??f Street Car. Augusta, Oa., Jan. 1.?T,. .T. Murray. a negro, was arrested Thursday by Oirieer Hrltt for disorderly eonduet. A street car conductor testified that, the negro requested him to ring the bell for him to get off. when the ear was at the station. He rang tlie hell, hut the ear did not stop until it reached the next street. The negro started to cursing. and several ladies, who were on 'lie car, became excited and wanted to get off. Officer Hritt was near and seeing the disturbance he arrested he negro. The recorder fined the negro $100 or 90 days for being (lis,*...1 ^..1 f * - 1 wiwiiiv. in* was aiso do utld over to the city court Friday fur using obscene language on a street car. Pond was flxed at $ t f>0. * OUKATFST Ql'AKK OX RFCORD. Displacement of lOarth's Crust Monday was ltiggost Known. St. Petersburg, Jan. 1.?M. Stolling. an attache of the Russian Meteorological Observatory, declares that according to his observations, lateral displacements of the earth's crust, attaining on the instruments one-half of a millimetre, in the greatest record since the intrduction of seismography. This was made the day Calabria and Sicily were devastated. M. Stelling is secretary of the international seismic commission. * Killed by Fating Class. Now York, Dee. P,0.?Samuel Van Dorn, the 18-year-old son of Abra ~ is-.i? 11<i i11 \ ?i f i i /w i ii* ii in*m i/f 11 \ i 11 ^ nil Hockawnv Road, Jamaica, died Wednesday of peritonitis. The last thin?' lie said was: "Dad, I bet 'Jim* Smith a month ago that could eat a drinking: glass. He bet a dollar that I could not. I won my bet, and my dollar's spent, so what do I care if 1 do die?" Van Horn bought a tins for hD best girl with the dollar. Killed by Cave In. Rirmingham, Ala., Dec. 28.?Two dead bodies have been recovered and eight more are known to be buried in an immense cave-in of a trench at the blast furnace plant it Hnslvv early tonight. Several other laborers were injured as also two foremen, who were superintending the job. Most of the dead wer forigners. Very Foolish Hoy. Rome, Oa., Dec. 28.?Clifford Clark, 10 years old, committed suicide here today.by drinking an ounce of carbolic acid. He had been paying attentions to a young woman of Rome for the past several months, and because site did not reciprocate h! Si nffortinn tin lincnmn <loei\r?i dmit they rushed blindly away amid the crash of tumbling buildings and the shrieks and groans of those burnol In the ruins. Many while trying to escape were struck down by falling balconies and masonry, ai d still many others lost their reason and are today wandering almlostdv in the open fields outside the cry or up and down the ruined streets they knew so well. "The looters and the robbers were shot down by the soldiers." It has heen proposed here to remove all the survivors of Messina to Catania. SCORES LEADENS I LACK OF IN'TKKKST IX KDUCATIOXAL MATTKKS. Koix>rt? From Seventeen CV>unties Show That Sn|>criiitemlcntM An' Not Working for Self-Improvement The Stato says Prof. W. H. Hand of the University of South Carolina at the meeting of the State Teachers' Association Thursday morning, scored the county superintendents for falling to give his committee sufficient data upon which to hare a re|>ort upon the County Teachers' Association and bemoaned lack of interest in the work. Prof. Hand said in part: "The student of educational conditions in South Carolina can not hut he impressed with the profound indifference manifested towards school matters by men supposed to rive their tnougiH, trine ana attention to education. Live men constituted the committee appointed to make this report. Nearly two monts ago the chairman of the committee asked each of his four associates to take eight specified counties and assigned himself to 10 constics, as the fields for gathering data. A questicifalro' with specific questions wa,S sent to each county with the request that it he filled out and I r' turned promptly to a certain met :her of tin* committee. The chairman received a few prompt repliej: a second request brought one mor \ while three counties have disregarded even the third request. The chairman presumes that the other members had similar experience, since one has reported six counties, another on three counties, another on one county, while the fourth member has made no report at all. In all we can report on 17 counties. These are: Abbeville, Aiken, Ratubcrg, Reaufort, Calhoun, Chester. Colleton, Dorchester, Green wood, Hampton, L aureus, Dee, Newbeny. Orangeburg, iiiehland, Saiuda and Sumter. Of these 17 counties only in have active associations Abbeville, Colleton. Dorchester, Greenwood, Laurens. Lee. Newberry, Orangeburg. Richland and Saluda. Only four of those give the actual membership of their respective essociiit Ions ? Groenw ood, Iain reus. Kit bland and Saluda aggregating 74 men and 108 women, or a total membership of 182. One county, Newberry, reports a continuous e>ci>ur.:-oe of its association of 2D years; Laurens comes next with eight years; one county foilvears; the others two years and less The number of meetings each year ranges from live to nine. Only one county has an organized systematic programme running from month to >i?ih nerhaps, throughout the year. The others report a miscellaneous program me, "Here are some of the comments made bv those reporting for the associations, the county superintendents: "Not in a very flourishing condition; little interest taken.' "] he issociation is doing good work for hose who attend.' 'Have had a hard struggle to organize.' 'Ha? been of great benefit to teachers and the schools. 'A hard matter to keep the association alive; those who attend regularly take a good deal of interest ' 'Now doing fine work.' 'Attendance the very best.' ikmv are some of the comments made t>v those reporting without an association: 'Am sorry to say we have i!o association.' 'The country and city teachers did not mix well. 'We have no teachers* association, but we have a school improvement association which is doing tine work.' This Inst comment was made hy two counties without a teachers' issoeintion and one can fail to he struck with the idea, as is so oft n ! h e case, that the men have left <ho women to do all the work. "If the reports from these 17 counties are to lie taken as a fair index to the self-improvement going on throughout the State, then it must he admitted we are in a he 1 way. Our people Itako so little on ins to get together data about ft " most imnortniit matters that it is v! t?i the greatest difficulty that one can learn anything definite about the most vital itorosts to ourselves Next, what information wo have hero leads us to conclude that our teachers are not organized to do service to themselves and to the children they essay to tench. No ? county can afford td lose the opportunity of organizing its teachers into a hand of truth seekers and oo, workers In a cause worthy of the .'>? that is in men and women o' .exalted purpose." * > T??e Commercial Standing of a Town. In a great measure the commeteial standing of a town is reckoned ' according to the number and value ' of its business enterprises; its mora. 1 standing, according to the number and power of its institutions, er! erting a good influence as opjjosod 1 to those exerting a had. These things being true, it should he the intent of tlie citizens of Orangeburg 1 to encourage such new enterprises as tend in any way to make th^ place letter; for a town is greatly what Its citizens make It, nothing more and nothing leas. % , y NKCltOKS WAR OVKll TAFT In Atlanta, <ia., Where Ho Is t<? Address Tliein. Atlanta, Cla., Dec. 31.?The nogroes In Atlanta are at war over the entertainment of Judge Taft. The president-elect has made airangenients to speak to the negroes of the city during his visit to Atlanta. Bishop Oatnes, who is the leader of tho swell negroes, made ar rnngements for Mr. Taft to speak at Big Bethel church, which will nold nhout 1,000 people, and the r. in- r became prevalent that he intended to arrange the attendance so that only negro professors, lawyers, doctors and, In fact, the beet of the negro society, could attend the meeting. H. L. Johnson, a lawyer, made arrangements for Mr. Taft to speak at Turner's Tabernacle, which will seat about 5,000, thus giving the poor negroes or Atlanta a chance to hear the president-elect. Committees were appointed bv the two parties and they have been negotiating for the past 'our or five days, the feeling growing more and more Intense with each day. Fl ally the negroes of both factions decided to submit, the matter to the Nti.anta Chamber of ? * v>/ inuriw U> setile the question. * wn.ii raise iii(j sr>t. Red Cross lias Sent One Hundred Thousand Dollars. Washington, Deo. 31.?Active work on the part of the American Red Cross characterized the day. \pproximately $100,000 already lias been made available by it from previous funds or has been promised, much of which already has been cabled to the American embassy at Rome to be turned over to the Italian Red Cross Society. * Among the contributions to one of $23,000 from the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association. The Governors of Illinois. Wisconsin, Nu\v York, Virginia and New Hampshire, have issued appeals for contributions. President Roosevelt will subscribe $300 toward the relief fund. * held for six years. At Least That Is the Talc Told b.v a Roy. Vol." . a.uuniil, 11 il., I >00. ?, 1 . T. F. Ramsey, a well-known farmer of brooks county, was arrested by Deputy United States Marshal Sutlou j and brought to this city under a charge of holding u negro boy in a state of peonage. The negro boy's name is (Jus Scott, and he alleges that he has been held for six years as a slave. During that time, ho says, he has received only nine dollars for his services. It is alleged by the prosecution in the case that two or three times the boy ran away, but that Ramsey followed him and brought back to his home and kept him thero. * Thought lests. Poverty is the Devil's best grab- t book. Poverty is the devil's best grabbook. When debts increase the devil laughs. The more you renovate a skunk the "worser" he smells. There is some good in everybody, so don't despair of humanity. The woman who dresses best Is usually hated most by other women. Dot you a home. Patriotism doesn't thrive in boarding houses. Report says the walking shoe is having a "good run." A man never fools right when llO loft Lying is an art which the politicians have almost reduced to a science. it' the tax dogors were all in jail ?well, we would soon build the jails with the taxes they dodge. 'idle one that has the biggest nose not always knows the most. The sweetest faces often hides a bad disposition. The milk man is quite often found riding on the water wagon. Hood looks are Hooting and of hut few years, but good thoughts live forever. Hroken promises are the mile posts the road that always goes down hill . .1 Should Not Change. Too many men who before their marriage were always particular to get out of the buggy and help the young woman in, may be observed a ew years after marriage sitting i'. he wagon while the good wife clambers in over the wheel as best she may. There is something wrong when the man is less thoulghtful of his wife than ho was of his sweetheart, and every husband w'y gumy or it should lot one of hl8 Nov Your resolutions ho a determination to treat his wife as ho did his sweothoart. Consul Iiost. Washington, Doc. 30.?The State department received a dispatch from Consul Gayle, at Malta, saying that the consulate at Messina has heen totally destroyed and Colonel Cheney and his wife and official family all lost their lives. Their bodies ave still In tho ruins of tho consulate. WILL NOT CURF (d OH PRKVKNT HOGS FROM HAV- a ING CHOLERA. a The National Agricultural Departh ment Warns Farmers Against Certaln Cure Alls. " 8 "IlruHchottiuls Hob Cholera Vaccine' and "Hog Cholera and h Swine Plague Serum" have been tested by the department of agriculture and found to bo worthless for n n the purpose for which they are manufactured. Both products are dls- v trlbutod by the Sorby Vaccine Com- c pany, 163 Randolph street, Chicago, and are extensively advertised in ag- ? ricultural paper. t The act of congress making appropriations for the agricultural do- v partinent for last year contained a r ? ?' provision that the secretary of agriculturo was authorized to purchase v in the open market samples of all ^ tuhurculin serums, antitoxins, or analogous products of foreign or domestic manufacture, which are mid in the United States for the detection, prevention, treatment or ' Mire of diseases of domestic animals, 4o test the samq and to publish the -esults of the tests in such manner as they may deem best. Exercising this authority, samples of the prep- j nations mentioned above, which are widely advertised as preventives of holera and plague In swine, were 1 purchased and tested. The report of he tests is in part as follows: "In testing this product the direc- v 'ions for use furnished by the dis ributors were carefully followed. The test was made by injecting healthy pigs with Bruschettini's hog cholera vaccine, and after the lapse if ten days, placing those pigs in nens with hogs affected with the hog ' "holera. All of the treated hogs remained well until exposed to disease in this way. After this exposure they all contracted the disease within tlie usual time exhibiting typical ' symptoms, and all finally died, ^ showing at autopsy typical lesions of hog cholera." The statement of the department concludes: "These tests indicate that neither < Bruscho1 tiui's Hog Cholera Vaccine nor Bruschettini's Hog Cholera and Swine Plague Serum are reliable cents for protecting hogs from hog cholera." Which is no doubt useful infor- I ination for mrtny farmers, even I though it is bad grammar for a government executive department to use. * The Editor's Prayer. y I would flee from tin1 city's rule and law?from its fashions and forms cut loose?and go whore the strawberry grows on its straw, and the gooseberry grows on its goose; where the catnip tree is climbed by the cat as she clutches for her prey. the guileless and unsuspecting rat, > on the rattan bush at play I will watch at ease the suffron cow and the eowlot in their glee, as they neal in joy from bough to bough 011 top of a cowslip tree; and list wlii'e the partridge drums his drum, and I the woodchuck chucks his wood, and the dog devours the dogwood plum in the primitive solitude. O, let me drink from the moss grown pump that was hewn from a pumpkin tree! Eat mush and milk from a rural stump, from form and fashion free?new-garnered mush from the mushroom vine and milk from | the milkweed sweet?with luscious pineapples from the wine! Such food as the gods might eat! And f then to the whitewashed #1 ... XI Ullll.v I II ( turn, whore the dairy maid hastening liios her ruddy and goldrod but- v tor to churn from tho milk of her ?: butterflies; and I'll rise at morn with tho earliest bird, to the fra- I grant ferns-yard pass, and watch t while fhe farmer turns his herd of grasshoppers out to grass. Southern States pl-cv iyieich\nery Plumbing riiOM OOLUMB if its GIBBE Watch this spa k?t; capacity weight 660 lb Nn^^nH COLUMBIA 8 ) Points rur?Kru|)lis. As a rule thieves display more iscretion than honest men do. The good form displayed by many . woman is due to her dres3mahor a Most of the average mail's laughs m re inspired by his own alleged wit. The reason the average man can e so satisfied with his brains is h$ asn't any. Even a man who profv'rs a prize ght will lie a'*out how he enjoys raad ojiera. A woman can always convince erself you are in love with her lines* you are. It sometimes happen that a girl lay get rid of a persistent suitor by larrylng him. More people have been civilized flth the bathtub than with the Ten Commandments. A mean itrlek for a man to play 11 a girl who rejects his proposal is o take her at her word. Not until the undertaker gets busy kith a man does he cease to be untopular with his relations. Everv man likes to imnr ? WW 4?V/I?I 1* VT IOU /oman talk?because she always alks to him about himself. When you hear a man boasting f what he is going to do it won't ake you long to enumerate the hings ho lias done. CLASSIFIED COLUMN x) OhlK.NTAh l(l(i COMPANY, It) I Cathedral St., Baltimore, Mil. We make you handsome and durhle Rugs from your old, wornout arpet, any si^o to lit a room or hall. >et us send you a price list; Just /rite for one Yanted?Laundry, agents; liberal terms, best work, new management. Sumter Steam Laundry, Sumter, S. C. want a hustler in every city and town in South Carolina. 1 have a proposition that will interest you. John A. Young, Mgr., Columbia, S. C. >hop l>y Mail?Send for our Catalog of bargains, it's free. 10. Dowda & Co., Mail-order Merchants. Box 02. Atlanta, (la., Cabbage Plants, .garden plants, grown in the open air, will stand the coldest weather. Prions, one to four thousand, $1 f,0; four to nine thousand, $1.2.1; nine thousand, $1 per thousand. We have special express rates Write us for our agent's on'tit and proposition. X. II. Hlitcn Co., McgPl>! ts ft C lorornct t riinl.- f.,,.??? 0., ?v.-, ^ . , V ,,vy || i {-,V UC I 1 IIV l\ Kil ill in tho world. bVanted to Buy?Five hundred to one thousand bushels mixed clav peas; must be free from Whlppoorwills and speckled peas; will give highest market price. I. M. Pearlstine & Sons, 20 1-2 03 East Hay street, Charleston, S. C. Vegetable Plants?Cabbage, Lettucn, Bermuda Onion, Tomato, PeppeEgg Plant and Sweet Potato; the finest in the South. Catalogue free. T. K. God bey, Waldo, Fit. Sarins For Sale?Large list of farms for sale in different sections of the country; also owner's name. Free for .the asking. T. M. Boa?? Lock Box S2, Calhoun, (la. WHAT IS HOME WITH OFT MF SIC? >on't say, "can't afford an Organ or Piano. We will make you able, granting 'rom one to three years to pay for >ne. We supply the Sweet Toned, wurd>le Organs and Pianos, at tho tow>st prices consistlont with quality. Write at once for Catalogue, Vires and Terms, to the Old Esaid ished MALOXF M I'SK' IIOFSE, Columbia, S. C. Supply Company IA. B O S IT IS GOOD UP AND TAKE NOTICE! 8277-filftW|'"'iiii.iivcmt 1. - wv r. Hit s la 11 <> oYl n 'l I *V" fjJ| ICT<>K <1 nsol I no Kntrini1 uml U-in. KAllM A "ION FRENCH RUHURTONKCorn Mill with ? In. 4-plv belt, all ready to run. Capacity of mill ft to tabic meal or f> to VW bu. Feed per hour Terms $50.00 r bal caslinvrntnst II U CIBBES MACHINERY CO. >ii'ir?nt'-i"t Machinery." Dot ilil. Columbia. S. ,ce next week. ? a Shingle Mill. rloed power feed shingle mill on the mar8,000 to 16,000 shingles per day, 4 to 10 H. P.{ s. Carriage has automatic return motion. EST GOODS ? BEST. PRICES** rite us for eloee price quotations. UPPLTCO. . . COLUMBIA, 8. C,,