The American Red Cross Bulletin (Vol. IV, No. 2, April 1909)American National Red Cross
History
The American Red Cross Bulletin (Vol. IV, No. 2, April 1909)
American National Red Cross
American National Red Cross -- Periodicals; Red Cross and Red Crescent -- Periodicals
From the point of view of actual achievement and also of example
Miss Davis’ feat at Syracuse seems to me the most important single
contribution to the problem of rehabilitating the sufferers from the
Messina earthquake. Her efforts were not limited, however, to giving
employment. With funds allotted by the _Bayern_ Committee she opened
a pension or home for forty-two refugees of the better class, giving
preference to convalescents from the hospitals. Here for the first time
the refugees found soap, brushes, combs, clean clothes, all the articles
of first necessity of which they had been deprived since the earthquake.
The home was so successful that the Marchesa di Rudini devoted most of
the American money which had been given her, to spend at her discretion,
to founding two similar institutions at Nolo and Avola, small towns of
the province of Syracuse. These homes the Prefect of Syracuse promised
to support out of Government funds when the original donations should be
spent. In Miss Davis’ home at Syracuse the moral health of the inmates
was never forgotten. Before the home had been opened a fortnight the
women among the inmates were busy making clothes, voluntarily and without
pay, for less fortunate refugees. Every scheme of Miss Davis served a
double end—practical utility and moral rehabilitation.
Upon my return to Catania I found the _Bayern_ ready to start for Reggio.
During her stay she had not only dispensed relief to Catania and the
environs, but had also supplied the wants of the Taormina and Giardini
hospitals.
REGGIO.
Of our second visit to Reggio I need say little. It was the saddest
place of any, perhaps; nowhere else were the inhabitants plunged in such
a state of complete dejection. There were no adventurers or imposters
at Reggio: only the remains of families, sitting or standing mournfully
among the ruins of their own homes. There was no danger in giving money
to these people; their need was too obvious, their distress too genuine.
We distributed our cargo, gave what help we could, paid a second visit to
Messina and after two days proceeded to Palermo.
PALERMO.
Conditions at Palermo were only less desperate than at Catania. The
refugees numbered about 11,000, of whom about 900 were in the hospitals.
Nearly all of the remainder were in refuges, very few having been taken
into private houses. All the barracks, the prison, half the schools,
several convents, several theaters, and even a number of churches had
been turned into refuges, of which the largest held as many as a thousand
inmates. The city is larger than Catania, with more wealthy residents;
it was therefore better off in many respects. But it suffered, like
Catania, from the want of money from the outside, from the scarcity of
intelligent workers, and from the particular dangers connected with the
refuges.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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