The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-11-19 00:00:00

THE CAPTURE OF DIJON.

We (London Standard) have been favoured with the
following from a reliable correspondent
_ _

Dijon, Nov.
_2.

"My deer Children—lt Is Wednesday, ten a.m lam
alone, your father and brother having gone to the int;srment
of our people who fell on Sander •Iu ! how many widow.!
how many orphans I Nearly all the profess°rn are fallen.
11. P was killed in the street on quilting a shop. Your father
wee going at the same hoer to the Prefecture, but seeing the
cannon.balls rolling over the Place St. NlCholes he refereed
home running, and arrived here safely. Oh, It we's only by
the grace of God that we were re-united. he eneny hate
tot 300 men ; our own losses Ida not know yet, hilt yoyq
brother wee not among them. lam interrupted by the tune'
fag of "le funeral cortlge of our brave General Faucounet, to
whom the German commander rendered the honours of war.
Oh, what broken hearts, what tears, what distress everywhere !

"I wrote to you on Sunday as soon as we could come up
from the cellar., hoping that the last train would leave for
Beaune that night, but I know now that my lett, did not
go till Monday even ng. gh, when Old It reach >out Poor
children, your father and I were so happy in thinking that
you would hear of our safety. Unhappily our anthontlea,
thinking that the enemy were not menacing Dijon, sent
25,000 of our men to ileaune the previous Saturday. Then
came the aurprise at flimsy, when our troops were hastily
recalled from &MUM). About 0,000 started instantly, but
alas too late, the train which conveyed them waa obliged
to fall back upon Beaune, the engine being stopped by the
shells and cannon-balls which rained upon the railway and
town. The enemy aurrounded the town from the Porte St.
None as far as the octrol on the Route d'Abuy, where they
entrenched themselves behind the wall. Cannon were posted
at Ls Fontaine del Salaam, and fighting was going on uudor
the chestnuta near the Porte St. Pierre, and In the whole
quarter.

'Jut imagine, hardly had your brother and I quitted the
house of Madame M. Rue Bt. Nicolas, when the Germans
knocked at the gates and brought in their wounded ' the
three .toreya were full at once. The Franc-tireurs had en.
trenched themselves In the courtyard of the house, the
Germans rushed In, and a frightful carnage ensued, a com-
plete butchery. Meedarnes to. were almost mad with terror.
Toward, evening the officers who had placed the wounded la
the house said to the ladles, ' You have tuccoared our
wounded, now we will reward you by .ending you away
with them, as we are going to burn the city.' The
ladies were greatly alarmed, as they had to pass under
the fire of the cannon; at hut they ventured, being fur-
nished with an escort for the wounded, with whom they
passed the night at Mlrande, a small village close by. On
Monday your father and I went to their house to rearrange
it, and found everything destroyed, and the whole piece
one pool of blood. The Germans had gone into all the
adj lining houses and set fire to the beds with torches. They
then fired several houses to give themselves light, ana
threatened to burn the whole city. Our good old bishop,
who you know is near 80, traversed the streets at midnight,
in spite ef the continued firing, to implore grace for the
city.
The authorities were discussing terms all the night, and
on Monday the treaty was signed. The German com-
mander said that Dijon had defended Itself moet bravely,
and that he had supposed it contained a larger force. When
the treaty wee signed the Germans entered the city with our
Mayor at their head in a cartilage. This the; demanded as
a measure of security. Then they traversed the city without
01141 C, for which I was very tharikinl. Nothing was heard
hut the regular step of the horses and rues. While they
were passing every one cried out, "Ab, th«y are only men
with grey hair and boys of la or 11." At first they
took a. guerantee for their safety twelve hostages.
Afterwards they substituted 500,040 Canes as caution
money, and demanded, riot only contributions of war, but
food and lodgings for 25,000 men. With regard to the lodg-
ing, it Is impossible to understand what system they follow.
Some quarters are most heavily charged some not at all.
M. B. has 20 billeted upon him, M. S 18, M. L. 40, M. C. 7,
and so on. This morning the enemy threatened to bombard
us anew, because the whole 500,000 francs had not been paid.
Yon know the town Is not rich and our richest people have
left long ago. Ultimately the sum was found, with immense
difficulty.
Dear children, you can never picture to yourselves the
Change in your dear Dijon—your beloved birthplace. Every-
where the silence of death reigns—not that of night, or even
of deep mourning, but an actual silence of death No vehicles
of any kind, all the horses having been taken by the enemy ;
no passengers in the sine!. no postmen or newsvenders, the
bureau de poste and news offices being closed ; not even the
milkwoman now—we mutt make our chocolate with water,
and are glad to have even that AU the shops, cafes,
restaurants, clubs, and cabarets are doted by German orders.
Everything is triste—so triste. The gas is not lighted, only
a few oil lamps suspended across the streets, all shutters
closed, no one In the streets eare here and there the Germen
patrols on horseback. We have become so nervons that the
slightest sound, a door banging, a rifle shot, startles us. At
every Instant we think we hear again the booming of those
terrible cannon. Oh, how frightful is war, and what untold
miseries follow lasts train."