The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-09-28
WARS RAVAGES.
Scenes About Sedan - Villages Burned and
Thousands of Inhabitants Homeless.

A correspondent writes from Boulllon:-
The Belgian frontier is about three miles outside
Sedan and at that point striking traces of the war
began to be seen. Families who have fled from the
French villages On the approach of the hostile
blown and burned OFF the face of the earth, are
living in the open fields, without evena canvas roof
wicker work made Of the branches Of trees, and only
three or four feet IN height, and as many in width,
the wood reS with with Which they % Warm OT the@seves'
Horses of troopers who were killed in the battle run
about wild. 1 saw hundreds OF them. Many have
wandered up to this town, and from morning till
night the peasants are catching horses. On reaching
La Chapele found still more decided traces OF
the terrible conflict: In the steeple OF the church
there is a cannon ball. Another has left great
hole in the roof, through which it fell to the nave
There are marks of rhe-oals on the fronts OF the
houses and portions OF the accoutrements OF SOL
ders are scattered all over the place. Men lie
wounded in nearly every dwelling Passing from
La Chapelle and pursuing the road to BaZeles by a
slight detour from the road leading direct to Sedan
you see lofty trees, which, smashed by cannon-bas,
have their teps resting on the ground. Dead horses
swollen to immense size, lie in the fields Little
mounds of earth cover dead men, who have been
they fell. On some Of them Prussian helmets have
been placed. At either side OF the road sleeves
of coats legs OF trousers, shakoes cartouche boxes,
and bottles inLumera6le. Hedges are broken at
every few yards distance the trees OF whole orchards
lie nat on the earth, and here and there are large
gaps in the woods where the timber was burnt, or
where troops had cut passage through.
But it was at Bazailles the greatest havoc marked
the final struggle between the Prussians and Mac
Mahons army. The Prussians SGT fire to 1t. A
handsomer or more prosperous village there was not
in the northeast OF France. IL was small, but II
contained an industrious population. Among the
buildings were magnificent church and from
twenty TO thirty houses of considerable pretensions
for village resdences-houses of Caen stone and
having elaborate bronze gates and doors Bazeilles
is now as complete a ruin as PompeiL Indeed,
there are houses at Pompeti in a better state OF
preservation than any at Bazeilles. Not roof or
moor remains in any one OF them. The Prussan shells
did their work well that even the front walls OF
Caen stone have been blown and burnt to fragments,
which now block up the pavement and all but
cover the roadway. Even in the lanes off the main
street every habitatiOn utterly destroyed. No
human being could new find shelter In Bazeilles.
When a troop OF Prussian ancers rode through 1t
Yesterday no sound was heard there but the tramp
ing Of their own horses, and there was not living
| who dWelt there little more than week ago. The
Prussans say they destroyed Bazeilles because the
| inhabitants had fired upon them from the
| houses. This is denied by the French, who
| say that the shots which came from the houses
| were fred by the regular soldiers and the Garde
| Mobile. Be this as it may, destruction was never
to Balan, and also from La Chapelle to Balan, the
country is complete waste. Crops and orcnards
have disappeared, and the farmhouses are rldded
by bullets. Rifles aud cannon both played their part
| at Balan, and thence on to Sedan, distance OF
| about an NEnglish mile. Dead horses abound all
along the route ChassenQts lie about in hundreds,
there are shak0es helmets, and euifasses in heaps
and knapsacks and cartoqcne-ooXes enough Ior
| whole regiment. In the vicinity OF such spoil OBJ
| served scores of men wearing the white badge and
cross whose work was not administering to the sick
! and wounded, but seeking for anything worth ind
ing Some Of them wore soldiers knapsacks. Mum,
befs of these men and other badge-bearers whom
have met about the Eattle-neid art
evidently mere tourists; whle no
a few OF them are downright rascals: have
been told that they have robbed the dead. Some o
them are Misunderstanding enough for anything
Certain OF the societies engaged In the work o.
charity 30 not allow any person 10 aet IoT Ihem Wh'