Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1870-10-05
Particulars Of the Siege and Capture of
Toni

LONDON, Sept. 27.-Tribune's Special. Ill
A Tribune correspondent telegraphs to day, |
via Arlon, from the headquarters of Prince |
Frederick Charles: 81 have just returned |
from foul, travelling one day and two |
nights. The investment began August
18th. On the 18th an assault was made on
the works, at point not defended by can
non. 1t was repulsed with q loss of several
hundred to the Germans. Thereafter an
irregular succession of bombardments fol-
lowed, not sufficiently serious to effect
anything. These commenced on the 23d.
The artillery employed was field
pieces and such medieval siege-guns
as had been captured at Marsal.
the Bavarian railroad directors who run
The line between Weissenbourg, Nancy
and Paris, offered to build branch around
Ioul In fortnight but Moltke said: ssNe,
we shall have Toul long before that. y
However, the struggling attack availed
nothing, the fortress having double es-
ca .1ment, with full bastions, no glacis, o
double ditch thirty feet wide reaching oil
around, fully casemated, and defended by
seventy-hye guns, of which twenty-six
were heavy rltied pieces from Strasbourg,
brought thence while yet France intended
to defend Toul in earnest.
| Within the last fortnight heavy siege
guns arriving from Germany were put in
position on spur of Mount st. Michel on
the north, on the heights opposite the Fau-
bourg Ste. Gore on the southwest, and
Aldo Martin les Toul on the southeast.
Nothing serious was then attempted until
last Friday at daybreak. when concen-
trated commandment of the works was be-
gun by 24-pounder batteries of the second
and fourth artillery regiments, supported
| fax1f hot 80 L, fGa>
All these forces form part of the now in
dependent command under the Grand
Duke of Mecklenberg-Sch embracing
all that lie between the armies of Prince
Frederick Charles, and the Crown Prince
--that is all the troops not engaged in the
siages of Metz and Paris. The firing con-
tinued all day Friday with an active but
very Ineffective reply from the garrison. =
In the evening, the town being on fire in
twenty three places, the pressure of the
inhabitants upon the commander induced
him to hoist g white flag and capitulate. =
The offer was Immediately accepted by
Colonel MontiefIel. commanding the seiee
corps, and they entered the town the same
| evening at seven o'clock. The conditions
We're precisely those of Sedan A council
of the municipality held on Friday decid-
ed not to favor a surrender, but the urgen-
| Oy VI sIO ledfiIS uS0IoS s
destruction, completely overwhelmed the
and civil authorities
The garrison was ridiculously weak
sixty cuirassiers, one hundred line. forty
gen d'armes, and two thousand raw Mo-
biles, among them not one regular artillery
soldier. Their commander was Major
Huck, an old cavalryman. German Off
GERS are wroth that such force should
have blockaded the Paris railway, so essen
t1al for transporting supplies, for six weeks
The line becomes now at once com plete.
| Everything had been prepared beyond
Toul for weeks, and trains were running
by horsepower. Only atwelve-foot bridge
near Toul had to be replaced This was
done on the 25th, and yesterday the first
locomotive went through.
| went to TouI on the first inspectors
train that approached the town after the
surrender. Many houses are DESTROYED.
The condition of things is worse than at
Sedan. but not so bad as Bazeiles. The
Gothic chapel of st. Gergoult, of the date
of SIG, is almost ruined. The very impos.
ing Byscantine Cathedral, built as eally as
1872, has only window not demolished.
and its outside battered by score OF
seams. There are very few wounded, and
no sick in Toul. Only two battalions OF
the Nineteenth Infantry remain as a gar.
rison. The prisoners of the Garde Mobile
at that place were released under parole
rot to serve again during the war. The
towns and environs have a picturesque
STYLE Two hundred of the Mobiles had
been trained during the siege to serve the
guns. They did the artillery work; but in
REFRESHING the assault of the 9th all male
inhabitants that could procure arms par
ticipated