Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-10-30
]ONE MEMORY OF SEDAN.
The Interesting Story of Brave
Fight Under the Most Hopeless
Circumstances.
French Soldiery Held a House Against
German Troops Until the Last
Cartridge Was Expended.
The Riddled Walls Of the Building
Attest to the Heroic Bravery of
the Frenchmen.

GDe Il
The small distorted house. on the gable
end of which is the nouice In large letters.
4 la defniere cG1tOucke; nbsee de Bdeeil-
las, was held by handful of men against
the German troops during TWO long sum-
mer days. and only when the last cartridge
was spent did the gallant little stronghold
surrender, says writer In Cornhill. All
around Sedan, but chiefly IN the valley of
the Meuse, those terrible days were passed
in bitter battle; and when this tiny fort
ress was reduced the emperor of the
French gave himself up as prisoner, the
Second Empire was at an end, and a bril-
liant chapter In the history OF France was
closed. The valor of the French and
the forbearance of the Germans must for
ever excite our admiration. The elderly
woman to whom la derniere cdrtOuche be-
longs, and who resides ON the ground
floor with her pretty daughter, did not
even hint at any excess or outrage. or
even violence, on the part of the Germans.
There was no bitterness in her tone, nor
in the word or manner of any of the per-
sons to whom | spoke-a fact as credItable
to the conquerors as to the conquered.
This lady first showed me over the musee,
a room in which are preserved all the
debris found on the battlefeld-a curious
medley of the pathetic and ludicrous.
There are kepis, and the heads which wore
them lie close at hand in the crypt; there
are musbets, and the fingers which WELD
ed them, stiffened In the death-clutch,
and may now be seen, a few unstrung
bones; there are swords, bayOnets, mitrail-
leuses, medals an0 crosses once worn on
gallant breasts; relics of Uhlans, of
LOuaves, Of Francs-tireurs; a rifle of
American make, which must have been
carried by some volunteer from the great
continent.
SOLID BUT NOT BATTERED UNION JACK
belonging to tie English ambulance corps,
and telling of the part taken by England
IN the struggie-a part of charity and
mercy. .also several mitrailleusps, deadly
instruments Of destruction. They are
frames Of iron, but eight inches square,
from which twenty cartridges can be fired
at the same moment. Of the attack
brought to bear on this little house the
marks both INSIDE and outside are
very evident. There are holes in the out
er walls into which one could plunge one S
J fist, and small round spots through which
single bullets passed That such mere
} cottage could have beer held for two days
fills one with wonder and admiration.
The old guide gave me much information,
and replied most intelligently to my ques-
tons. She told me that at the war she
, was living with her children then all
quite young The whole of the first of the
memorable two days they took refuge in
cellars. | asked il the Germans kept up
the siege during the night. Sae said
NO." firing ceased at five o'clock, and
recommended at daybreak. These two
, days were August 81 and September l.
this poor woman, with her children, and
| also all the non-combatants of the village.
: fled on foot to the Belgian fronter-a f1lg ht
of sixteen kilometres. Nine miles is not a
, great distance, but to the old and the
feeble, to the women and the children, ii
: must have appeared interminabe The
: homeless, unhappy, bewildered cavalcade
set out in the dusk of the summer evening
, ana could not have arrived much before
: daylight at the neutral frontier. They
, went in the clothes they stood in, taking
nothing with them, the strong leading
, the weak, mothers carrying their babies
girls guiding their grand parents
; AS they passed along the roads where as
, yet the balls had not swept the hedges
, nor the roar of cannon deaf ned the cot
tagers, these fugitives received great kind
: ness. One person would bring out loaf
another cup of milk; and so the
EXILEs MADE THEIR WAY
to the borders of a country which, stand
ing apart from the contest was ready tt
succor the distressed of either side.
She next took me to the upper floor
where the heroes defended themselves sc
long 1t consists of two bedrooms com.
municating, and no one occupies it, every
thing being preserved there precisely as OF
the day of battle The mattresses were
EN- ployed to barricade the windows, ano
The bed curtains used also as shields. But
a thousand holes in the walls showed where
blllets entered; all the furniture bears
marks; an oaken wardrobe has many such
and one especially noticeable where three
holes make one long jagged wound. Sc
tween the two bedrooms is door OF which
f the upper half is glass. 1t has been re-
| placed on its hinges, but the glass re-
, mains broken as on that stormy day.
r These upper rooms held out until the last
, cartridge had been fired, and then the gal
| liant title banG of heroes surrendered.
Afterward when the war was over and the
people of .Bazeilles were on their ground,
| rebuilding and restoring their homes as
best they could, NJ lie Commandment Lam
5 bert set an artist to paint the scene IN
i those bedrooms where the fight was at its
} hottest; the place was done from TIE facts,
as it might be done at this moment, the
| smashed glass door, the oak wardrobe. and
J all the other surroundings; the figures
: were painted under the personal direction
: of M. Lambert, on whose heart must be a
more vivid picture than any which pencil
} and brush can supply. The artist rep
resentation is very life-like, and has been
? engraved and photographed, but In the
the latter form all the objects have been
reversed, the broken door on the right Is
: really on the left; the wardrobe on the left
is really on the right, and so on. The old
woman who shows la dernlere cartouche
obtains payment for her trouble by the
sale of photograph said adieu to her
and went out, feeling more intimately than
ever before how warfare concerns not only
those who fight but those who
STAND ASIDE AND SUFFER,
not only the men who lay down their lives,
but the women who lay down their hearts
on the battle field. Twenty years had
softenPd every harshness; the old guide
vas calm. and made happy by few
francs: tie air blew sweet, the grass shone
green. the flowers bloomed over the sod
which had been Redeemed by the blood of
two great nations | took the path to the