The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1914-10-17
Of S0ISS0NS AS SEEN
BY WRITER ON FIRING Line

screechlng over our heads. We
scarcely knew where to go for safety.
| fearful crash on our right lust be-
hind the hospital showed that the Ger
man range was getting nearer. Some
Vi our party naturally became
alarmed. Then We all crouched down
Aehihd our autos as another shell
"hlstled close to US and dropped in
garden. Two of the spent pieces ac
'ually fell at our feet and a few sec.
oLiu afterwards another spent piece OF
sHel!' sun hot, struck one of our
party on the leg.
II was evident that we were in
great danger. Some one said, "starxi
by the cars"
IL was good job we did not take
'iils advice; but We might have done
II II at that moment a woman at the
doof Of the village wine shop across
tle street had not shouted: Come
inside, for Gods sake."
Flee Into Cellar.
We did not need twice asking
Hardly had We got across the thresh.
oi.i "hen tremendous noise like
million rawhide whips cracking at the
same moment, followed by the noise
OF falling masonry, showed that we
we're IN for regular hombardment
Every body rushed for the cellar.
AS soon as the dust and smoke had
cleared away someone crept ND the
steps TO look out and returned say
lhE one OF the turrets on each side of
n r-a ar1pl
heen completely demolished by the
Iast she'll And still they came, and
there we huddled looking into each
otAer eyes, as we'll as the dim light
would admit. in that little wine cellar
win It's solid vaulted roof that we
| prayed might not give way should
| the house be struck, | shall never
forget the time spent in that cellar.
lhere were twenty-three of us, in
Guiding about seven women of the
village and little boy. We were
there from 1890 a. IN. until little
after noon, with shells dropping all
around US. One dropped five yards
from the door, the shock breaking
every pane Of glass in the house and
making an enormous hole in the road.
| Another shell struck the ground about
twelve feet in front of our cars. just
grazing and mashing portion Of
the village cross
Everything has an end, and we
could hear the shells bursting farther
and farther away. Still it was deemed
prudent to lie low for bit.
Eat as Shells Scream
After time one of the villagers
vent out at rear door and brought
back a big dish of fried clipped po-
Jatoes and bread, SO that with the
vine in the cellar we made hearty,
lunch under the circumstances. We
were very hungry, as we had eaten
nothing since the previous evening.
When it was safe to get out we
found that the shell that dropped near
the cars had burst two tires on the
car l rode in, had smashed all three
bodies and covers full of holes The
cars looked as if they had been pep
pered with machine guns. Luckily
the engines were not damaged in the
least.
The Germans, being deeply in
trenched in old chalk quarries, sort
of natural fortress in the hillsides
overlooking Scissors, continued to
reply to the numerous French guns
with impunity and occasionally to
lombard Scissors and Nauxbuin. Up
TO the time of my leaving this same
thing had been going on for over
week.
Scissors is In pitiable state. The
Germans have not spared its old ca
thedral with its two Gothic spires.
From the rear of the hospital at
Vauxbuin we had fine view of this
grand old landmark One of the
steeples is broken off about half way,
and the other has big hole in the
side, plainly seen three miles off.
passed about four days here.
The artillery firing was terrific from
morning to night, The battle ranges
over an enormously extended front.
saw some shockingly wounded
men while at Vauxbuin. The night
before left five men were brought in
with fearful injuries in different parts
of the body. a German smell nad
dropped among eight artillerymen
serving one of the French guns. The
other three men were killed on the
spot This is just an incident among
hundreds that are happening every day.
At one village passed through,
where the Germans had left 160
wounded, most of whom were brought
in under cover two days after the
battle by the French, the doctors
asked me, implored me, to try and get
some milk for the wounded. Nearly
all the cattle have been driven out
of the country to safer places or have
been requisitioned either by the Ger
man or the French forces. Many
lives are lost on both sides through
1sxx, ard loxal attQnfinra affaE