Fergus County Democrat., 1914-11-19
Of
ANTWE RP CITY
EFFECTS OF THE DESTRUCTION
WROUGHT BY GERMAN GUNS
BEING RAPIDLY EFFACED.
WATER SUPPLY IS STILL BAD

ANTWERP, Nov. 14.-(Correspond-
ence of the Associated Press. y
"KOokt NV Water!" is the warning
posted over the dead walls Of Antwerp
and upon the windows of the thousands
of closed shops. In English this is
boil your water!" Beneath the warn
ing is statement signed by Burgo-
master de Vos, in which he explains
that because of the pollution of the
city's water supply there is danger of
typhoid and other maladies.
The water still has decided brack-
ish taste and is full of sediment, due
to the cutting of the water supply by
the Germans when they were besieging
Antwerp. Belgian engineers, who had
anticipated such stroke, gave the
city partial water supply by turning
the water of the River Scheldt into
the mains. This made it possible to
fight the fires caused by German bombs
and probably saved the city from
burning. However, the polluted salt
water from the river is wholly unfit
for domestic use and it will be months
before the city's supply mains and its
pipes will be cleansed of the impuri-
ties left by the temporary water sup
ply.
German officers are supervising the
cleaning up of the city in all sections.
The debris Of buildings wrecked by
shells is rapidly disappearing. Streets
and walks are being cleared and in a
short time only the shattered walls and
roofs of ruined residences will remain
to show what destruction the lombard
ment caused.
Soldiers are restoring the breast
works and clearing the forts of debris
that they may be ready in case the
allies should force the Germans back
toward the Scheldt This activity of
the Germans makes residents of Ant
werp very nervous, especially the
younger men, who fear they may be
impressed into service in case an en-
ergency defense of Antwerp is neces-
sary
German engineers may be seen in
all the suburbs directing surveys. Bags
of sand stacked near the leading gate
ways by the Belgians so as to afford
cover for the city's defenders have
not been removed. 1t is rumored that
all the roadways entering the city
have been secretly mined by the Ger
mans.
| Automobiles are not permitted to
enter Antwerp, and the only railway
trains approaching the city are from
Roosendaal in Holland. These trains
are forced to stop at Merzem, sub.
urb three miles from the main portion
of Antwerp. All passengers are care,
fully scrutinized by German officers
and soldiers who examine all passports
The trains stop in the center of {
field half mile from highway and
passengers are forced to walk along
a path flanked with plain clothes men
and soldiers. Streets cars are not per.
mitted to operate in the outer sections
of the city and passengers from Mer
zem must walk or ride in carriages
for mile and half and pass sentries
on two bridges before they can avail
themselves of street car.
Before leaving the city, Belgians are
required to have their passports stamp
ed by both Belgian and German Of
ticials who are constantly at work in
various parts of the city handling the
papers of crowds which file through
the lines of German soldiers standing
on duty with fixed bayonets.
WAELHEM, Belgium, Nov. A.
Correspondence of the Associated
Press.)-No point in the outer circle
of Antwerp's Notifications was as
stubbornly contested as Fort Waelhem
It's resistance to the German heavy
guns was due to the comparatively
little masonry in it's construction. II
was an old-fashioned fortification
largely earthwOrk.
1t was demonstrated here that the
shells from the German 42-centimeter
guns penetrated little more than a
meter into solid earth. At other for.
tifications shells from these same guns
penetrated concrete and stone to twice
that distance.
The village of Waelhem lies immedi.
ately behind the fort, so directly in
the line of German fire that not a
building in the place, which had 1000
inhabitants, escaped destruction.
A garrison of several hundred Ger
mans is now engaged in repairing the
fort and it's disabled guns. The place
is visited daily by thousands of Bel
gians who wander over the earthworks
furrowed everywhere by German shells
and gather about the mounds which
the Germans have heaped up over
their dead.