Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1914-09-03
WHERE FIGHT RACED
Southern AIsace Is Battle Torn
and Devastated.
Correspondent Describes Disastrous
Effects OF What Military Authori.
ties Call insignificant Enooun-
tiers Between Guards.

In southern AlSace, Whclo tho iiSASN
and Germans have been fighting Wig
orously:
Il have just returned from an In
spection OF the scene Of the recent
fighting between the French and Ger
man armies In the southern districts or
Alsace. The dispatches from Paris and
Berlin all describe the engagements
that have taken place between the
French frontier and Muelhausen as In
significant encounters between ao'
vance guards.
If this be true In a military SENSE
aid the preliminaries Of war produce
the terrible results that l have Just
witnessed, then the disastrous effects
of the entire war itself will exceed
the possibilities OF human compre-
hension.
Trip Of Five on Bicycles.
Il started out equipped with iden-
ritication papers as Swiss citizen and
was accompanied by four other Swiss.
all OF us mounted on bicycles. At the
onset of our expedition the sight OF
the peasants, men and women, work
ing unconcernedly in the fields, gather
Ing the harvest, struck me as unnat-
urally strange. The men were well
advanced In life, and everywhere we
saw women, from girls to aged and In
firm grandmothers, working side by
side with the old men and little
boys.
The first sign Of the war that
caught our attention was the demol
tshed home Of a Roman Catholic priest
IN village near Ransbach.
This priest had lived there for
many years and was engaged in liter
AIRY pursuits and religious work. On
the outbreak of the war the German
authorities jumped to the conclusion
that the old priest was French Sc
cret agent and that he had been send
Ing regularly to Beltort Information
concerning the German military move.
ments and the preparation for defend
ing Alsace against a French invasion
They said he had often used carrier
pigeous AS means of communication
IN this work
Shot Down as Spy.
The Asatian residents declared
these accusations were unjust. but last
week the military party raided the
priests house, dragged him from his
study, stood him up against his own
garden wall, and shot him down sum
marily as q traitor and spy.
Then the whole house was searched
from top to bottom and numerous
books and papers removed from 1t.
whereupon the building was set afire
and destroyed with dynamite. The
priest himself was buried, coffinless,
ut the end Of his cherished little gar
den plot, where some of his grieving
parishioners have since placed
rough wooden cross to mark his
mound.
On our next stop, at little village,
we were told that 1t had been success
lively occupied by the French and the
Germans and had been the scene OF
much stiff infantry fighting. Every
day in the broiling sun, we were told,
the opposing forces fought for ten
or twelve hours.
Search for Dead In Corn.
"A little farther We came to where
q number Of German soldiers were
beating about the standing crops In
fields on both sides of the main road.
They were searching for their dead
and wounded and told US that mum
her of their injured comrades had
crawled In among the high corn to
escape being trodden down by the
troops that were marching along the
road and to gain some shelter from
the pitiless sun.
ON the outskirts Of another large
village we were shown garden
bounded by thick hedge, behind
which a company OF French infantry
had taken a stand against the advanc.
ing German troops. Among the
crushed and trodden flowers were still
lying many fragments of French equip
ment such as two French soldiers
caps. stained with blood; three torn
French tunics, likewise dyed red The
walls Of a cottage bore the marks Of
rifle bullets and Its roof had been
partly burned
Signs Of Wars Effects.
Passing through other villages. We
saw on all sides terrible signs Of
the devastation of war; houses burned
down. the uncut corn trodden down
and rendered useless, gardens tram
pied under foot, and everywhere dis
tress
AT q small village, locally known
as Napoleon's Island, we found the
railway station demolished and a line
OF trucks which the French had used
as barricade. These trucks were
almost shot to pieces, and many were
stained with blood. Outside the sta
ton the roof OF small restaurant
mad been shot away, the windows
smashed, and the furniture destroyed.
Nevertheless, the proprietor had rear.
ranged his damaged premises as we'll
as possible and was serving customers
as II nothing had occurred
Just outside this village there was
large common grave, in which both
French and German soldiers had been
buried together, in their uniforms. A
large mound marked the site. and
Mere again the villagers had placed
roughly hewn crosses.
In several villages the schools.
churches, and many cottages are filed
with wounded French and German SOL
diers. Everything is being done to re-
lieye their sufferings.
In the stress of fighting many
wounded soldiers are left from three
TO ten or even twelve hours lying
In the fields or on the route. The am