The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1914-12-04


gnarled roots Of an enormous tree,
When the smoke cleared away this
tree was lodged in the top branches Of
some other trees close by. 1t had
been torn up by the roots and shot
upward hundreds of feet with terrific
velocity
The curious effect Of these mon
strous shells passing close to ones
head is that they produce nervous col
lapse, deafness, numbness and fire.
quent insanity. / personally helped to
the rear a dozen soldiers thus af-
fiicted. More dreadful sights ! never
saw Now there are two hospitals in
Petrograd and Moscow for such sol
diers with more than one thousand pa
tients in each.
This frightful bombaTdment drove
me into the cellar of a factory, where
/ found two men and several wom-
en- and children, who had been there
three days. not daring to emerge even
to get a drink OF water from the
pump only a few yards from the open
ing of the cellar. They told me that
the bombardment had continued day
and night, and in proof of their wis
dom in not venturing out they pointed
to the bodies of three men and child
lying in the fac-ory yard.
Germans in Solid Mass.
When darkness fell ! bolted out
again and soon took refuge again in
the bouse of Polish gentleman, who
invited me to sleep in his house for
the night. l slept on a sofa, but in
the small hours Of the morning | was
awakened by a shell which shook
every window frame in the house. My
host and his family soon appeared say
ing that the servants had all fed |
decided to depart also, but was pre-
vented by the sounds Of firing and
shelling in the adjacent village, and so
l remained all day in the house. The
next day the German troops rushed
past the house, a solid wall Of men
so close together that they obliter-
ated the flower garden and the adjoin-
ing young shrubbery as completely as
if a steam roller had passed over
both.
I cast a hasty glance in the opposite
direction, speculating # even yet l
could escape that way but at cross
roads near the house l saw four Hun
garian hussars who sat motionless in
their saddles. They formed a square,
each man looking down a road, with
a rifle unslung. the butt resting loose
" against his bright red riding
breeches, and with finger on trigger.
| realized that it would be mad
race down any of these roads and that
a wild scamper through the adjacent
fields would be bad for my health.
Finds Himself at the Front.
Turning again to look at the Ger
mans, | reflected with secret oXuita-
tion that my most sanguine hopes as
a war correspondent had been real
lied. For a long time the wisest
heads in the Russian foreign and war
offices prevented me from getting to
the front. Now with a rush, like a
Niagara, the front had come to me.
The Germans were no beauties as
they advanced in their "pickelhauben
jhelmets) and grayish uniforms. look
ing as if they had not shaved or
washed for weeks. 1t was with no or
dinary curiosity that gazed at that
formidable host which had wrought
devastation from Antwerp to Warsaw,
before whose cannon first-class for.
tresses had gone down like houses of
cards, whose monstrous armies were
measured not by miles but by de-
grees of latitude.
Meanwhile the tide of battle rose
higher and higher around us. 1t was
imnossible to leave the house, whose
walls we're lashed by spray of shrap.
mel and rife bullets. 1t was cracked
in several places from the foundation
to the roof by the concussion of 81.
gantic shells.
Gees Battle Approach Warsaw.
mounted to the roof and observed
the distant lights of Warsaw. which
were not lowered despite the terror
of aeroplanes and Zeppelins. South
of Warsaw l saw great irregular
line of foam tipped shrapnel explo
sions, the boiling edge of TeutoniC
sea of iron and blood.
At one point the line bent sharply
outward and approached perilously
close TO the Polish capital. The line