The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1914-10-03
By WARD PRICE

Dondon--The fullest story yet re-
ceived of the destruction OF the cathe-
dral of Notre Dame at Reims was sent
by Ward Price, the correspondent of
the Daily Mail. He says:
The fire started between 4 and 5
O'Clock Saturday afternoon. All day
long shells had been crashing into the
town Five hundred fell between
early morning and sunset in an area
Of several hundred yards square, and
soon street after street was lined with
blazing houses and shops
"A German battery on the hill of
Nogent L'Abbesse, four miles to the
eastward, made the cathedral a mark
Shell after shell smashed into the old
masonry, and avalanche after ava
lanche Of stonework that had survived
the storms of centuries and was good
to stand as many more Numbered
down into the deserted streets.
Scaffolding In Flames.
AT 4:3O scaffolding on the east end,
where some repairs were going on
before the war, caught fire, and soon
the whole network of poles and planks
was blazing. Splinters fell on the
roof. whose old oak timbers caught
like finder
Soon the roof, nave, and transepts
we're roaring furnace. Tongues of
fame leaped Up the towers on the
western end, and blazing pieces of
carved woodwork crashed to the floor
Of the cathedral, where the Germans
during the occupation had aecumu-
lated great piles of straw, intending
to convert the cathedral into a hos
pital"
Other structures reported destroyed
or ruined included, in addition to the
cathedral, the twelfth century church
of ST Jacques, the fifteenth century
archbishop's palace, and the city hall,
dating from the seventeenth century.
Greatest Historical Loss.
The destruction of the cathedral of
Notre Dame at Reims is the greatest
| loss in a historical and artistic
sense of the present war. Begun on
the site OF an earlier church erected
| by Robert De Courcy in 1912 and con-
| tinued at intervals down to the
| fifteenth century, it has been de
seribed as ''the most perfect example
/ in grandeur and grace OF Gothic style
| in existence"
The west front, which was begun
! about 1241-42, is said to be the most
| beautiful structure produced during
| the middle ages, with its deeply re
cessed triple portal and the wonderful
rose window that surmounts it This
window, more than forty feet in diam
eter, was reported in cable dispatches
|
by a shell.
Scenes OF coronations.
1t was in this cathedral that the
successive kings of France from Philip
II to Charles x were crowned, and il
was there that the Maid of Orleans
/ after her victorious career, stood, ban
ner in hand, before the great altar
| and saw the coronation of Charles VII
which marked the fuidllment Of heI
vision.
After kneeling before the monarch
whom she had placed on the throne
she begged the gentle king to allow
her to return to her fiocks."
The elaborate richness of the sculp
ture, its stained glass and statuary are
not surpassed in any existing struc
ture
In the north transept over the sac
risty was a clock said to have been
the Oldest moving piece Of horology II
existence. Among the priceless ca
thedral treasures were some wonder
fuI church plate of the early centuries
reliquaries containing a thorn of the
Holy Crown, the skull OF st. Remy
and countless tapestries, some dating
from the fifteenth century.
In a chapel attached to the vestTy
was a rare collection Of Roman and
medieval sculpture, including the IA
nous sarcophagus of Jovinus, the
Roman project of Reims, who was con
Verted to Christianity in 366.
Palace Home, of Kings.
The archbishop's palace, also re
ported as destroyed, is a double chape
dating from about 1890. There the
monarchs of France were housed al
their coronations and there Joan Of
Arc lodged when she came to Reims
to crown Charles VII.
The palace adjoins the cathedral
and about quarter Of mile to the
southwest is the church Of St Jacques
also reported destroyed or seriously
damaged In the bombardment Save
for its antiquity, dating from th'
twelfth century, st. Jacques possesses
little interest, all the valuable church
antiquities Of Reims having been col
lected in the cathedral
City Hall Rare Structure.
The Hotel de Vile, or city hall, alsC
said to have been ruined or badl!
damaged by shell fire, was commenced
in 1927, but not completed until tn
present century. II contained a I'm
library with hundreds Of volumes o
manuscripts, some antiquities, and I
good collection of paintings.