Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1914-10-14
WRECKAGE- STREWN BATTLEF|ELDS
LOOK AS IF SWEPT BY CYCLONE

iy on the table.
When the meal was over the propri-
ctor called us to witness what had
happened to the far wing OF the ho-
tel. II was demolished
Alert had just been sounded and
the soldiers were running through the
streets. We ran out in the 10 see a
building fall half a blocl. away, COM
| pletely filing the street - which we
entered the town an hour earlier.
In few minutes we heard the sharp
crackie of infantry about half a mile
away and had a sudden desire TO get
away before the automobile retreat
was cut on Just then we heard the
sound of an aero engine overhead. 1t
7 was flying so low that through a
/ glass we could easily see the whir-
/ ring propeller.
Germans Fire at Aviator.
The machine was mounted with a
rapid-fire gun, which was trying to To-
cate the German gunners. who i'm
mediately abandoned the destruction
of the town in an attempt to bring 4
| down.
For ten minutes we saw shells
/ bursting all about it, At times it was
| lost in smoke, but when the smoke
1 cleared away there was the mono
/ plane still blazing away, always
mounting to higher level and finally
disappearing toward the French
lines.
There was another lull in the can
! nonade and we were permitted 10
! pass down the street near a river.
where, by peering around a building
teries were secreted in the hills. We
were warned not to get into the street
which led to the bridge, as the Ger
mans raked that street with their
| fire if person appeared. We then
/ took advantage of a lull in the fir
ing and departed to the south at 70
| miles an hour, to beat the shells if
any were aimed our way as We
crossed the rise in the hill.
Shells Strike 100 Years Apart.
| We passed the night at village
| where considerable execution had
been done by German shells. We saw
| one curious effect of them. In a
historic building near the city hall
| there was a shell imbedded in the
wall with a plate fixed beneath it
showing it struck there in the year
| 1914. Just next to it was an unex-
ploded shell of 100 years after stick
! ing in the wall.
We again struck out toward the
battle line, but when we we're with
in sound of the firing the authorities
decided we had seen enough of war
and detained us for two days as
! guests of a regimental staff, which
was quartercd in a courtyard. There
we were privileged to see how the
| French soldiers lived and became such
hardened fighters as they were prov
ing themselves to be- We ate with
them and slept with them in the straw
until orders came to send us to Paris.
AS we were leaving our coward the
authorities grabbed another group of
correspondents, four in number. head
| ed by Richard Harding Davis. They
were ordered to accompany us to
Paris instead OF passing several days
in the straw sampling bareback and
army fare.
Tells of Horrors Of War.
London.-The Standard correspond
ent, +. st. Beaman, writing from a
town in France, says:
THE fearful horrors of war can
never be grasped by seeing the care
\ ,l.,I ad bA
| to England and hearing their tales.
however gruesome, while there is
scarcely day in any of the French
| towns near the armies that does not
bring with it some live terror from
| the front One example will suffice
| 10 point out this truth Four days
ago the hospital corps and volun-
teers were notified that a convoy was
| expected. Towards midnight it ar
/ rived. bringing French and German
wounded. The latter We're abandoned
by the Germans in Senlis when they
retreated after setting fire TO the
| town.
I'VE had had many trains of wound
| ed before. and all necessary arrange
ments were made as usual, but when
this convoy arrived even the most
| hardened had to summon all fortitude
TO the task of emptying the carriages
J When a man had broken leg or
arm or a bullet through his lungs the
skilled ambulance staff soon had him
comfortably backed, but here were
4 human vestiges so mangled that II
was difficult to find a place to touch
them without causing screams and
means. An insufferable charnal house
: stencil pervades the whole night air
Laid Out Four Days.
Most of the wounded had lain for
four DAYS and nights where they had
fallen before being picked up, and
had not yet had their wounds exam
med. much less dressed. Under the
burning sun and myriad OF flies and
under later rains they had been left
to suffer the torture ot pain. hunger
and thirst until it was a marvel they
still breathed.
The state of their wounds cannot
be guessed and does not bear descrip
ton. II was three o'clock in the
morning before they could be dis
posed Of in hospitals. Even q
hours later all had had first dressing
| The Germans were far the worst cases
for the French fire seemed 20 have
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