Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1914-10-24
WRECKAGE- STRENN BATTLEF|ELDS
LOOK AS IF SWEPT BY CYCLONE

head, and the dishes ratified constant
ly on the table.
When the meal was over the propri
etor called us to witness what ha,
! happened to the far wing of lhe no
tel. 1t was demolished
Alert had just been sounded anC
he soldiers were running through tn,
streets. We ran out in time 10 see Z
building fall half a block away. com
| pletely filling the street by which we
entered the town an hour earlier
In few minutes We heard the sharu
crackle Of infantry about half mile
away and had a sudden desire to get
away before the automobile retreat
was cut off. Just then we heard the
sound of an aero engine overhead. It
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 q
rapid-fire gun, which was trying TO 10
cate the German gunners. who i'm
mediately abandoned the destruction
Of the town in an attempt to bring il
down.
For ten minutes We saw shells
bursting all about It. At times it was
lost in smoke, but when the smoke
cleared away there was the mono
plane still blazing away, always
mounting to a higher level and finally
disappearing toward the French
lines.
There was another lull In the can
nonade and We were permitted TO
pass down the street near a river.
where, by peering around a building
we could see where the German bat
teries were secreted in the hills. We
we're warned not to get into the street
which led to the bridge, as the Ger
mans raked that street with their
fire If a person appeared We then
took advantage of lull in the FIR
ing and departed to the south at 20
miles an hour, to beat the shells II
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 were 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 quartered 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
grabbed another group OF
four in number, head
I'd by Richard Harding Davis. They
were ordered to accompany us to
Paris instead of passing several days
n the straw sampling bareback and
army fare.
Tells of Horrors of War.
London.-The Standard correspond
ent, F. st. Beaman, writing from a
own in France, says:
The fearful horrors of war can
lever be grasped by seeing the care
ully tended wounded who come back
o England and hearing their tales,
however gruesome, while there is
carcely a day In any of the French
owns near the armies that does not
ring with it some live terror from
he front. One example will suffice
o point out this truth. Four days
Igo the hospital corps and volun-
GERS were notified that convoy was
expected. Towards midnight it ar
ived, bringing French and German
The latter were abandoned
y the Germans in Senlis when they
after setting fire to the
own.
I'VE had had many trains of wound
d before. and all necessary arrange
lents were made as usual, but when
his convoy arrived even the most
ardened had to summon all fortitude
D the task of emptying the carriages.
When a man had a broken leg or
killed ambulance staff soon had him
omfortably backed, but here were
uf1an vestiges so mangled that il
as difficult to find a place to touch
lem without causing screams and {
loans. An insufferable charnal house t
tench pervades the whole night air.
Laid Out Four Days. '
Most of the wounded had lain for I
our days and nights where they had b
allen before being picked up, and
ad not yet had their wounds exam h
led. much less dressed. Under the [
urhing sun and myriad of flies and C
nder later rains they had been left I
suffer the torture of pain, hunger Z
nd thirst until it was a marvel they n
ill breathed.
THE state of their wounds cannot a
3 guessed and does not bear descrip- a
on. 1t was three o'clock in the h
corning before they could be dis
Dsed OF in hospitals. Even "a r
ours later all had had first dressing @