El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-12-30
lombard TOWN
THREE MONTHS
scissors Under Constant
German Fire; Surrounding
Villages Destroyed.

Edinburgh, Scotland, Dec. 3O.-A let
ter has just been received here from a
French woman whose home is in Sois-
sons, long one Of the hotly contested
POINTS on the French battle front. She
describes to her Scotch friend the
misery Of the Inhabitants Of the city.
The Germans. it seems were driven
out, but not beyond the range of their
big guns The French woman did not
desert her home She says:
I'VE have to remain in our house, for
we really could not bring ourselves to
leave it, and all our possessions,
although most Of the inhabitants have
BOmbarded For Three Months.
For three months the bombardment
Of the town has continued, sometimes
for days and nights without ceasing,
and then we hide in the cellar We
live in dread Of the shrapnel which we
feel is going to fall on our house and
set 1T on fire and bury US in the ruins.
You have no idea what terrible en-
gines of war the Germans have. See
ing everything around US burn and fall
TO pieces we live in a sort Of night
mare. The house of Dubois next to
u.s. is in ruins, and st. Jean des Vignes
is practically a heap of stones-indeed,
everything in our quarter is demOl-
ished. You viii be heartbrOken to see
it when you next come. Fortunately
our house has so far ESCAPED, though
all the tiles are smashed and the win
donations It is not worth replacing
them, but you may imagine how COM
Portable we are in this cold weather.
and the terrible thine is that no one
can say how long it viii last
FOrtify Stone Quarries.
"On their way back from the Marine
the Germans took possession of all
the Quarries along the hills to the
north, which they had carefully pre-
pared on their way south with con-
crete and iron, making Of them yerit-
able forts. They are terribly clever,
and now they are Smelling scissors
from the quarries of Paisley, Clancy
and CrOuy, from which they can also
dominate all the mani roads from the
town. There is absolutely no chance
of taking them by surprise because
from there they see everything that
happens. They have got the light rail-
way to Coucy. which enables them to
reVictual from the rear. From COucy
and Chauny they have the main lines
right to Germany, so that they can
bring up achievements as they re-
quire them.
They have driven away all inhabi-
tants, and they take everything NOV
able they come across. We had samples
Of this in Scissors where they re-
manned for two fun days We had Is
billeted on US Every unoccupied
everything In their wagons and auto
mobiles. Nothing that could be lifted
did they spare-furniture, linens, bed
ding. contents Of the cellars everything
went, and from the farms and flour
mills they tok all corn. of every kind J
flour and all Observation-Disclosures a
clean sweep.
Calls 1t War Of Robbery.
at is not a war Of soldiers but Of |
robbery and destruction, such as ]
suppose the world has never seen, and
which should not be allowed Whv |
lombard open, unfOrtified towns and /
villages But they have said they will 4
ravish all France. do not know what
the future has in store for u.s. but If
We. who have right on our side. and
who have your soldiers and the Rus /
SLAMS with us, lose, there is no more 4
justice in heaven.
our troops con only keep them from 4
and they will tell us we
must wait but for how long2 For all
the winter perhaps. But we shall be
dead before is over. Quite a lot of
English sold o.s have been hefe-fine
men and splendid horses 1--WE have not
B horse left in the district)
we also had some of our own men
from the south and they We're SILVER
ng with the cold, for now it is freez-
ing hard I forgot to tell YOU that |
Irouy, Cuffies, Vailly and all these
villages you know so well are all
-azed to the ground-churches, houses, 4
Verything-nothing remains"