Evening star., 1914-09-21
NOTED CATHEDRAL.
BLACKENED WRECK
Magnificent "Monument of
Universal Fame" at Rheims
in Ruins.
FIRE STARTED BY SHELLS
DURING BOMBARDMENT
Correspondent Alleges the Lives Of
German Wounded Were Endan-
gered by the Flames.

LONDON. September 81 (8:30 ann
The Rheims correspondent Of the Daily
Mail sends this story OF the damage
wrought IN the cathedral there:
1.-THE magnificent Cathedral Of Rheims.
which was a national monument of
universal fame. 10 now no more than
an empty shell Of charred and black
ened walls 1t Is not yet known to
what extent its stonework has been
weakened by the flames or whether 1t
can later be restored. but 1t will never
be what it was before.
THE Are started between 4 and s
Sunday afternoon, after shells had been
crashing into the town all day. Over
500 fell between early morning and
sunset. A quarter Of the city several
hundred yards square was set afire, the
flames spreading from street to street.
Cathedral Used as Hospital.
THE cathedral on Thursday had been
turned into a hospital for the German
wounded so as to secure for the build
ing the protection Of the Red Cross
flag. When the first shell struck the
roof every one believed it was merely
stray shot, but later in the day a
German battery on a hill four miles
away began making the great gothic
pile its particular target.
Shell after shell crashed its way
into the old masonry and stonework
that had stood the storms of centuries.
or fell into the deserted streets round
about. At half-past 4 some scafolding
dral. where repairs were going on.
caught fire. and soon the whole net
work of poles and planks was ablaze.
Then the roof of old oak timbers
nave and transepts were a roaring fur
mace.
THE blazing pieces of carved woodwork
crashed to the floor. where piles of straw
had been gathered in connection with the
work of the field hospital. AS soon as
this caught fire the paneling Of the
affairs, the chairs and other furniture
was devoured.
THE German wounded would have been
burned alive if the French doctors had
People Enraged.
There was n bad moment while these
German injured were being removed. A
crowd of people had gathered outside
watching the flames. and when the Ger
mans. some in uniform. were brought
from the transept door the crowd gave
"a howl Of uncomfortable rage and earn
est voices screamed Kill them! Some
of the soldiers in the crowd actually
! leveled their rifles to dispatch the Ger
mans when little priest, the Able
Andrieux. sprang between the Germans
and the rifles.
Don't fire. he said. You would make
yourselves as guilty as they are
1.-The crowd Gained somewhat and the
Germans were carried into the shelter
Of the museum amid hoots and threats
France Enters a Protest.
BORDEAUX, September 2l.-The
minister Of the interior, Louis ]. Malvy,
announces that the famous Cathedral
of Rheims has been destroyed and all
the other historic and public buildings
either laid in ruins or seriously dam
aged during the bombardment of
Rheims by the German artillery.
The French foreign Office has for
warded to neutral governments a pro-
test against the German bomba rdment
of the Cathedral of Rheims, couched in
the following terms:
without being able to invoke even
the appearance of military necessity,
ton, German troops have subjected the
Cathedral of Rheims to a systematic
and furious bombardment. At this
hour the famous basilica is but a heap
of ruins.
1T is the duty of the government of
the republic to denounce to universal
indignation this revolving act of
vandalism, which. in giving over to the
flames this sanctuary of history, de-
prives humanity of an incompatible
portion of its historic patrimony"
Ordered to Spare Cathedral.
BERLIN. September 81. 1850 am, via
London-An official statement just is
sued says:
Rheims was in the battle line OF the
French, and the Germans were Obliged
to lombard it. We regret the necessity,
but the fire Of the French came from
that direction. Orders have been is
sued to save the cathedral
The attacks on the French are pro-
aSSin at ,n{n