Evening star., 1915-04-04
CARS MEN SPARE
T|LS|T IN PRUSSIA
City Of $4,000 Escapes De-
structIon, While Nearby
Towns Are in Ruins.
COMMANDERS DISCIPLINE
PROVES BOON TO PLACE
Visit to the Front Reveals Looted
and Burned Homes-Flames From
Villages Light Skies.
Copyright. 1915. by Herbert Corey,

Copyright 1919. by Herbert Corey
TILSIT. Prussia. February 17.-It's
like heaven-or kansas-to get to
Tilsit 1t is a town of $4,000, with real
beds in it, and real food and with an
elderly waiter whose feet break in the
middle, precisely like the dear ones at
home. 1t has a new and bright and
zippy look about it, like the wide
awake towns of our middle west Per
haps it seems all the better to us, be
cause we have seen the last of the
desolation left by the Cossack We got
the scent of burning out of our
nostrils.
Tilsit was held by the Russians, and,
through miscalculation, which will
be told in another place, escaped being
looted and burned Gen. Bogdanor, the
Russian commander, enforced disci-
pline here. The men were not allowed
out after dark. More than that They
were forced to keep clean. ...
Yesterday we managed a mild thrill.
even in this almost peaceful country
1t is but thirty kilometers to Taurog-
gen, where the Russians are standing
at bay, and we drove out to get a
glimpse of the situation. We passed
years ago Queen Louise of Prussia took
refuge before that peace of Tilsit was
signed on a pontoon bridge in the
nearby river, between Napoleon and
the Emperor of Russia. Two days be-
fore the Russians had been shelled out
of the picturesque old edifice. Holes
are gaping in its walls and roof.
See" said Capt. TZschirner
Shell Uncovers Grave.
A grenaten had fallen on a grave.
1t had SO torn the mound that we van
dals, peering within, could see the
moldering coffin six feet under ground.
There was a frightful irony in the epi-
taph which the rittmeister deciphered
for us-a sermon in brief upon war
and man:
"Ruhe Sanft" ("May You Lie Calm'D
Most unpleasantly cool, this rittmeis-
ter, in the face of distressing circum-
stances. Over at the left we saw the
smoke of burning villages. Even as
we looked new flames spurted up.
They ran along ridge of land, and
as though a prairie had been fred
The rittmeister said the village was
not more than a mile away.
1T has been fired by the Russians
said he. 1T could not have been done
by our men. There is no military rea-
son for 1t. as far as the Germans arc
concerned, ana We WOulu not set IlTc TO
German property.
Russians Firing in Neighborhood.
That seemed entirely probable. Fox
and ] sat quiet and reflective. The ritt-
meister continued:
1--WE might meet Russian patrol rid
ing through the country" said he. I'm
that case we will have to fight, OF
fight We will protect you"
AS Fox had camera and l had a
leaking fountain pen, and no other
weapon, it seemed likely that we would
not fight. Upon inquiry 1t appeared
that the Russian patrol usually con-
sists of forty men. Also that If they
sighted the car they would fire on it
from a distance. 1t seemed unlikely
to us that they would distinguish be-
tween non-combatants and the three
soldiers in the car under such condi-
tions.
IF only 1 had eaten that other piece
of ham this morning" mourned Fox.
Shots were heard at no great dis
tance. They came singly. with sort
of muffied clarity, precisely as the
strokes of woodchopper ring through
frosty air. We kept hearing shots at IA
distance all morning. But they kept
at distance All houses along this
road had been looted and then burned.
Arrested as Spies.
Before leaving Tilsit this afternoon
we achieved an impossibility. We
startled a Prussian officer very nearly
out of his senses We were incoming
through the principal street Of Tilsit
in search of a flower store. At l o'clock
we were to take lunch with Rittmeis-
ter and Mrs. Tzschirner. and we wanted
to enter the house bearing floral
gift. A very courtly young officer bow
ed and saluted and said something in
German. A handsome limousine drew
up by the curb.
THAT is what ] call white" said Fox.
gratefully. '-The captain has sent a
car around for US"
Somehow that didn't seem plausible
to me. We had never seen this officer
before. The businesslike way in which
two soldiers entered the car with us
enlightened me. but not Fox. We were
under arrest. Fox addressed himself
to the officer.
Before we co." said he. I'VE want to
stop somewhere and buy some flowers
"F1oored" by Passes.
Tho officer regarded US with admira-