Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1915-02-14
DIXMUDE is DEAD;
A MASS OF RUINS
German Correspondent Wis
its Former Prosperous
Cities.
TERRIBLE FIGHTING
Beautiful Buildings Lie in
Ruins, a Monument to
the War;
TERRIBLE FIGHTING

QCovehpondence OF che Associated Press.l
BERLIN Jan. 9,--William Scheuer-
mann one OF the best known Of the
German war correspondents, has re
Gently visited DiXmude. which has be-
come famous through the heavy tish9a
ing around II in October and NOVems
bero resulting finally in It's capture by
0he Germans. He writes as follows:
"Yhe enemy greets any and every
movement along the road to Dxmude
with prOdg gious rapid fire. For
more than a mile this road runs pare
allel to the French trenches 400 yards
distant. In order 20 present as uno
favorable targets as possible we broke
up our party into 20 long chain, with
Intervals OF some twenty PAGES bee
tween each two men, OftenO TOO.
%hou She rapid five grew too hoH We
had tO go forward by jumping from
one GreV To- the NeX3o although these
were NOT '4rge and had been mostly
shot Oft by the artillery They af"
forded little protection, and, besides,
The numerous branches strcwn In the
road were great hindrance to ouI
progress Eeach of us looked back
frequently to see il his rear man was
etill unhurt. Thus we approached
1Xmude. until we finally gathered IN
a bunch for a moment near the
Tuined railway station; for here was
the most dangerous point IN our Jour
ney. The crossing is peculiarly eX-
posed to the French fire. AT their tn-
drenchments the French have set up
a number of rifles exactly tried out
and aimed for this bit of ground, and
they fire these whenever any living
Shing shows itself here.
Went over im u Hurry
o'Eyery one of us saw to IL thai he
goS over this bit of ground as fast
as possible. One after another we
skipped across the dSHbankment like
SQUIRRELS, more bent upon making
good speed than by cutting digni-
fled figure. We got across safely ana
S0on had the protection of the Cuined
walls of the houses
''Dixmude presents a picture Of dee
&tTuction such as 1 had not regarded
possible Notwithstanding all that
have seen in this war. No house here
has escaped. and many quarters OF
$hp town are heaps of ruins, in which
a is no longer possible to distinguish
where the streets had been. The large
market square is strewn with Shells
and in order to reach the point where
the beautiful town hall and the parish
church OF st. Nicholas used to stand,
one has TO pick ones way among deep
holes gouged into the pavement by
the heavy shells. The church is sttll
to be recognized from an arch in the
wall and a piece OF the apse. But IN
side the debris lies as high as q mans
head.
Dlxmudc Dead
O'DiXnude is Dead the grave OF an
Old culture and more touching than
any city of the antique world un-
carthed after thousands OF years; for
Nor 1ar OF
Of men still living, whose household
goods are scattered IN the streets, and
whose most precious belongings. half
Charred, are rotting away In the rain. !
"I got some idea of the loss from
IN examination of the archives which /
/ discovered half-buried among the
ruins Of the town hall. Manuscripts
on fine old handmade paper ana
parchment reaching far back into the
middle ages lay there. slnged. torn and
thrown tOpsy-turvy by exploding
shells being ruined by the rain. There /
was correspondence from the begin ,
ming of the fifteenth century. carried /
on w German between merchant IN |
Calais and the city government or
DiXnude. There lay the minutes ana !
other documents Of the city govern ,
inont from the time when the Han
seattle league was In the hlgh-ude or
prosperity, lllldllNldI d'NbuAN' i'tAN Ai'iA6 /
back into the fourteenth century. /
manuscripts of humanistic learning. /
scientific treasures Of an important
and fascinating character. But gladly
rs one would have lost ones salf with .
these discoveries. this was manfestly
not the moment to become ABSORBED
I'm them, for the enemy's fire was
directed without interruption at the
market square and the former town
had. and AZ any moment these totter-
ing walls might fall.
No Life There.
"No human being was at first to be
seen i'm the ruined streets. And yet
tbore was much life I'm the city-but
underground. Hundreds of eyes were
watching MS while we were wandering
about. At times a sentinel would
emerge suddenly from a jumble OF
timbcrs and stones to warn us not TO
cross certain streets. for there are
strs.. hos OF ground in this desOlated
town that are swept by the enemy's
rifles so necessarily and with such a
hail OF bullets that II Is sure death
t. try t6 cross them.
Again we stopped before one OF
those, confused heaps of ruins. Here
wore the headquarters OF the German
,oumsndant. Forbidding as the pile
looked from the outside, IT was COM
Portable enough iEslde. 1t was some
rich mans house. about three-fourths
OF its height left standing. and its
rooms on the ground floor being left
intact. sand bags and earth had been
laid upon the debris covering the
upper floors. and this made the lower
rooms secure against exploding shells.
Candles and lamps shed a mild and
peaceful light in the rOOms-a light
that set off finely the century-oid
splendor of the costly furniture that u