Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1915-07-06
YPRES' TURRETS
STILL HOLD OUT
Famous Cloth Hall of Flemish Tewn
Survives Nreckage Wrought By
Shells of Germans.


lines OF any one who has come from
Ypres. Everybody has tender per
IsonaI interest in the turrets Of the old
Cloth Hall which deepens with each
day that they survive in defiance Of the
| German gunners above the wreckage
brought by German shells
People are still living in Rheims and
Louvain, but Ypres is absolutely dead
city dead as Pompei; dead as de-
serted mining camp in Alaska. No
face appears in any door or window
that can still be called door or win
dow, no figures are seen moving
through the shell holes in walls that
are still standing.
Before the war Ypres had some
eighteen thousand inhabitants. Now
It has not a single one. No one is
making any effort to make any ruin
habitable The only signs of life ex-
cept occasional soldiers coming out
and going to the lines are cats grown
wild which become streaks of fur dis
appearing among the ruins of their
former homes.
The Cathedral which stands back Of
doubt, but there are great many
cathedrals in Europe The Cloth Hall
is unique. the best Of its kind. Anyone
who ever saw it always remembered
its turrets. Different conquerOrs OF
/ Tpres put her women and children to
the sword but no one had even harmed
the old Cloth Hall beyond taking away
d few statues.
Last February perhaps four or five
thousand people remained in Ypres.
They were going and coming about the
streets as usual keeping their shops
open and doing what business they
could al the old stand 4 visitor could
get meal in a restaurant or have his
shoes cobbIed. only one house in the
big square had been hit It's roofs
dropped over the edges Of a corner
section which had been torn out Of the
main floor
/ The Germans threw in occasional
shells mostly directed at the Cathed-
raj with some of the missiles bound to
hit the Cloth Hall Restoration work
which age required had just been fin
ished on the Cloth Hall before the war
began. The people paid for this in
their civic pride and let other civic
improvements wait For the Cloth
Hail gave Ypres a civic distinction. II
was the historical soul Of Ypres. The
old frescoes on its walls told the city's
early history. Il meant to Ypres quite
as much in its way as Westminster
+ Abbey to London or Fanieul Hall to
+ Boston. Every man OF woman born in
/ Ypres had been brought up to tell the
time of day by the raised gilt figures
/ Of the old golden clock face.
+ By February the peoples sense Of
! horror was exhausted. Destruction of
/ things sacred to them had become
routine. When they heard another ex-
plosiOn and word was passed that the
Germans had scored another hit they
went around to the Grande Place to
see if the turrets and the gilt clock
face we're still unframed And they
said. The Cloth Hall still can be
+ restored These stubborn Flemish
who would not let she'll fire drive
them away from their old town.
! The next time The Associated Press
. correspondent went to Ypres there
was not a single house left on the
+ Grande Place that resembIed a house
any more than rubber bag with the
gas out of It resembles d balloon In
/ the second battle of Ypres when the
Germans had another try for the Chan
mel ports the sensation of their attack
with asphyxiating gas overshadowed
what they did with their guns. Here
{ fGf b1f
/ comparatively teasing pIayfuIness. This
/ time they went at the job of destruc-
! ton systematically. jumping from one
space on the checkerboard to another
/ they smashed Ypres section by sec
/ ton.
! As they meant 10 take the town this
seemed poor policy for they would find
| no roofs for shelter when they moved
| in. But their object was confusion for
British reinforcements hurrying up
/ along roads crowded with refugees.
wholesale death for men in biIIets. in
town and destruction and delay for
supplies and munitions coming
through the streets. This was excel
lent theory which did not work out in
t practice. The British We're not billet
/ ing troops to any extent in YpFes and
you could count the number of army
/ wagons on the fingers Of one hand. One
shell in the British trenches accomp-
lished more than ten into Ypres. The
main result was that the homes and
Offices and cafes of $4,000 people were
destroyed.
The 42-centimeter III inch nortar)
had its part in the work When II
inch shell struck a house the remains
of the building not distributed on the
{ pavement were in an nlarged cellar
Debris in the streets still remains
where it fell There is no purpose in
cleaning it up in an uninhabited town.
Paving stones are scattered about from
the explosion of a 17-inch she'll which
struck in the center Of the Grande
Place and made crater about fifteen
/ feet across and ten feet deep. This 2. 900
j pounds of steel and powder did not
kill anybody so far as could be learned.
It would not take a paving gang long
to u1ak@ repairs Another which could
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