Bisbee daily review., 1915-11-14
HOW PARTISAN ART
TREASURES WERE PUT
UNDER SAFE GUARD
Removal of Crown Jewels Sur
rounded BY Trying CirCum-
stances; Delicate Task Ad-
rOitIy Accomplished.

otdIlCSo, beHCdl6 ask Az
rOltly Accomplished.
PARIS, Nov. 13.-Many conflicting
reports have been published of the cir.
cumstances under which the art trea.
sures OF Paris were placed in safety
while the Germans We're approaching
the capital. Albert Dalimier. under.
secretary for Fine Arts, now gives the
exact details in an interview published
here
AS early as August" Mr. Daimler
says, - had considered with NV col
leagues the measures to be taken To
save our art treasures from the event
uality of the German invasion. We
did not want to alarm the public by
taking such steps before they became
absolutely imperative It was decided
TO act, and we were Obliged to act
/ quickly. They gave me forty-eigbt
hours to pack up the rarest objects Of
our collection and send them out of
Paris by railroad, to be sheltered in
an important city Of the south Of
France The task was arduous and
delicate. The most insignificant Incl.
dent might comprise the operation
hopelessly and the rapidity with
which we necessarily acted inevitably
developed some nervousness. In a
very short time we established a list
of 10 canvasses that we considered
it necessary to put into a place of
safety. Only $50 pictures were re-
moved from the Museums in 1870
during the siege of Paris: compare.
lively our task was far greater. Some
experts declared that it was impossl-
BILE in view Of the mobilization OF the
| greater part Of the personnel of the
museums, but we were determined to
make the maximum effort All the
furniture-moving houses in Paris were
called upon by telephone to send every
available moving van Immediately and
the removal of the pictures and stat
uary began at once. The Venus de
Milo which weights three tons. gave
us the greatest trouble. after which
the most delicate operations were the
packing and removal of the precious
objects and furniture OF the Gallery
of Apollo at the Louvre
As for the Crown diamonds. their
removal was a delicate task that Henri
Marcel, director Of the national muse.
ums, and myself decided that we
could not delegate to anyone. Pro
! curing an ordinary leather satchel.
we placed the diamonds I'm it and left
for the railroad station at night-fall.
The situation was disquieting, for a
number of reasons. The station was
crowded, the streets fun Of people
hurrying out Of Paris before the APP
preaching army.
We dined at the buffet of the rail
road stationery poorly, because the
responsibility Of the safety of those
jewels spoiled our appetites. It seem
ed 10 both of us that the eyes of
every person in the restaurant were
fixed upon that leather bag and it
occurred to us what a simple matter IL
would be for an ill-designing audacious
person to make a considerable haul
that evening in the confusion of the
exodus We succeeded in getting
| places I'm the train, crowded to over
lfowing with panicky passengers.
when we arrived at our journeys end
we were not at the end of our trou-
bles with those famous jewels It was
almost impossible to find a safe in
which to put them We had been pro-
ceeded. it seemed, by every owner of
a pearl necklace in Paris, and all the
boxes Of the only safe deposit place
I'm the city were almost filled We
finally found an empty drawer in the
safe of a branch of a Partisan bank
and it is there the jewels of the
] Crown have been in safe-keeping ever
since, always under the watchful eye
of men from the Fine Arts, men de-
tailed by the bank. and all of them
supervised by private detectives.
"The watch over the paintings and
objects of art is an even more import
ant affair. They filled scores of NOV
ing vans assembled i'm a large court
yard where there we're formerly shoe
shops locksmiths and small trades
people of all sorts, who gave up their
establishments in order to contribute
to the safety Of the National Art
Treasures. All the doors leading to
the court were sealed up, bars placed
on all windows, fire fighting appara-
tus installed and constantly, day and
night. the entire block around this
court was patroled by territorials
with fixed bayonet
"In addition to the Arts Treasures
of the Louvre and other Paris Muse
ums, such as the Luxembourg and
Cluny. the chateaux of Fontainebleau
and Compiegne, were stripped Of
everything that was mocable and the
greater part of the art treasures Of
] Arras have also been saved.