The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-07-16
AN HISTORICAL PLACE
Town Was Surrendered to the Ger.
mans in 1870, the Secret of Which
Has Never Been
Told. =.
by William Philip Simms, United
Press Staff Correspondent

THE FRONT, June 2S.-(By mail to
New York.)-Any day the French Sc
lect they can shell the very heart of
Metz into a rubbish heap. And if they
have thus far refrained from doing SO
| it is because they do not care TO
pound town or city to pieces with
out either rhyme or reason.
myself have Just seen Metz. I saw
the tragic city of Lorraine, the city
which Marshal Bazaine so strangely
surrendered to the Prussians in 1870.
from the crest of $50 foot hill. a
part of the present French battle line.
Through glasses the famous fifteenth
century cathedral, as we'll as the other
houses of the city, were plainly Wis
ible, for the day was fairly clear and
the~mighty fortress was but some four
teen miles away.
Fourteen miles are short distance
in this day of big, long-range howit-
zers, and the French are amply pro-
vided with artillery capable Of consid-
erably greater distance than that.
After the Germans had deliberately
dropped shells of great calibre into
Dunkirk shooting from behind their
lines some twenty-five or thirty miles
away and killing many non-com bat
ants the French fired few shells not
upon Metz. the CITY, but the forts of
Metz just by way Of saying:
I'VE, too. can indulge in long-tiis-
tanc, artillery practice if we care to.
However, We refuse to endanger the
lives of civilians uselessly."\
From a thickly deposited valley of
French Lorraine literally knee-deep in
buttercups and black-eyed-susfes, we
began the climb to the summit of this
mountainette which rises abruptly
from the plain and does not stop I'M
til its head is far above the surround
ing countryside. Now and then-prac-
tically every day-shells follow it's
contour a hundred feet or so above
the surface to drop into the town of
Pont-a Moussen, now on it's way to
it's two-hundredth bombardment by
the Germans since the commencement
Of the war. It's slopes are under cu1-
tivation even now and as we toiled
upwards, we passed an old man and
woman. probably his daughter or
daughter-in-law husband in the army,
of course) taking care of the grape
vines which are to yield, German
shells permitting. their quota Of the
the s"rose wine of Lorraine"
AT the top of the hill is cluster of
houses dating perhaps from the SIX
teenth or seventeenth century. One
would say some former lord of Lor-
raine had had his castles stronghold
there and the houses remaining were
those OF his dependents and his men
Of war. Through boyau, Or trench.
we gained what was left OF tiny
chapel, the stained glass windows re-
duced to powder. the place of total
wreck. It, like everything else in the
neishborhood, has caught its share OF
shells.
It was from this point that I saw
Metz.
Through the blue haze, which grew
denser and denser the farther one
lifted ones eyes over the succeeding
ranges Of hills bordering the valley
of the Moselle. Metz appeared like
magic CITY of some fairy tale To the
left the Gothic towers OF the cathed-
raj sprang into the circle formed by
the lenses Of the field glasses To
the right we're the spires Of another
house OF God. Between were masses
or houses. quite distinct yet appearing
utterly unreal The city seemed to
repose upon purple clouds and
purple veil seemed spread upon it.
One had the distinct impression that
If one shut ones eyes for moment
the magic vision would fade away.
Turning for a moment to ask
question Of the officers about me, I
saw, or fancied I saw, on the face Of
each an expression of grim determine.
ton. BaZaina gave away Metz and
its 10000 valiant defenders to the
Prussians in 1870: Metz considered as
BILE: Metz the fortress often
spoken OF as the gun nointing at the
heart OF France" These soldiers
among whom stood thrilled one with
the feeling that one day they would
take Metz back.
Matz Is situated at the junction Of
the Mose1le and the Se1le It has
about $4,000 inhabitants and Is sur
by series Of Notifications
said to be among the strongest in the
world. MANY times hesefged but coded
to France by treaty In 1913 Marshal
Bazaine allowed himself to be penned
up there in 1870 with about half the
entire French army. He made several
ATTEMPTS to break through the Prus-
sian lines and at times semed to be
vet. for some mysterious
he invariably fell back into
the city. Some say he sold out to the
enemy; some claim he had political
ambitions and hoped. after Germany
defeated France, he might, with his
army still fntict, impose his will on
his country: others say there was a
in the case; but the truth very
probably will never be known. His
of Metz, for whatever rea-
son, was terrible blow to France and