Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1915-02-11
BY c. LEROY 8ALDRlDGE.
Correspondent Chicago Post.)

Correspondent Chicago POst)
Amsterdam-The German occupa-
ton Of Antwerp had already become
a matter of routine when / arrived
from Rosendaal. In five days the new
city government had adapted itself
perfectly to the burgomaster's Offices
and was working smoothly. 1t had
even instituted regular motor bus
service to Brussels. But finding
certain cheese merchant who owned
a wobbly-kneed animal, too hopeless
to be requisitioned, and who said he
didn't care where he went with it, /
chose to go that way.
We found a war-swept road to the
capital; on either side rich growing
fields plowed with trenches; tattered
remnants of villages and scattered
graves. The way was damned with
homeless people carrying their belong
ings in carts, wheelbarrows, baby
buggies-eYer fleeing.
At Brussels, through the courtesy Of
Brand Whitlock and the kommandan-
tur, a certain amount of bluff and phe-
nomenal luck, / obtained a pass to
travel anywhere within the German
lines in Belgium. Moreover it worked
for three weeks.
Tries to Go Through Lines TO Paris.
Thus armed, I decided to attempt
the impossible, and go through to
Paris, in which l was encouraged by a
French Red Cross nurse who was
taken prisoner when the city surren-
dered, and who had a similar ambi-
ton. But not even my freshly
stamped papers would tempt any cab
man or chauffeur to start with US.
There was nothing for it but to walk
During two days we saw little Of
war except occasional sentries and
speeding military automobiles of that
famous gTeenish-gray which blends so
well with distance. Peasants were al
ready replanting crops on tor of
trenches and gathering beets, stolidly
taking it all as a matter of course.
Nine Lottin, the French nurse, had
been named by my Brussels landlord
lie Grenadier;;" and she was. We
made 45 kilometers a day. But at Ma
mur she found an opportunity of reach
ing Paris through Holland, so l pro-
ceeded along the Mouse to Dinant,
town Of terrible memories.
This seems the most terribly pic
turesque city in Belgium. It's jagged
walls and falling chimneys rise up
hopelessly from heaps of debris in the
nP 81 v,,oiac+ia n t1Jral
grandeur along the two banks of the
river. There is the Grotto where 500
women and children crouched in the
darkness while the battle ebbed back
and forth above them for two days;
and the sidewalk near the water
where hundr DIS of civilians were said
to have been lined up and shot.
Gets Lift in a Supply Wagon.
From Dinant a military supply
wagon gave me a lift to Givet, France.
But here for the first time my pass
was not sufficient, and l narrowly es-
capped arrest.
Walking by way of Florennes I ar
rived at Thuin. On high ground near
the clock tower / stood by a Belgian
trench, with the country spread out
maplike all around, while an eye-wit-
ness explained graphically about the
siege; how the Germans came down
under continuous fire, where they
built a bridge; how the allies were
forced back from point to point and
the climax of bayonet charges on
the hills behind. And he told me how
in the midst of the fight French of
ffcer turned mad and ran frothing at
the mouth about the street, terrifying
the few people who had remained hid
in cellars. | advised my guide to
practice up on his English to be
ready for the curious American tour
lists of few years hence. For none
will miss Thuin.
At the Hotel de Vile a newsboy
was crying his papers. Thinking these
were newspapers he carried under
his arm / bought one. 1t was an Off
cial death list, and sold at a penny.
BY this time my heavy United States
army shoes were worn thin. Again l
| tried to rent some lind of vehicle, but
not one remained in the city. Finally,
however, l was offered a bicycle for
100 francs, which the owner had taken
to pieces and hid from the Germans.
| So, secreting ourselves that night in
/ a basement room, we reconstructed
/ this machine.
Stopped at Maubeuge.
| At Maubeuge. France, a soldier who
/ could talk En- glish was kind enough
| to explain that, though he had or
/ ders TO shoot on sight any civilian rid