Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-04-04
'BELGRADE AND SEML|N
lombard EACH OTHER
Enemy Towns Only Two an6,a Half
Miles Apart. Where River Save
Joins the Danube
BOTH SUFFER- CONSIDERABLY
Ruined Royal Palace In Serbian Cap
ftal Robbed of Everything OF
Value During Thirteen Days Oc-
cupation by Austrians.
ny ARTHUR NJ. LEECII.

ny ARTHUR NJ. LEIGH.
BELGRADE, April 3.-Belgrade and
Semlin face one another where the
kiver Save joins the Danube. When
hrst saw them in dazzling sunlight,
III the distance. they looked pleasant
enough cities. Less than twenty four
hours after my arrival here Semlin
prayed shabby trick upon Belgrade,
and have no kindly feeling for the
people who perpetratcd it.
| The two cities are some two and n
! half miles apart. and there is no rem
son why, war being what it is I'm six
! months OF fierce conflict between Ser
biahS ana Austrians and Germans, both
towns should not have been RACED to
the ground by she'll fire. Belgrade has
suffered considerably. l was allowed
/ to make u close acquaintance with 1T,
and tho first impression ] got was OF
visiting Il city of the dead. The
streets have been torn up by high cx-
pIosiTc shells. Magnificent buildings
/ have been wrecked by explosives
! thrown in by tho Austrians at odd
| moments. The university, the royal
palace. shops, houses, public buildings.
factories-few have been completely
spared. and the wind whistles through
the rents in the walls. and glass and
| brick and masonry fall as one walks
| through the streets
| BY night the streets are unliRhted.
and only occasionally did I catch n
candle CLEAN coming from ono OF the
few remaining occupied houses. Across
, the river Scmlin shows n few lights by
| night
GUNS BOOM LIKE
DISTANT THUNDER
During my first night in Belgrade
guns doomed all around like distant
thunder. After dark rambled through
the black streets, stumbled into shell
hoicS and over heaps of earth and
stones. broken glass, and bits OF
masonry, ana became cntanElcd In
broken telegraph ana telephone wires
| went into q cafe where n few of tho
/ inhabitants had gathered around "a
Iiinlmering light. They were glad to
see visitors from England, and while
tho light hickered and guns doomed
they talked of the Austrian occupation
of the town for thirteen DAYS Gun
: lucky numbcr). and the great seven
day battle in December. In which the
Serbian army routed the Austrians and
captured thousands of prisoners
one old man, held az hostage DURING
the occupation. told me that during
the great evacuation he saw Austrian
officers shooting ut their own men in
order TO get first place on the pontoon
bridges. which were the only way bnck
TO Austrian territory. During the
thirteen days occupation. program of
sightseeing was carried out by tho
Austrian ladies from Budapest and
Vienna. They came in their motor
cars and crossed the pontoons into Bel
grade. When the day of the rout
came some OF these sightseeing ladies
We're left behind.
AS the guests of the government we
were allowed TO go over the ruined
royal palace. During the occupation
it was tcnanted by, Austrian officers
and early in the proceedings every
thing OF value was packed up and re-
moved To Austria. But the officer In
/ charge Of the removal business would
appear 10 have a sense Of humor Az
ter clean sweep. he chalked upon
the main entrance OF tho palace "A no
tice In German that entrance was for
hidden, and that the keys were with
l.icutenant-Coloucl SchwarZ
ROOMS ALL SACKED
OR WRECKED ny SHELLS
SchwarZ. as the removal contractor
Of the Austrian army, was {, most cf-
rooms have been sacked or wrecked
by shells. The crown princes apart
| Inents wero burnt out. and, with a
single exception, all the pictures Of
value taken. The only one left i s
Murats painting OF the coronation OF
the Serbian Tar Doushan. huge
pieco OF work, after the modern Slav
school, which must have been too large
| for the Austrian pantechnicons.
1t was while we were at the palace
with Prince Paul. one of tho Kings
sons that Semlln opened fire upon Bel
grade. We heard the boom of the dis
tant guns. the whistling of a she'll
and then mighty crash as ii exploded
! III our vicinity. That was the first
/ shot, ana q We'll directed one at thar.
+ They followed In scorea and hundreds
and we found it advisable TO go else
where.
AS we drove into the street shell
! fell behind us, tearing up the roadway
! ana creating n another of dust and