The Dickson County herald. (Dickson, Tenn.) 1907-1979, 1916-05-26
Charged With Electricity, Vie
Barrier ls Studded With
Dead Animals.
sENTINEls ON BOTH SIDES
Holland Can Flood Great Area at
Flrat Signs Of lnvsslon--pIffIcuit
70 Cross the Bordsr--Wrlter
Describes Some seems
Of the War.

VA MAS toMu khhk kuSF H1NS aAASphb AuG~
gotten that there Ia . war Perhaps
they have, for IL has swept past them
and nobody expects 1t to come back.
The potteries and breweries, which
are the principal factors In the
towns prosperity. are running full
time and making money; business is
good enough to all appearances. and
the walls are plastered with the ad-
veAsisements OF innumerable moving
picture houses where French war
movies are listed side by side with
detective dramas filmed In Los An
geles.
| But Maastricht saw and heard
enough OF the war In those tirst fe~
days. Little more than mile 10 the
west IL the Belgian frontier: 20 miles
on the other side Ia the German iron.
tier: 20 miles TO the southwest IL
Liege! The town lies almost at the
extremity OF South Limburg--the bot.
tle-shaped southwark projection OF
Holland that runs down for some 80
miles before ,sniHing te tho rest at
the country by neck that AT one
point Is hardly two miles wide And
| while It's people may have forgotten
that there is war now, Il viii be q
long time before they forget those first
days OF August. 1914.
The Germans were coming west
through Belgium everybody knew
that. Nobody felt sure that they
might not find Il more convenient TO
overrun South Limburg on the way;
and the Dutch army, hastily modified
the last day OF July, was digging In
along tbs frontier. while few miles
up the Mouse, on that range OF hills
which borders the river AZ Liege IA II
does at Maastricht. General l.emAn and
his Bclgians were sitting behind forts
that everybody thought were impreg-
nable and waiting for the Germans.
DprinS those days whilo the people
In Maastricht. as In Liege. were wait.
Ing TO see whether the war was com.
ing their way. there passed through
the town 5000 German civilians OK.
PEELED from their homes in Belgium at
the beginning OF the war, and already
Belgians who thought that Dutch ter.
ritory would be safer than their own
were beginning to move into the town
and district OF Maastricht.
Rumors That Germans Crossed.
Limburg. OF course. was not invaded.
! A legend persists that some German
troops did cross the narrow neck OF
the bottle, but nobody has ever found
any proofs, From Aachen. where the
advance troops had been hurriedly
gathered together, General Won EE,
mich's army started west toward tbs
Liege forts At yerviers and else
| where they skirmished with the Bel.
gian outposts. Then they came to
Wise. village less than four miles
from the Dutch frontier and little
more than ten from Maastricht.
The people OF this town. who tell
you that they hardly know now that
there Is war. could see the smoke
when Vase 4 was .burped burned ~
thoroughly that the people who live
along the border will tell you there is
not house left standing That day
there poured across the border q
swarm OF refugees OF different sort.
the precursors OF many others In the
day that followed~what was left OF
women and children OF Wise. who had
seen 200 OF their men shot down in
the streets. and scores OF others made
prisoner and started on their way to
Germany,
Masstricht heard the roar of the
battle at Llege, when the Germans.
trying to rush the hills without ade-
quate artillery support. were driven
back with the loss OF 10000 or 10000
men. aecording to local estimates. and
when for two or three days an excited
world thought that the terrible Ger
man army had been stopped just over
the threshold And then one morn.
ing every window In the Dutch border
city ratified with the deep roar OF q
new kind OF gun, firing ut Lsege from
Just south OF the frontier line. The
new howttIers had arrived, and the
Liege forts were blown to pieces enc
by one.
10000 Refugees In City.
Ten thousand refugees we're In
Msastrtch. before Ltege fell--l0. 0ot
strangers IN town OF less than 60.
GOO Most Of them had money. and
as hotels and pensions were over
flowed. the natives drove a thriyins
business for while taking in board
ers, But eventually most OF the Be,
gians moved on TO Rotterdam or Am
sterdam, or The Hague. or England
and those few who remained, runnin,
, out OF money, went to work In the fac
! tories that were Jus; cQmn,g back u
life and were absorbed tn the rout,n.
OF the town. They left behind thsn
stories OF German atrocities that hav,
affected sentiment In Naastrich, %