Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1916-03-30
REPORTER SENDS
 PEN PICTURE OF BATTERED VERDUN
Only Three Civilians Remain in the Town, Shattered
 by Shells.

London, March 2e.--H Warner Allen, representative of all the Brit ish newspapers with the French armies, sends today the following pie ture of war-battered and deserted Verdun
 Today, Verdun is not crowded. Not a shop is open. It can muster three civilians, and all three of them are rightly proud of their courage in stay ing in the bombarded town.
 l have just been walking down the main street Everywhere there is sil- ence except for the cashing of the big shells and the sound of splinters fall- ing on the roofs. All the goods, the shopkeepers had collected as specially calculated to appeal to the soldier in the trenches. have disappeared, and now when one walks down the Rue Mazel, ones course is frequently in- terrupted. There comes rush of wings in the air. and instinctively one makes for the nearest doorway, duck- ing as one goes. Then there is big explosion, and one goes on.
 It was in the Rue Mazel that I met one of the three civilians of Verdun. He was contemplating the view from his door with contented smile and looked at me with supreme contempt when | scuttled for cover at par ticularly loud explosion. You are taking refuge on the wrong side of the road" he remarked mildly. "The left is the side to escape from splinters, since that is the side from which the Boches are firing. Anyhow it is no use ducking, since by the time you've heard the shell the danger is over. As we went up the steep lonely streets toward the cathedral ou,. at tention was suddenly. attracted by a strange piercing sound that contrasted quaintly with the continuing roar of exploding shells. It was kitten new ing plaintively in the first story of a house. It had obviously been forgot ten in the haste of evacuation. The owner of the house had closed up the shutters and had never given thought to the poor beast and was slowly starving to death.
 A rescue party was at once formed. M. Georges Scott. the AEtistsswho is mobilized as chasseur Afpfh, mount ed on my shoulders and endeavored to prise open the shutter with a stick But his efforts were unavailing, and eventually the kittens life was saved by the firemen of verdup. who, at our request. broke into the house.
 Several large shells hAda&llen near the cathedral. One of them had gutted girls school and another had landed fair and square on shop that sold religious ornaments and emblems. For some unexplained reason there was a cures hat lying pathetically on the top of the debris and at the back against wall that had. miraculously escaped destruction stood stuccO statute of Joan of Arc, which had passed through the storm of fire un- scathed.
 The pigeons, which were f}ying in uneasy circles above the cathedral. seemed to be curiously dStdrbed by the bombardment As general rule, the birds seem to regard sbcgnbafIiment as natural catachysm, t0Ass SUffered sinas it cannot be prevented. Any how, the pigeons of Verdun have not yet grown accustomed to the noise of the German bombardment
 Despite German shells the French gendarmes keep good watch in Ver- dun. There is no pillaging and the refugees who, in their hurry, left their house windows open and doors un- locked, can sleep easy as to the con- tents of their hours, except insofar as an enemy plbjectile may reduce them to powder. Just near one of the gates there is house of which the shutters have not been closed and the windows is still open. It seems that just be- fore the evacuation the owner of that house had some special occasion to celebrate. Looking through the win dow one can see table laid for 16 persons and everything prepared for an excellent meal. There was beau tiful clean tablecloth with napkins folded mitre shaped for every guest. Decanters of wine, red and white, were