Bisbee daily review., 1916-01-02
BELGRADE IS NEARLY
 DESERTED OF ALL BUT THE MILITARY FORCES
American Correspondent Vis- its Former Capital of Ser bia and Finds Few Civilians in the City.


 BELGRADE. Dec. 30.-Were it not for the soldiery. Belgrade would mako the impression of deserted city. An Associated Press corresp spondent. the first American permitted to visit tha city after it's capture, was surprised to learn that nearly or quite one fifth of the inhabitants are still here. Bel grade had nearly 100000 inhabitants before the war. and there are now some 10000 left. As result. the bet ter sections of the city are really de- serted in the full meaning of the word. and the observer may wander through the main streets for hours without seeing score of civilians.
 In comparison with many cities in East Prussia. Poland and Belgium. Belgrade did not suffer greatly from the two bombardments which it un- derwent Little damage was done in he main business section. Here and there a shell damaged a building more or less-none was totally de- |stroyed-and a few houses bear the marks of exploding shrapnel shells. Considerable damage was done to factory buildings along the bank of the Save.
 The chief destruction is confined te. that part of the city south of thefort- ress. This section. comprising from ont fifth to one fourth of the entire city, is all but utterly destroyed. A fierce street battle ragged here for two days, following the landing of the Hungarians below the citadel. The Austro- Hungarian artillery at first dropped a great number of 30.5 centi- meter shells into this section to make it impossible for the defenders to hold their ground On the second day a re- port came that Serbian division from Obrenovac. about 25 miles west of Belgrade. was marching to the sup port of the troops in the city There upon the Austro-Hungarien batteries laid their fire further back to curtain of the approaching endorsements
 The destruction thus wrought was most thorough In the whole section under fire there is hardly a single building which was not hit fairly at least once and most of the very few thus undamaged were crushed by the terrible air wave resulting from the explosion of the shell from the "thir- ty-point-dve' One of these great pro jectiles penetrated four floors and the roof of building before exploding At some points a stench betrays bodies still under the ruins.
 Most of the damage done in the principal part of the city dates from a year or more ago, and is mainly the result of shots fired in answer to cc- casional shots from the Serbian bat teries. The damage to the old and new Konaks. the Kings palace. dates from then. No shots fell in this dis trict during the last bombardment. One large shell has fallen into the ballroom of the old Konak. but the destruction is not SO great as one would expect. A small shell has made a hole into the new Konak. and shrap- nel has marked it somewhat.
 Two trolley lines are in operation in the city. directed and manned by the military The two drug stores still open are under military direc- tion. with soldier-apotheearies in charge. Two or three moving picture shows are divided into equal parts. one of which is kept for the owner for the event that he ever returns TO claim it. and the other half is devoted to taking care of the poor of the city.
 About 1000 Serbians receive daily ration from the military authorities. Another 4.O00 are employed on various public works, such as paving, steet cleaning. etc It is declared that the city is cleaner today than it has ever been before.