South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1916-04-07
CIVILIANS
LEFT IN VERDUN
City Totally Deserted Writes
Newspaper Correspondent.
Shells Wreck School.
,,0rnationnl News Service

international News Service:
LONDON. April III Warner
Allen. representative Of all the Brit
ish newspapers with the French ar
mics. has sent the following picture
Of war-battered and deserted Yer
dun:
To-day. Xerdun is rot crowded
Not a shop is open. II can muster
/ three civilians. and all three OF them
are rightly proud Of their courage
in staying in the bombarded town.
have just been walking down
I the main street. Everywhere there
/ is silence except for the crashing OF
I the big shells and the sound Of
/ splinters falling on the roofs. All
+ the goods, the shopkeepers lad col
: lected as specially calculated 20 ap-
( peal TO the soldier in the trenches
/ have disappeared. and low one
walks down the Rue Mazel. ones
/ course is frequently interrupted.
! There comes a rush of wings in the
air. and instinctively one makes for
( the nearest doorway, ducking as one
/ goes Then there is big explosion,
/ and one goes on.
Experiences Sensation.
IL was in the Rue Mazel that 1
met one of the three civilians of Yer
! dun He was contemplating the
view from his door with a content
ed smile and looked at me with SUI
preme contempt I scuttled for COW
er at a particularly loud explosion.
You are taking refuge on the
wrong side OF the road" he remark
ed milky The left is the side 10
I escape from spllnters. since that is
the side from which the Boches are
firing. Anyhow it is no use duck'ng.
since by the time you've heard the
shell the danger is over
As we went up the steep lonely
streets towards the cathedral our
attention was suddenly attracted by
a strange piercing sound that con-
| trasted quantity with the continu-
ing roar of exploding shells. 1t was
a kitten mewing plaintively in the
first story Of a house. Ii had Obvi-
ously been forgotten in the haste OF
\ evacuation. The owner OF the house
had closed up the shutters and had
never given a thought to the poor
beast which was slowly starving to
death.
a rescue party was at once form
ed. NJ. Georges Scott. the artist.
who is modified as a Chasseur AL
pin. mounted on my shoulders and
endeavored TO pry open the shutter
with a stick. But his efforts were
unavailing. and eventually the kit
tens life was saved by the firemen
Of Nerdun, who. at our request
broke into the house
Statue Still Stands.
Several large shells had fallen
near the cathedral. One of them
had Quilted a girls school and an
ether had landed fair and square en-
a shop that sold regilious ornaments
and emblems. For some unexplain-
ed reason there was a cures hat ~
ing pathetically on the top of the
debris and at the back against a
wall that had miraculously escaped
destruction stood a stucco statue OF
Joan OF Arc which had passed
through the storm of fire unscathed
The pigeons. which were flying in
uneasy circles above the cathedral
seemed TO be curiously disturbed by
the COMMANDMENT. As a general
rule, the birds seem TO regard bonn
bardment as a natural catachysm, to
be suffered since il cannot be pre-
vented Anyhow, the pigeons OF
Nerdun have not yet grown accus-
toned 10 the noise of the German
COMMANDMENT
Despite German shells the French
gendarmes keep a good watch in
Nerdun. There is no pilliging and
the refugees who in their hurry left
their house windows open and doors
unlocked can sleep easy as to the
contents Of their hours. except inso.
far IA an enemy projectile may re-
duce them TO powder. Just near one
Of the gates there is n house OF
, which the shutters have not beer
closed and the window is still open
It seems that just before the evacua-
ton the owner Of that house haC
some special occasion to celebrate
Looking through the window one
can see a table laid for 16 person:
and everything prepared for an ex,
cellent meal. There was a beauti-
ful clean tableclOth with napkin,
folded mitre~shaped for every guest
Decanters OF wine, red and white
were standing beside each plate or
the sideboard piles Of oranges anC
apples were waiting for the party
who was never to eat them.
The gendarmes in Verdun seen
TO keen a catalogue OF the shells
which fall in the town. Those VIII,
live in bOmbarded towns take a def
J mite pride I'm showing the visitors
the holes made by German projec
tiles and the houses that they haC
thoroughly destroyed. IL was Will
an expression Of the greatest salts
faction that one OF the gendarme
asked US TO come and see his gate
because. during the previous night
he had counted IL big shells tina
had fallen into its neighborhood.
NJ. Scott. the artist, remarked L
me:
This war is the end OF the battle
painter since. apart from curiousl!
lucky circumstances. there is abso
: lutely nothing 10 paint. Modern
warfare has nothing 10 do with col
ors. 1t is a symphony in sound.
80 % crrhfapf N, "A frar. for rha rY,razfoia y,