Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1916-03-15
BELEAGUERED CITY vERDUN.
French and German Lines Now About
AS in 1914.

Verdun, March g. - Nine-inch
shells are falling around the Gath
bridges and railway stations of Ver-
dun to-day. They come from long
range guMs-seven miles away-and
drop methodically.
The gendarmes on duty near one
gate told the Associated Press cor
respondent he had kept a tally on
those that fell last night and that
there were III of them. The cor
respondent, sheltered by massive
earth and stone works, at one of the
gates, counted projectiles exploding G
about three minutes apart in that
neighborhood.
The German gunners are trying to
break communication through Ver-
dun. Strangely enough not bridge
nor an entrance to the abandoned
Notifications has been struck directly.
Splinters OF shells have chipped SOME
OF the structures, but none of them
has been destroyed.
Population Moves Away.
The city is vacant. 1t Is more like
the ghost Of a city than a modern
well-built town. There are no civil
ians and no soldiers here. Firemen
have remained, however, and are
busy stopping the work of the imcen-
diary bombs. A detachment of gen
darmes is on duty as a precaution
| against amy stray plundering.
Twenty-Five Thousand persons
locked their doors, and with a small
allowance of personal baggage left
the town by order. Transportation
was provided for them without de-
ranging the enormous military re-
quirements Of the moment One can
walk through miles of streets with
shuttered windows without seeing a
person either in uniform or out of
uniform.
The city is little damaged. The AS
sociated Press correspondent did not
see a building chat had been hit in
the Rue MaZel, the principal business
street Of Verdun. The Cafe de la
Paix was the only place open. It's
doors were wide for the convenience
of the firemen and gendames. In
front Of it stood the aproned proprie
tor, the single civilian remaining in
the city.
Some Buildings Struck.
Ptf nff ho
qaurters houses had been struck by
shells. One shell had hit the annex
to the hotel "The Sturdy Cock" we'll
known to tourists. 1T was one Of the
first Of the 13-inch shells that reach
ed the city. The four-story corner
building had collapsed.
Numerous other shells had fallen
on the eminence where the Cathedral
of Notre Dame and the church build
ing stands. One gable of the cathe-
dral had been knocked off and the
handsome stained glass windows
shattered by conclusions. Otherwise
the cathedral had not been injured.
A girls seminary adjoining it, how
ever, was a mass of ruins.
The correspondent with the officers
OF the general staff went to one of
the forts defending Verdun. 1t was
on the heights Of the Meuse. The
sombre weather with occasional fur
ries Of snow made Douaumont, which
has been taken and retaken several
times barely discemable. A tremen-
dOus cannonading was going on. Two
or three houses we're burning in the
valley. Occasionally a flash Of fire
was perceived on the edge Of the ho-
rizon. Technical observers said they
thought the German had fired be-
tween 100000 and 100000
shells. The ground taken by the
Germans is almost the same as that
won by the French in series Of ac-
tions between January and April of
last year and the lines on both sides
rest where they did at the end of
I 1914.