davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-08-05

who have devastated it. This had been
left untouched-France does not make
war on the dead But beside the gate
of its Enclosure was written in French:
"Here lies part of the band of vandals.'
Noyon was the point nearest Pans
at which the Germans remained the
longest time. Although they occupied
the town two years and seven months,
it escaped mparatively unhurt; Tor
here also they left too hastily to
wreak their fury upon the city. How
ever, they did what they could, even in
such haste. Several times | saw a
placard on rough fence inclosing a
house or we'll: Eau dangereuse
boire" ("Water dangerous to drink.
Accompanied by an officer of the
General Staff, we proceeded to Bleran-
court, little town very much damaged,
and now used chiefly as a point OF re-
pose for troops from the front line
trenches. They filled the little place
with an astonishing gayety. The day
we were there, June 10, was the Fete
de Dieu. A grand football match was
to be held in the afternoon, and eX-
ceedingly buoyant colored posters an.
nouncing this, and also "grand vocal
and instrumental concert" for the even
ing, were placed at advantageous
points. AS our two cars rolled, up the
little street blue uniforms poured f:om
doorways and windows. We had lunch
con in big old garden full of syringa
in full bloom, roses and tiny wild straw
berries. As we ate, tn, guns doomed
duly to the north and east; but closer
still was the light-hearted singing of
the soldiers who, the day before, had
come in from the front lines.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-08-05

when we left the man had begun to
clear away with his bare hands the
confusion of broken stone, and the
woman had disappeared into the cave
to examine its possibilities as tenn
porary home.
The government, which in these
towns, cut off almost completely from
the rest of France, means the military
authorities, has acted with admirable
promptitude. Official notices are pub
iished, asking that inhabitants Of these
regions return to them and do what
they can to reconstruct the life. Prac-
teal help is promised and given freely.
Food is provided from the army ra-
tons, and various committees and or
carnations are forming to supply
money, necessary farming and laboring
utensils and the bare necessities of
living. Wealthy individuals, both in
France and America, and sometimes a
city or group of persons, adopt one of
these devastated villages and become
responsible for it, as for a filleul. The
Fund for War Devastated Villages"
with headquarters at 80 Rue Taitbout,
Paris, is meeting immediate needs
promptly and directly, in close CO.
operation with the military command
ant in each village.
Natures part is slower; but even af-
ter only three months it is very evil
dent. Where the Germans felled long
lines of poplar trees, leaving pitiful
lines of CHASTITY stumps, are now great
bushy boquets of shining green
leaves, completely hiding the white
wound Only the years to come, Of
course, can really repair this injury,
which more bitterly angered this rural
population than any other OF Ger
many's vandalisms. Still, the glare Of
the offence already has been softened.
And everywhere grass and wild flowers
are hurriedly Disgusting the ly, gap
ing wounds made by shell and obus.
The German first line trenches near
Compiegne are still full of the odors,
the flies, the debris, of their recent &C.
cupation. But often, few feet away,
they cannot be seen, for the green
wheat and corn are growing together
above them and down into them. Walk
ing through, one keeps both hands up,
pushing aside the stalks, and often the
way is blocked by earth invading, from
each side, this alien hollow, filling it, L
mound already topped by green blades.
So much cannot be said for the roses
the luxuriant roses of France-which
climb beside her smallest, humblest
cottages. The great rose vine cannot,
with all its hundred blooms, cover or
even disguise the single lettering wall
which supports it. II only makes the
ruin more pitiful. My thought as
gazed at them was wonder at a system
which is able to force men--men who
have themselves, far away in Germany,
just such little, beloved, pretty cot
tages-to destroy so wantonly these
| others.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-08-05
Whiskey and Soda,
American Lion Cubs

A gratifyingly real colored gentle
man, retrieved from the Foreign Le-
gion, served lunch. And then we in
spected the planes, painted pale gray,
with the screaming Indians head, which
is the insignia of the American squad
ron. Frolicking about among them
were the dozen or so animals belonging
to the squadron, including the two lion
cubs. One of these is now fourteen
months old, the other four. I asked if
they were not afraid Whisky, the
older, might "grow up" over night and
become troublesome, but was told that
strong hopes were entertained that
Whisky would never discover that he
is lion. The little one, as everybody
knows, is named Soda.
This squadron is used exclusively for
offensive operations, and lately they
have become more and more ambitious.
Each pilot works, on an average, four
hours day.
From Scissors we returned TO Paris,
passing through the now "old" battle
field of the Marine. | had gone over it
three weeks after the German defeat,
when the brown winter earth was
hideously SCARED by fire and she'll,
when the terrible debris Of the battle
field still lay all about, when the mark
of the German beast was to be seen
on every side. Now, from the high
road, all | could see were rolling
stretches Of green grain, with here and
there a narrow path leading through
to carefully tended grove over which
foated the tricolor.
This was the last spectacle Of NY
trip, but find it less vivid and NOV
ing than one of the tristan orchard
of wounded trees on the route to
Coucy. They had evidently been very
badly hacked. but either the cuts jus:
missed being deep enough or the own
er's hand was unusually skilful. Anv-
way. each wounded trunk carefully
bandaged with cotton, these fruit trees
stood up valantly, supporting a crown
of flowers that would presently he
fruit. The very trees. springing from:
the soil Of France are heroic.
Copyright. 1911 by Edward MsShsD
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-08-05
Postcard Shop Amid
Ruins of Roye

Roye is arresting, in its great trag-
edy. even in this land Of desolation.
The ruin here is more dramatic because
the town was comparatively important.
Nothing living stirs; the silence is here
more suffocating and intolerable. Yet
IN this waste Of crumbling walls and
gaping shell-holes, two little shops have
opened their doors. One is a mercerie,
the other a little "papeterie," where
postcards showing the ruined town can
be obtained. These are both very dark,
for not shred of glass remains in the
town, snd all windows must be board
ed up.
At Bailly, a tiny village not far from
Compiegne, we saw probably the most
utter humiliation of what had once
been a collection Of homes. II was i'm
possible even 70 say, Here was a
house" or "This must have been the
street" The very fallen stones had
been taken away, TO be used as de-
fences in the hard trench fighting
nearby.
drove up. and a man and a woman got
down. They were apparently decent,
prosperous, laboring people, with lined,
brown faces and the lean bodies OF out
tl-lOOI HDIhtI5s iH's SNNNN NN'NV 49,
beside the wagon, gazing at what had
been Bailly. They did not speak. Then
the woman came forward. very slowly,
with a sort of rigidly controlled.
shrinking movement. TO the vague col
lection Of stones and dust beside which
] stood.
This was the house." she said. eyes,
it must have been here" She frowned
and gazed searchingly about. trying 70
be quite sure. Her face showed no
emotion whatever, and there were no
tears In her eyes. "You see." she ex-
plained, Eve have only just come back
= after three years" Then she added:
81 did not expect 20 find IL like this"
She wandered about little among
the debris. apparently trying 70 hnd
something she could recognize. and was
presently Joined by the man, who talked
10 her eagerly for a few minutes, then
LEFT. Ard then she came over 70 me-
her eyer shining, her voice for the hrst
time faltering little.
I'VE snail be able 20 stay after All,
tte sald. "My man says the roof OF
,ao cellar IL not broken-we can Nv.
there. And we shall be at home" And
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-08-05
OF all but the silence and dust of their

Of all but the silence and dust Of their
ruin.
The reality is more poignantly desc
late than any picture of il ever will
be. Yet, after three days in the re-
conquered territory of the Disc and
Marne. a long Calvary whose stations
are ruins still smoking, and whose end
ia not vet; a spectacle of hideous de-
struction which the mind instinctively
refuses to associate with men-whi;h
seems as if it must be a blind aud
mysterious convulsion of nature i
was impressed by the unquenchahle
vitality and courage Of this country.
already lifting its head from blow
which would have paralyzed for gen
erations one less valiant.
Three forces are working with al
most equal success at this miraculous
" rapid healing process-individual.
logged courage, prompt and intellig mt
government help, and Nature herself.
CT the first, Suzoy is perhaps the
most touching example. Before the
war 1t numbered 5000 inhabitants.
Barely twenty remain. The little place
is a clear space, surrounded by fallen
walls and heaps of debris. Along one
side of it rises, in ragged relief against
the sky, the skeleton Of the church,
with German soldiers beds still litter
ing what was once the nave. Opposite
is the little school, which escaped de-
struction because it was used until the
last moment before retreat as a head
quarters. And in this building, three
weeks ago, classes were resumed for
the children who remain. Before their
eyes as they work is the gigantic fresco
caricature painted there during the
German occupations; these French chill
dren gaze round-eyed at a Germans
own conception of his race-and they
win not forget it in the years to come;
a dropsical monster, half-devil, half
brute, gleefully torturing manikins rep
resenting the various Allies.
A few kilometers away the guns still
thunder. but above them the school bell
rings clear. The young teacher was
dragged back with the retreating army
10 work somewhere in Germany; an
old man has taken her place-too old
for the army, too weak for work, but
who can still aid France by teaching
her children.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-08-05
Uncouth Monuments
To German Dead

The second morning We proceeded to
Noyon, passing through a wood on the
way which might have been a savage
settlement in Africa. Rough huts,
matched with leaves and dried grasses,
squatted beneath the trees; and under
ground dwellings, in which men ate and
rested and slept, showed openings just
above the ground. The whole aspect
was Of primitive savagery which made
the occasional blue-uniformed polu
seem utterly incongruous.
In a cleared space We glimpsed one
Of the uncouth monuments which Ger
many has had the efrontery to build,
in this invaded land, to the soldiers
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-08-05
be brought to an end BY negotiate,

be brought to an end by negotiation
Most Of US Germans believe that en-,
imperial head has strengthened ana
built up the nation and that it woulS
be inadvisable TO make a chanes.
though some of us-and the numbes !.
constantly growing-think we sho,iS
have a more democratic form Of raw
eminent. There is no possibility, hov.
ever, of the Russian revolutiops,,
movement spreading to Germany"
The secretary of the prison Y. NC
A. is a young professor. He is a bic
broad-chested Saxon, with blue evs:
and a gentle voice. He talks scod
English.
"Welt Mscht" and War
"who started the war" he repeated
"Why the desire for Welt Mscb,,
Tell me what nation does not desir.
il. You say America. All, my friend
you are wrong. You have ii, and "a
has England and Russia and Franc.
America has prolonged the war
Would I rather be here than in N.
trenches! Ny friend, there Ar.
many things worse than wounds and
death. What happens to our bodie,
is of little consequence
suggested that President wilso,
said Americas fight was sgains. the
system that made the war and not
against the German people.
Ny friend shrugged his shoulders
and smiled scornfully. A moment Be.
fore he talked so soulfully that mad
begun TO wonder if the Allies were NO,
really a lot of cunning sinners. So il
was something of a relief to find him
skeptical of the genuineness Of the
Presidents motives. He had hopped
off his pedestal. And the Y VI. c. A
was built by American money.
The prisoner who speaks with con.
fidence and pride of the army OF which
he was a unit deserves and gets the
appreciation of his military csp,ors
Such fellow was a rosy-cheeked, fa'
little n. {. O. from a Bavarian regiment
who took life philosophically and gor
considerable out of it. Three years agc
he was an analytical chemist; to-da,
he is camp librarian. He was in IN,
first wave of field green that threatened
to swamp France. but broke at m,
Marine; he was a prisoner before Ger
many had learned "Gott strafe Eng
land" and all his news Of the war h,
had received within the prison CAM
from British newspapers and later pris
oners. The man who can smile an,
laugh after three years of conhnemen
deserves an Iron Cross.
Zach! Americans! And so We got 4
fight you, too. Veil. let me tell you, v
can do it. Krieg list krieg. We kno,
how TO frht and Deutschland will neye
be beaten. Diplomacy must end di
war; il started it"
The little roly-poly n. c. o. will socr
end his third year in prison, but hi
spirit is still strong and his confdenc
in the "Vaterland" mistaken. The re
cent arrivals are just as CHEEKY. bu
generally they are overjoyed at bein
still alive after doing their Bit
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-08-05
Not One House
Left in Chauny

OF Chauny it is said that not one
house has been left intact, and many
are RACED to the ground. II counted
some $4,000 inhabitants; and in its
outskirts were important manufac-
tories Of glass and chemicals. These
are utterly destroyed.
From Chauny NORTHWEST to Roye
the road was one succession of
silent, ruined villages, blackened
skeletons of farms, mined and dang
ling bridges. On either side ran
the stumps of what had been mag
nifcent avenues of tall elms and
poplars. These felled trees are, some
way, even more more pitiful than the
ruined houses. For with the means,
houses can be rebuilt, but only the long
years to come can give back to France
these shade and fruit trees.
At little town called Champion, just
outside Roye, we alighted to see Ger
man cemetery on the outskirts. The
neat graves were each surmounted by
a wooden cross, giving the name OF the
soldier resting there, his regiment and
the date. :,
Not twenty feet further up the road
was the cemetery of Champion, sur
rounding the church and presenting the
most convincing evidence | had yet
seen that the German people, as per-
sonifed in their army, can appall tie
most benighted savage by their hideous
and wanton barbarism. The church, of
course, was ruin, but the cemetery
also had been Systematically and in
credibly violated. Deep vaults had
been opened and now yawned empty.
The thing was revolving to the last de-
gree.
Roye was one of the most important
OF the Somme towns, though smaller
than Chauny. AS usual in France, it
was built around an open place, and
here its ruin is most complete. because
here we're its most important buildings
and shops. These were dynamited by
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-08-05
Fruit and Shade Trees
Wantonly Destroyed

An apparently colossal charge OF
powder was exploded beneath the centre
OK the place, hurting tons of stone pay
ing blocks through the roofs and walls
OF the surrounding houses. The sugar
works were destroyed and the shops
were rifed. even to their account
books. Nothing that could be done in
the space of time between the notice
and fact of retreat to wreck the town
utterly was left undone. Yet its re-
suscitation Is increasingly visible. The
200 inhabitants who remain are fed by
the military authorities. German
prisoners have been put to work at
pulling down the tottering walls and
removing all debris. Other shops Will
oren their doors. following the two
pioneers | have mentioned.
Along the wide road leading from
Roye to Lassigny and Noyon, dis
lance of perhaps twenty-five kilo-
metres, not one tree remains upright.
OF this long, shady avenue nothing but
the stumps remain, the long felled
trunks disappearing into the thick
grass at either side Of the road. Some
OF the fruit trees have escaped, often
with deep gashes, however, showing
that the German spirit was willing, but
the time too short.
On the day following this, passing
through Scissors, we visited the Amer
lean aerial squadron, which few days
before had been moved down near there
from Ham. 1t now numbers twenty
pilots, with new ones coming in weekly
from the training school, and including
the veterans Thaw, Parsons, Johnson
and Lufbery, who alone remain of the
original group. They are officially
members of the French army, wear the
French uniform and receive French
pay. They had invited US TO luncheon,
and we entered the wooden shack, with
its two long tables, to the strains of a
triste Hawaiian waltz from Victrola
in one corner. Lieutenant Thaw ey-
planned that only the graver melodies
were played since they had come to this
benighted spot from the comparatively
lively town of Ham.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-08-05

Fresco drawn by Germans on wall
Of French school, showing Teuton
giants torturing little figures intend
ed TO represent the Allies.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-08-05
Dogged Courage and
Intelligent Help From
Governm ent Work
With Equal Success
to Hasten Healing
Process Already I'm
der Way
By VIOLA IRWIN WILL JAMS

Paris, July 1s.-I have just seen tie
country that only three months ago
was wrested from an invading army
the land that for nearly three years
has been pillaged, exploited, drained
Of its barest resources, and even, so
far as was possible. of its hope for
the future. have seen the towns and
villages in which deliberate destruction
has been most painstaking and COM
plete; from which every man has been
taken for work in German mine or
camp; from which every girl and young
woman has disappeared; villages empty
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-08-05
Boys Ignorance Shown


Next talked with three boys of TWEEN
ty who were in West Prussian regI-
ment at the battle of Messines and were
taken prisoners soon after the explosion
of the mines. Though less than a mile
away from the nearest mine, they said
they were not shocked, but the noise
was deafening. They had had nine
months of training after being called
up from the farm and then they were
sent to the West front, where they
had been only few months. All of
them said they were sorry when the
Gallup order had been given and all
were mighty glad to be prisoners.
They did not know America was at
war and had not the slightest idea of
the country's strength. They did not
know anything about democracy and
cared less; they went to war because
they had 10 obey orders; they were
typical "kanonenfutter," and it must be
remembered that there is a whole lot
day.
An artillery observer who was capt
ured in a front line trench last fall
was one of the most intelligent pris-
oners with whom ! talked. asked
him when and how he thought the war
would end. Like most others, he
shrugged his shoulders and then de-
clared Germany would never be beaten.
"You may drive us back. but every
time we retire you will come to a new
barrier. and then you must begin again.
1t is easy enough for either side TO
break through the first line Of de-
fences; all that is needed is a big sup
ply of high explosives, but the first ad-
vance cannot be followed up. am
certain Germany cannot be starved and
that her supply of men and material
will hold out. The war will have TO
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-08-05

tn. retreating army. The town hall Is
a ragged fretwork Of leaning timbers,
its beautiful belfry. dating from the
sixteenth century. half buried in the
dust and stones beneath.
The Alaska daily empire., 1917-01-27
pawson Ploneers Eleet

The Yukon Order of Pioneers have elected officers for the year and pre-, pared for a lively year. More than one hundred of the men who took part in the invasion and develop, ment of the land in the dramatic days of two decades ago were in the hall recently and enjoyed the evening immensely reciting tales of their early exploits. The new Of, tncer5 are:
 Past President Fred H, Day
 President, William F. Collins.
 V,se President Max Landreyille.
 Chaplain, John fiawkslcy. Secretary. Joe Re2uprc.
 Trcaaurcr. William M Cribbs.
 Coadugugr sam Henry.
 Inside Guard, Alex Mclean.
 Outside Guard, J. M Durochter
 Trustees. Ur. J. 0. Laoha3ello. Gol. trey Rogers and James w. Kirk.
The Alaska daily empire., 1917-01-27
oIdtIme.s Do ein rhinas

\ letter .fr0m PhllldeIDDia 70 th2 Seward Gateway, conveys the infor, nation that Major J. H. French, Charles F. Heron and Paddy Cum, mings will return 10 this district this spring and it is intimated that they are prepared Co perform eNten, slyc mining work. It is even hinted that they have tremendously big things for the next season. They have been making their headquarters at the Ritz,Carltou hotel, Philadelphia and are all well known in Alaska,
The Alaska daily empire., 1917-01-27

Joes loyal, member Of the Yukon contingent, dropped dead from heart failure in barracks at the Willows Camp. Victoria, B. c. loyal was an old-tmer in the Yukon and an eN- member of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police, in which force he worked as tailor n Whitehorse. Af- ter the end of his enlistment he fol- lowed his trade in Wnitchorse up Co the time of joining the Yukon Infantry Comp2ny.
The Alaska daily empire., 1917-01-27
Dies on the Trail


 According to the Dawson News, the body of a man had been found on the trail on the Yukon river be. tween Ogilyie and Stewart. The re. mains, which are not fully identified, were supposed 70 be those of Paul Lest0r. who left Dawson about Christ mas on a prospecting trip to some tributary Of the Yukon river near or above Stewart. The body was found six to ten miles below Stewart lying in the snow rigid in death and nearby were the mems dogs, gaunt end nearly dead from hunger. A Yukon sled, loaded with provisions, 70 which evidently the dogs had been nitched. was some miles below where the body of tho unfortunate was discovered, and the animals had doubtless been released by their own. CT anI the outfit abandoned in a last desperate effort toi reach some place of shelter from the bitterly cold weather that prevailed in that region at the time he is supposed to have perished.
 Lestor, when he set out from Daw- son, had two small dogs attached to a heavy load of supplies He was an eldery man, but an experienced frontlersman, and had mined for years on Duncan Creek and later in
The Alaska daily empire., 1917-01-27
RrInne Kuakokwim GoId

He was only a small man in phys iQue but with the aid of Q bunch Of nine KuskOkwim huskios he brought
 3O.0OO in goll dust to Anchorage from his property on Bear Creek at he mouth of the Ku8kolwim. Dan 8rice arrived in the city Sunday and put up at the White House during his stay in Anchorage, says the An chOrage Times. Mir. Bricc came by ,hc way of Bethel, McGrath and the IdilarCd trail.