Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-10-25


been put back to where it was when |
julius Caesar described it 1000 years |
ago-a wild land, and waste, grow /
ing up with thorns and thistles. |
That proclamation on avail tells |
the whole story. Let no building
stand, no vine or tree. Before re-
treating let each well be plentifully |
polluted with corpses and with cre-
osote. The spirit was this, Since we
Germans cannot have this land, no |
one else SHALL Your eyes never saw
a more exquisite bit of carving for
the corner of q roof than this Cal
spray OF myrtle leaves, carved IN
stone, after the Germans had de-
stroyed the Cathedral of Arras.
Look at this firebrand. Every Ger
man company of soldiers carried one
automobile lorry filled with these
! firebrands, with a tank of gasoline
hanging beneath the axles. One of
the historic chateaus is that of Avri-
court, rich in noble associations of
history. 1t was one of the buildings
! specially covered by a clause in the
International agreement between
England, Germany, France, the
| United States, and all the civilized
! nations, safeguarding historic build
! ings. For many months it was the
home of Prince Eitel, the Kaisers
second son.
Prince EiteI's Crime.
Forced to retreat, the aged
French servants, who understood the
| electric lighting and the gas plant,
and who had served Eitel during his
occupancy, when the judge and jury
/ held the trial at the ruins of the
chateau, stated that they heard the
German officers telling Eitel that he
| would disgrace the German name If
he destroyed a building that had no
| relation to war, and could be of
practically no aid and comfort to the
| French army, and he would make
| his own name q name of shame and
contempt, of obliquy and scorn. But
the man would not yield. He brought
in great wagons and moved to the
freight cars at the station absolutely
every object that was in the splendid
chateau. And, having promised to-
! leave the building uninjured, be
| stopped his car at the entrance and
| exit gates of the ground, ran back to
the historic building with a can Of
| oil that he had secreted, filled the
asbestos in this ball of perforated
iron, ran through the halls and wait
ed until the flames were we'll in
progress, and then ordered his men
to light the fuse of dynamite bomb.
| All the testimony was taken imme-
| diately afterward from aged SER
| wants and from the little children,
and the degeneracy revealed has not
been surpassed since the first chap
tersof Romans was. written on the
unnatural crimes of the ancient
world. There are the copies of the
affidavits. In the ruins, hard be-
side the black marble steps l picked
| up this firebrand with which Prince
Eitel assassinated a building that be-
longed to the civilized world. 1
hope to live long enough to see Ger
many forced to repay at least one
debt, in addition to ten thousand
| others. Conceived by the Gothic ar
chitects, after four thousand years of
neglect, the Germans about 1875,
completed the Cathedral of Cologne.
When this war is over every stone in
that cathedral should be marked.
German priconers should be made
to pull those stones apart. German
cars be made to transport every
stone to Louvain and German hands
made to set up the Cathedral of Co
logne in Louvain or Arras. For a.
judgment day is coming to Germany,
and though dull and heavy minds
doubt it, men of vision perceive it's
incidents and outlines already TAX
ing shape.
Devastation of Home.
But the ruin of his bridges, his
school houses, his churches, his farm
houses, his vineyards and orchards,
Is the least of his sorrows. In a
little village near Ham dwelt a man
who had saved fortune for his old
| age, 100, 900. francs. When the in
vading army, like a black wave was
approaching, he buried his treasure
beneath the large, flat stones that
made the walk from the road up to
the front step of his house. Then,
with the other villagers, the old man
! fled. Many months passed by, while
/ the Germans bombarded the village.
At last the German wave retreated,
and once more the old man drew
near to his little village. There was
nothing, nothing left. After long
time, he located the street, which
was on the very edge of the town,
but could not find the cellar of his
own house. Great shells had fallen.
| Exploding in the cellar, they had
! blown the bricks away. Other shells
had fallen hard by and blown dirt
to fill what once had been a cellar.
The small trees in front of his
house had been blown away and
replaced by shell pits. In Paris AM
bassador Sharp told me that the
aged man had up to that time failed
to locate his house, much less his
treasure. But what trifles light as
air are houses!
A Broken Man.
"At tho officers chateau. late one
night after returning from the front
a general and a captain were re-
counting their experiences. Among
other incidents was this one. Dur
ing the winter of 1915. months after
the Germans had occupied that ter
ritory, several English officers and a
! young French captain were recount
ing their experiences. In saying the
! farewells before each man went out
TO his place in the trenches to look
after his men, the English boy eX-
claimed: Next week at this time ]
will be home. Five more days and
my weeks leave of absence comes.
Then suddenly remembering. that the
French captain had been there a
long time, he asked when he was 60
ing home. To which came this low
answer, I have no home. You men
j do not understand. Your English
i village has never been invaded
When the Germans left my little
town, they destroyed every little
building. My wife and my little
daughter are both expecting babies
within a few weeks. I-I-I-" and
the storm broke. The two English
l men fled into the dark and night
knowing that there was night that
was blacker that rain was nothing
against those tears, for all his hopes
of the future were dead. His only
task was to recover France and
transfer all his ambitions to Coo in
| Heaven. That is why there will be
i no inconclusive peace. Do not de-
! Indie vOurself Whatbar tbic 1,,a -