Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-01-07

mountain feeders. Along the edge Of
the river ran rows of shell-torn walls
with gaping windows. This whole
water front had been torn to pieces,
and yet many Of the demolished rem
nants of the buildings we're occupied.
and work along the river wharves was
proceeding.
To the left. as we approached the
river, stood out the palatial castle of
Count Coronini of Vienna. the close
personal friend of Emperor Francis
Joseph up to his death. and the master
Of ceremonies of the imperial house
hold. In this castle had died King
Charles X. and his body still reposes
in the nearby convent Of St Catarina.
One Of the lions of st. Mark, which
had capped the entrance to the castle,
was taken down by the Austrians be-
fore they quit Gorilla and is now in
the city museum. 1t was an impress
sive sight to see the fine old castle
through vista Of trees, with its parks
and avenues, and the Italian flag fly
ing above it.
The 1sonzo river was crossed by the
wooden bridge which Italian engineers
built after all the old bridges had
been blown up. On one side lay the
wreck of big pontoon. 1t was on
pontoon bridges that the Italians en-
tered the city, and this wreck was one
of the remnants of that crossing. The
big railroad bridge was lying in a
wreck from artillery fire. Further on
was the massive stone bridge with one
of its main arches blown to pieces.
Near these bridges lie number of
important paper-mills, where paper is
made for government notes. All these
mills were masses of ruins with few
tall chimneys still standing among the
debris.
Gorilla itself was under the rain of
terrific bombardment. for the full
force Of the great offensive was now
only few hours off. The cannonade
ran the whole range of violence. from
the deep base rumble Of monster guns
up to the staccato rattle of machine
guns which sounded like strings of big
fire-crackers in barrel A crash of
falling walls could be heard every
now and then as one of the big mis-
siles "arrived"-the familiar term
used by those who live with this she'll
fire.
And yet with the imminent danger.
many people still chung to their homes
and belongings with that same tenac-
ity which makes the Vesuvian peas
ants cling to the mountain side when
the volcano is raging and threatening
to bury them. But most of these peo-
pie on the streets are the poor who
could not get away, and the small shop
keepers who cannot afford to abandon
their goods. The big stores are all
closed, and the place has the air of a
| deserted city. with only a few strag-
glers bringing up the rear. Gorilla
had 10000 people but only 5000 are
, left, and these make only scattered
showing in the wide main street
fringed on either side with its she'll
torn fronts. 1t was raining hard and
this added to the lugubrious spectacle
Of the ravage wrought by the shells
the main facts were cabled on the day
TO the visit But there are some addi-
tional details worth recording now
that Gorilla stands out SO symbolic
| ally. Entering the city we passed the
| extreme Jesuit establishment where
| 600 seminarians were located. One
corner was knocked off, the cornices
were hanging and several big holes
told where the shells had found 8
mark. The main contour of the stree
was preserved and the buildings were
intact as whole, but every. second OF
third had been hit, some collapsing en-
tirely, others with their front wal
gone and their upper rooms will
household goods showing from thu
street. But there was no vast area o.
completely leveled debris as at Verdur
or Monastir. The outlines of a city
were still there, but it was a cit!
sieved by bombardment.
One modest dwelling stood out as W.
hurried along, not by it's ruin but b,
it's cheer in the midst of this desola
ton There were simple lace curtain:
in the windows, from one of which &
pretty little Italian girl was looking
down on her garden. She was quite
unconscious of the shell-fire all abou1
and called down to her companion be-
low. Some of the big buildings hat
their walls shored up with long tim
bers to keep them from topping over
At the theatre in the center of thu
| city the bill boards showed the rem
nants of the last performance, month!
ago, when company Of Vienese play
ers appeared in comedy. Now there
were firemen standing in the theatre