Valdez daily prospector., 1918-04-19
FRENCH CITY IS
 PILE OF RUINS
Blackened Walls and Smoking Debris Marks Site of Historic Place
 Where Kings Were Crowned

PARIS, April 19.-Rheims, which has been on fire for a week, from bombardment by the enemy. is now a pile of blackened, smoking ruins. What the flames failed to destroy the German shells finished. The famous Mars gate erected by the Remi in hon. or of Caesar and Augustus when Az rippa made all roads terminate at the town is a heap of rubbish. The beau tiful cathedral, the most famous ar chitectural triumph of France, built hundreds of years ago at tremend- .ous cost, has been demolished. The famous basilica where Clovis was baptized by St. Remigius is gone. The population of the town which retired at the commencement of the terrific bombardment, is homeless, and an- other crowning infamy has been add ed to German achievement.
 Last week the Germans fired more than 100000 shells into the very heart of the city, raking the structures from one wall to the other. Accord ing to Le Matin correspondent the damage done can never be repaired. The once proud and prosperous city has been utterly destroyed.
 Rheims, the chief town of this de- partment of the Marne had a popula- tion of about 15O,0GG and lies 99 miles by rail from Paris. The vine which produce the famous wines of this region have been devastated and the crops trampled into the dirt. Rheims has been since the Franco Prussian war surrounded by detach ed forts that make it great en- trenched fortification. Eleven of the old gates of the old regime, that of Paris, constructed to mark the cor onatiOn of Louis XIV, were intact before the bombardment commenced. The town was modern in many res
  pal streets. The spinning and weav- ing of wool in this city employed Ill., 900 hands and about $12,5OO,OO0 worth of raw materials were manu- factured here yearly. Two thousand men were employed in the manufac- ture of wines. The city was also fam tc ui 1 dried pears Machinery and chemical products were extensively manufac- tured. It was the tenth city in France in point of population. It's antiques were celebrated throughout the civil ized world. Tapestries made in 1530 and bestowed upon the blessed Virgin hung in the great cathedral, the pride of France. Rheims has been noted as the ecclesiastical head of Christian ity. Jovinius, barbaric convert, re- pulsed the barbarians who invaded Rheims in the year 336; but the Van dals captured the town in 406, slew St. Nicasus and put the city to fire and sword. Atflla the leader merci- lessly masacred the inhabitants and carried thousands into slavery. The oil of the sacred phial, believed to have been brought from heaven by a dove for the baptism of Clovius was preserved in the Abbey of St. Remi, and was used to cOnsecrate long line of French kings. In 1870-71 the German took the town and made 1t the seat of German governor gen. eral who impoverished the city by heavy taxes. Rheims was rich in his torical memories and was a town when Christ was crucified. It made history when England was in the throes of barbarism its streets have echoed to the tread of the armed CO., horts of Caesar and Atilla, and the public buildings were vast storehouses of antiquity. The city had magnific- ent library of 100000 ancient tonnes and was the seat of the academy of science and art. It's destruction is a loss to civilization which can never be replaced, and is only equaled by the destruction of Alexandria with its priceless treasures.