The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1918-02-20

MesOpOtamian Town Where England
Met Defeat Made Over.

This city, the scene Of the British
Mesopotamian army's greatest re-
verse. after lying for many months a
city Of the dead, Abandoned by even
its native population, has gradually
been rebuilt in the past six months.
and is now a thriving town Of nearly
peace
IL was too important center to be
neglected. 1t was a lnk'between the
Euphratcs and Persia, and accord.
ingly, after it had been deserted for
more than two months, q British Of
hcer arrived here to take charge OF
the worH OF reconstructing it,
The first thing to do was to clean
the place. The debris was dumped
out of the houses into the streets; the
accumulated filth was buried or burn
cd, the barricaGes were pulled down,
the dugouts and trenches were filed
up.
An imposing cOlonnade bazaar was
built along the river bank. A be-
ginning was made with a coffee room
and some retail shops for the build.
ers. who for long time were the SOL,
population. Skilled masons, natives
who had been employed by the Ger
mans in connection with the Bagda.
Railway, were collected and set to
work. They rebuilt and re-roofed tn,
Old bazaars, widened the old streets
and built new ones, repaired the
mosques, the bazaar and the ice fac.
tory, put new engines into the flour
mill, and converted the flats and
shoals i'm the middle OF the Tigris into
vegetable gardens.
Though still partly i'm ruins, Ku;
today is cleaner and better town
than ever before in it's history. Mos
OF the people are back again behin,.
their old doors. The bazaars ar,
thronged. And the people are NOR.
prosperous than ever, for there is
abundant labor for everybody in tn,
re:ghbOrhOod. Some Of the promi-
nent people of the town will neve
come back. Eight of them, including
the SheiSh and his sons, were hange,
by the Turks, and forty others were
shot.
The house which General Town
5hend occupied during the siege has
been repaired, but the roof and bal.
cony are still pitted with shrapnel
Seven shell holes have been filled with
plaster. The memory OF the genera
and of his principal officers survives
in the names OF the new streets
There is Townsend Road, Delamair
Road, Melis Road, and the names OF
brave regiments are recorded in IT,
Dorset Road, Norfolk Street, ant
Mahratta Row. Every association il
niscent of the memory of it's former
defenders.
Especially the cemetery. The long
drawn agony of the garrison which
fought and endured here so staunch
~ TO the edge of starvation makes
one of the most tragic stories in Brit
lsh military history. Nearly 1900
soldiers of the British army died OF
wounds and disease during the siege
and are buried together in a bar,
mud field enclosed by mud wall,
with few starved palms in it, ant
hucless desolation all around-bui
that is Mesopotamia. The Turks duf
trenches all around the cemetery, bu.
they respected the graves.
Volunteer parties of bluejackets
from passing gunboats have landed
and trimmed these mounds of earth
which are as clean-cut and neat noN
as I'm an English churchyard A bric
wall is being built around the en-
closure. The place is grassless. it i.
true, Dut the SOmDre aspect Will dis
appear when water is brought to tn,
land and the scrub palms are fertiliz.
ed and cared for.
Three miles below Kut is the ONLY
enemy relic i'm the neighborhood, an
obelisk put up by the Turks in COM
memoration OF the fall of Kut It is
u kind Of Cleopatra's Needle on
square plinth. all OF kiln-dried bricl
p'astered over. An old converted
British "cow-gun" stands as q tro.
ply on each side. One Of the guns
has tumbled forward and the plaste,
and brick are already crJmbling. TIL
monument was never unveiled and is
still half-covered with n canvas sheet