The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1918-05-16
LIKE HE'LL
LET LOOSE"

That is the only adequate way
to describe a town just devastated
by the Germans, according to let
ter received from Walter H. John
son r., one OF the Y. NJ. {. a.
field secretaries in France.
He was in Seasons when he
wrote, which had just been bomb
ed for five days by the Germans.
Shrapnel still whincd around the
ruined village that had been city
OF $4,000 inhabitants, and trains
stopped some distance away, to
avoid being shelled. The station
hadn't any roof. Neither had the
hotel. There was shell through
the middle of what had been the
Y. NJ. c. A. headquarters.
What few people were left lived
in cellars, for protection from the
bombardment, and because their
homes had been shelled. The very
trees were nothing but Scared
stumps. Without destination or
plans, train loads OF women and
children and old men were bein
borne away from the place, cling
ing to what household goods they
could carry.
Here is what Mr.. Johnson has
written of the devastation, in let
ter to T. S. McLane, of the y. NJ.
G. A. entertainment bureau III New
York:
Leaving Paris, the train went
through the area wiped out by the
terrible munitions plant explosion,
at Courneurve, in the middle or
March. That section is razed to
the ground, and charred black. 1t
wouldn't be permitted to tell of the
activity between Paris and the front,
so we'll reserve that for 4 later date.
We passed train loads of wounded,
going back to base hospitals.
For several days the trains had
not run into Soissons, because OF
the bombardment, but that day it
seemed temporarily directed else
where, and the train came in. Half
of the station is blown off the map,
and it's all caved in About a
block away is the y. M. {. A.
warehouse and headquarters, or
what a week ago was headquar-
ters, before a shell went through it.
Across the street is a hospital with
the roof blown off. The Germans
bombed it for five days, and injur-
ed two of their own officers, pris-
oners there, after an aeropiane acci-
dent.
THE population of this beautiful
little city used to be fifteen to
twenty thousand, now its about
fifteen hundred. During the last
week it has been decreased by !
evacuation from seven or eight
thousand to this number. II you
remember this town was fought |
over and captured by the boches in
1915, later evacuated by them, and
now once more is being actively
shelled. The Hotel Lion Rouge,
where | stayed, is now minus the
roof. 1t was once I German ma
jor's headquarters.
''In the afternoon ! waiked across |
the river, the Aisue, and looked over
the old German trenches or dug /
outs. A great place for souvenirs,
if one had a truck. That country, /
the battle field of the Aisne. is all /
in utter ruin. Describing the de
molition does no good. Words aren't
sufficient. Trees, nothing but
SCARED stumps, few piles of stones
where houses and factories used 10
be, miles OF tangled barbed wire.
rusted now, and miles of trenches
and dugouts. The old trenches
seem to be full OF snails, for some
strange reason, and along their
edges violets are blooming. This
is all five or six miles back OF the
present front.
In Shrapnel SnOWer.
AS | walked back into town. |
had the new and probably unfor-
gettable experience of having
whine, and then burst over
my head with a loud boom and
puff, and a minute later heard the
spit-spit of its landing. all around
Believe me. snuggled up as close
as possible to an old stump, and so
did the two French men with me.
Just as | got back across the river
(the bochc were Smelling the bridge
4 house not yet demolished was
struck and blown up.
ITO see the beautiful cathedral
half shot away creates hate, Ill tell
YOU. And to see also where the
Germans had run a railroad right
into the building to carry away its
big stones. 1t was one of the most
famous cathedrals in France. In
one corner OF the transept not com
pletely destroyed. French priest
was holding services for a few
French soldiers.
What few people are left to
great extent live in cellars because
their houses are blown up, or for
protection against the lombard
ment. Walking along the street at
supper time. saw smoke coming
out OF the cellar windows. through
chimncys. TO be sure. but it looked