The Morgan City daily review. (Morgan City, La.) 1916-1920, 1918-05-01

| of the streets. They were citizens OF
! the village. We could not learn the
reason for their having been shot. The
only answer to our questions was q
! shrug of the shoulder.
The village itse'' bad not suffered
! to any noticr"hto decree as far as
destruction of buildings was concerned.
but never in the course of the war had
seen a more complete job OF plumber
ing than ha,i been done in SuippeS.
That we had to live and eat is true,
and as the inhabitants and merchants
had flown there was no opportunity to
pay for our necessities. Therefore we
simply entered Il store. put on stock
ings, laundry and left the old things.
then went to another place, took what
ever food looked good to us. and then
proceeded to Il wine cellar, there to
seize as much as our hearts desired
The men of the ammunition column.
located in the village as well as the
sanitary soldiers and cavalry by the
hundreds. searched the houses and took
whatever they liked best. The finest
and largest business places in Suippes
served a very large rural district sur
rounding and therefore were stocked
up on almost everything. Within
short time these places had been
cleaned out. The munitiOn drivers
and train columns carried away old
pieces Of silk, ladies' dresses, linens,
Shoes dress goods and every other ar.
ticle imaginable, and stored them away
in their ammunition cases. They took
chlGren's and women's shoes, and
everything else they could lay their
hands upon, although many of these
articles had to be thrown away short
" afterwurd. Later. when the lic!t
post was developed and gave regular
service. many Of these things were sent
home.
A large chocolate factory was robbed
completely. and chocolate and candy
in heaps We're trampled in the ground.
Empty houses We're broken into and
wrecked. wine cellars cleaned ont and
windows smashed. the latter hciag
special paStime of the cayalryinen. AS
we had to pass the night in the cncn.
we tried to find some quilts and en-
tered a grocery store and a market
place. The store was parity dernol-
ished, but the apartment upstairs was
as yet intact with all the rooms locked.
1t was evident that woman's hand
had worked In this house. for every
thing was neat and coy. But all this
order was still surpassed by the ar
rangement in large room, which APP
parently had been inhabited by q
young woman. We were almost
ashamed to enter the sanctuary. 10
our establishment we saw hanging on
the wall opposite the door picture
burned in wood and under it German !
verse: Honor the women. they weave !
Z braid Of heavenly roses In their !
earthly life.", (Schiller). The owner
was a young bride, for in
the wardrobe was a trousseau, tied !
with neat blue ribbons. carefully put |
away. All the wardrobe drawers lay
open. Nothing was touched here.
When we visited the same place the
next morning, impelled by some i'm
pulse. we found everything in that
house destroyed. Barbarians had gone
through this home. and with bitter
had devastated every
thing with every evidence Of having
utterly cast off the ethics and stand
ards of civilized races.
Tho oo%;,o ho5 b,>, %o~,> =
from the drawers and thrown partly
on the floor. Pictures. photographs.
everything was in pieces. The
three of US who had"ehtered the room
our fists with impotent wrath.
We received orders to remain in
SuippeS until further notice and the
next day witnessed the return Of many
fugitives. They came in great throngs
from the direction of Chalons-sur-
Marne. They found instead of the
peaceful homes they had left q wretch
ed and deserted ruin. A furniture
dealer returned to his store. as we
stood in front Of his house. He broke
down when he viewed the remains Of
his enterprise. Everything had been
taken away. We approached the man.
He was Jew and spoke German.
When he Gained down a little he told
Is that his store had contained mer-
worth more than 5000 francs.
"Had the soldiers only taken what
hey needed for themselves" he said. :
Il would he satisfied for did not ex-
pect anything else. But never would
have believed Of the Germans that
hey would have destroyed everything"
Not even a cup and saucer were
eft in this mans house. He had
wife and five children. but had no idea
If what had become Of them. And
here were many more like him.
The following night. remaining In
suippes, we were again obliged to camp I
n the open because it swarmed with
Such were our tnStruC. I