The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-10-12
HOW A GIRL BookKEEPER WON
THE CROSS OF HONOR.

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bestow has been conferred upon little
Marcelle Semmer for her heroism in
the a Long ago, as far back as the
first retreat to the Marine, she won the
Cross of the Legion of Honor, and
since that time her gallantry has been
such that she has been acclaimed in
the great hall of the Sorbonne at
Paris. 1t is here that France gave
honors to the great men of the world,
poets, philosophers and scientists in
time of peace, and, as we read the &C.
count of Mile. Semmer's deeds as set
be agreed that she was worthy of the
honor.
The orator of the occasion, Mr..
KlotZ, from the department of the
Somme, began his address by an eulo-
gy of the obscure and unnumbered
heroines of the war, the mothers who
sent their son to the front, the wom-
en- in the occupied districts who never
lost faith if the Hltinfate@r return of the
French. Then he recounted the serv-
ice which Marcelle Semmer, only twen-
ty-one, had performed:
The outbreak of the war found her
an orphan girl in the little village of
Eelusier, near Frise, on the Somme.
There she was a bookkeeper and SUI
perintendent of a phosphate factory
founded by her father, an Alsatian who
had fed from Alsace in 1871, not wish
ino In hooono a Harrpop cuhioot A r.
er the defeat of the allies at Charleroi
the French tried to make a stand along
the Somme, but being outnumbered
by the huge forces of the invaders,
they fell back acros a canal in the
vicinity of Marcelle Semmer's home,
with the enemy in hot pursuit. When
the i~retreating Frenchmen had got
across the canal the young girl had
the presence of mind to raise the draw
bridge over the canal. Then, fearing
that the German advance guard, now
close behind, might swim across the
canal and seize from her the key.
without which the drawbridge could
not be lowered again, she threw it
into the canal. She was in the nick
of time. Already German soldiers on
the other bank were firing across at
her and the fleeing Frenchmen.
By this audacious act Marcelle Sem
| mer held up the advance of an entire
German army corps until the follow,
ing morning. Not until then were
they able to collect some boats, make
a pontoon bridge and negotiate the
! passage of the canal, thus giving away
golden hours to the har~d-pressed
French troops.
In spite of all the risks, the young
girl insisted on remaining in her vii
lage during the German occupation.
In a s~ubterranean passage used in the
working of a phosphate mine near
Eclusier the brave Marcelle managed
to conceal no less than sixteen French
+, soldiers who had strayed from their
| commands in the precipitate retreat
from Charleroi and Mons. She not
only kept these men hidden, but fed
them, provided them with civilian gar
ments, and, when a propitious moment
arrived, aided them to escape into the
french INES.
While she was helping a seventeenth
she was caught by a detachment of
Germans, who dragged her and the
French soldier before the local com.
mander. When asked whether she
had indeed meant to help the soldier
to escape she cried out:
Eyes! And he is not the first. |
helped sixteen others and | got them
where you cannot catch them. Do
what you will with me now. l am an
orphan and have but one mother
/ France! l am not afraid to die"
She was sentenced to be shot. They
took her from the courtroom and plac-
ed her before the firing squad, but
while the girl had been helping seven.
teen soldiers to escape the battle of
the Marine had been fought and won
and the French were now rapidly ad.
vancing. At the moment when her
death seemed only a moment away
the French artillery opened fire on
the town and the German positions
around Eclusier. The cannonade was
SO sudden that the firing squad was
disbanded, and in the confusion Mar
celle was able to escape to her sub.
terranean gallery.
Shortly after the French reoccHpied