Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-01-10
BERLIN BATTLES AS FIERCE
AS THOSE OF WORLD WAR
Continues; from Fass One

Continued from Fass One
all day long in the newspaper district
and the inhabitants OF that intensel,
populated section got so used to Il
that they even went to bed at tie
usual early hour prescribed by the ne
cessity of saving gas.
Suddenly. toward IL O'Clock. after
comparative quietness. the dreaded
noise Of battle awoke everybody In
the district. Rudolph Noses. Ull
STEMS and scherl's. three Of .he lar
gest publishing houses. and the Woln
Bureau, the oficial news agency, were
attacked simultaneously by the Gov
eminent forces. seeking to eject the
Spartacans.
The inhabitants Of the adjacent
houses rushed to the windows, but
shouts from below warned them TO
retire and extinsuish their lights.
Now began a terrible fusillade. com.
in French or Belgian trowns. The at
lacking troops paid dearly for the
Governments fatal policy OF indul.
gence. for the Spartacans had stocked
every one OF the buildings attacked
with machine guns, and. with the con.
nivance Of the city police. had accumu.
lated enormous masses Of hand gre
nades. that now rained on the unpro-
tected soldiers in the streets.
Spartacans Well Covered
The S~partacans had no heed to ex-
nose themselves. for the Government had
given them ample time TO place their
guns in such q position as TO cover the
whole length OF the street and every
approach without becoming visible from
below.
The battle ranged fercest around the
Tageblatt Building on Schutzentrasse.
and the Wolf Bureau, on Charlotten-
strasse All the buildings still bore
traces OF the fight when the EVENING
PUBLIC D correspondent visited
the district this morning. Windows were
battered and walls covered with the
marks Of bullets.
Some neighboring tenements Jared no
better. There were a dozen corpses o.
Government defenders in a neighboring
store. while many wounded had been
remove to hospitals during the night.
Your correspondent was unable to ap-
proach Noses. Cllstein's and Scherl's
buildings. The Spartacan forces being
in charge. the streets were closed to all
inhabitants. Very few OF these Spar
AGA wore uniforms. but they were a
most desperate lot. full Of fanatical dar-
ing.
One %youngster of nineteen told me
that the Governments losses had been
heaviest at Mosse's building, surprising
those at VOLTS. Their own, he said.
were a very few wounded.
There was a committee OF printers,
who came to Noses under a white flag,
wishing TO persuade us to evacuate be-
cause they lose their wages" he said.
But they had 40 chances of success
Prepared for Field Guns
What If the Government forces re-
turn with field guns / asked.
Well" he replied. I'VE are prepared
for such treachery."
Then an elderly man. who seemed to
be In barge of the street patrols, eS-
pressed suspicion that the EVENING PUB
Lie LEDGER correspondent might be a
spy and told him to clear
out, which he did.
On the way to the Central Telegraph
Office the correspondent passed a build
ing near the royal stables, where a
battalion OF newly enlisted Spar
tacans were being armed with rifles.
They looked as If they a just been re-
leased from jail. They passed six at II
time through the doors on one side of
the building. came out with rifles and
Enapsaclis on the other side and imne-
diately lined up with men already armed.
This was being done without the
slightest attempt at concealment. The
arises, naturally. why does not
the Government kill the evil by striking
the root. which is found in the not
even secret Spartacan a%rsenals?
In many cases men have owed death
or wounds 10 silly mistakes caused by
the general nervousness.
Only three newspapers appeared this
morning. the Deutscl,e Tages Heitung,
the Freiheit and the Rhotc Fahne, and
their accounts OF what actually hap
pened after darkness yesterday are en-
tremely poor. They, for instance. have
only vague rumors about the battle OF
wilhelm Plat2, which was doubtless the
most ~sanguinary and important en-