The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-01-27
Sees Noted Ruins.

Nv " ~ was "NANSAAASN -
Rheims by the mayor and a committee
to whom Mr.. Wilson explained hat he
had not come to the devastated re-
gions sooner because he had been wholly
engaged at Paris with the business OF
making peace. Before going to the
cathedral, he passed through the streets
of a deserted city which was once the
home OF 1l5. 900 people, but where less
than 5000 are now eking out an exist
| ence among ruins, He visited Red Cross
canteens where hundreds Of destitute
are fed night and day and the hospital
where the sick and injured are cared
for. The champagne cellars beneath
the city, said to contain some 10000, 600
bottles of wine, were not visited.
A light blanket Of snow covered the
ground as the president drove up to
the cathedral and Rheims, ravished and
naked in all its misery and desolation,
looked like a grave yard in the moon
light. There were more crows in the
air, CirCling over the ruined town than
there were human beings below in the
Uttered streets.
Cardinal Lucon, archbishop of Rheims,
who stood steadfastly by his charge for
four years, during which time scarcely
a day passed without a German shell
hurting death into the city, met the
president at the fence Of rough boards
which now excludes curiosity seekers
and enCloses the rubbish into which this
NEST historic edifice has been reduced.
The cardinal conducted Mr.. Wilson to
the nave of the cathedral, where in
1914 the Germans during their short
occupation of the city placed their
wounded. and then. being forced to
e%vacuate, burned their men to death
by ~incendiary shells that fired the roof,
but did not damage the vault.
Rubbish Galore.
All over the tagging were piled heaps
Of rubbish, remnants of statuary and
f~rescoes and fragments of columns and
sculptures which were accounted the
most perfect and complete examples ot
Gothic art. As the president and tht
cardinal stood together looking upward
while the prelate briefly recounted tht
story of four years of constant destruc
tion-they looked straight through the
clouded sky. The snow furry that was
covering the bare ruins Of the city out
side also vas laying a blanket upon the
inside of tho cathedral.
The chalky stone of Champagne, Of
which the cathedral was built, is seal
ing off from the effects Of German fire
and the falling snowflakes were miXeo
with an almost constant dropping %
fragments. Pausing a moment before
the scene Of the crucifiX above the
north door, and before the painting OF
the coronation OF the Virgin over tht
central door. Mr.. Wilson silently viewed
the destruction wrought upon these
masterpieces by the burning Of the
scaffolding when the Germans set fire
to the roof OF the edifice,.
Ruins of statues lie about the side
door, and the great rose window, sale &c
be the most beautiful in the world
where Field Marshal Won Moltke. i
1870, sat and watched the u set, Is
shattered by shell fire until it looks llk'
c~amouflage set up by the roadside. Mr.
Wilson followed the cardinal to tn
ruins of the chapel, where old-tlm'
kings watched through the nights at thu
time Of their amounting, and to the ruins
of the museum where priceless Flemlsl
tapestries were ruined.
Shown Damages.
He was shown where thousands o
shells thrown from German batteries OF
two sides burst among the buttresse'
which supports the main structure ant
where forests of sculptures when orna
ment the structure have been SCARED
nicked and torn by fragments from tn
big shells, but very few OF Which eve
reached the vault.
Part of the vault, however. lies
heap Of twisted and crumpled wreckag
upon the main altar, where IT wa
thrown by explosions which wrecket
most Of the stained glass thirteent
Mr.. Wilson outside and they pickle
their way through rubbish heaps to,
point from which they could view tn
Shell riddled paintings of the La
/. Judgment" above the south door; tn
symbols from Noah's ark about IN
, great rose window; the statute OF s
. Anne and dozens OF other works OF ar
Of which virtually none escaped,
As they left the cathedral the cardi
nal gave the president a stained gas
paneI from one of the windows a
down in time to save it., The panel
unscarred. 1t is circular and abol
= three feet in diameter, 1t shows a fis
ure Of the Savior. done in many-colore
t glass of the early centuries.
From the cathedral the presider
8 drove to view the ruins of the tow
r hall, a spacious specimen of the r.
Q naissance style Of architecture, and ii
= Palais Royale. an eighteenth centul
G edifce, These two, with the cathedra
a comprised the most celebrated histories
: memorials OF Rheims, and not one hi
escaped.