Norwich bulletin., 1919-08-30

The IGG3na111u0e sU14efol rA4aQ4y tefp were In Perish. a little viIl&Ge half Hidden among the shadows of a valley thirty kiloneters from the capt- tah Thaf morn1ng, twelve days be- fore Bucharest VII taken. the whole the houses gleanded with the rinnes of q ahaFp frost.
 ,. Tn the courtyard of an. old Rumsn-
 ian house used fs quarters by Gen wVFe whiting. and two men: in close conversAtion had just come out Of the house. one . tall blond. athI9tic En- <lishman in Khaki. a menzsG of the house of commons. and a friend of smooth siiaven, nervous Frenchznan, a fechnioal agent of the French navy. The two specia1y detnfled cfacials had set out that misty Nove1nber mornfn9 to degtroy the treasure of Ruzharia, indostri6f country in the apogee of tts Rowers into a desere waste. place where not a: reservoir Or a.- refinery should be left to show, what once had ssd frotH the % .tssMinR ne earth % tScussnSs sn.n q wells. bored incessaafly in. virE5n se1I had spoufed oil. An that had Seen doomed for sacrfface' to military neeeeeity. The Germans were: nenr- in t1s vauezs of the Psehovs, the tne Damboy1&xa, the Telea5en or the Bu- zen, the petfoleums, benzanes. mineral eils and lubricants needed for their work. Rumanfa had held her oil as reflection the government ana the grand stan had determined to gsacri- dce it. -s-3
 be done; work calling for more than common. courage and self denial; and it must be done 50 well that not a trace of useful matter should be left for the Germans. tx-<
 Orders had been telegrnphed to the different mining circles adnninistra- The chief engineers of the districts had been ordered to meet the Eng iishman and the Frenchman with gangs of men equipped for the work of ployed in any way. in the oil fields. Every man. whatever his wcNs had been, whatever his age or his conci- tion, was to go at once tof the army rear, to safe piacf beyond the army zone. That order had been like the call of death; to the majority it meant definite exile,s perhaps definite ruin. for all knew that mo. one could come back to the ashes of the fields. So. like the refvsees< of Belgium and panied by their families. laden with their poor possessions. their faces turned to the only plates that they could re9ch-f8railas Gaiatza and Foe sam-pIaces at that time undfsfurbed The hour set for the devastation had come. The people had been given time to get out of danger. Not crea . ture had been left upon the ground doomed to flame. The little -electrics" that had lighted the houses and the farms went out. one by one, and the vast stretch of land where the oil had been jetted by thousands of derricks. where thousands of workmen had sung and toiled the fields that were to turn the valleys to a roaring fur mace, lay as still as a burial ground.
 The Rumanians and the allies were in .Jassy. the little Moldavian capital
 built on five. hills. waiting for news. we began the report read. tat the petroleum regions nearest the side of the Olt. and from there we went back ward, step by step. before the Ger mans, going like savages, cruelty and methodica1ly annihilating the wealth Rumanfaa had held most dear. First of all we visited the electric works and their power houses. Our little ar my of agents cut the transmission
 spiked the engines and tore out the tubes. Every man of us put. his hands in the dough-" The Englfshman had armed himself in proportion to his