The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1919-02-28
LETTER OF army NURSE
MISS EMMA D0CKEN TELLS
STORY OF FRENCH RUIN
Churches Demolished and Graves
OF Dead Shattered BY
Hun Shells
Mr.. and Mrs, Alt Docken received
fba follox-;no, ,ot+o. So. .h. ,,

by this time, suppose you have
received my last letter from Riman-
court. Spent ten DAYS on the way
over here looking for our baggage.
but succeeded in finding only one
trunk out of twenty. Guess il was
sent in the wrong direction.
Metz is a beautiful city very much
like our American cities, but before
go on, will begin from where we
started. We went through the line
the fighting took Place on the day the
armistice was signed. The barbed
wire entaneleTents are terrible. and
manv Of the villages THROUGH which
we passed are cnmnletely demolished.
The French will surely have a Job
to get things straiehtered out. All
the buildings in these villages are put
IN fror, stone and eunrose are
hundreds of years old. Churches are
GOWN and the grave yards are shat
tered and torn up by the big shells
For miles, we passed through all
this.
"At Nancy. the next largest civ in
France. considerable damape has been
done but this was r,ninIy done bv
bombs drop-ed from the aerop'anes.
<.
NAM of then, perhaps twentv feet
in diameter. but can not tell how
deem as many Of them were filled
with water
"Aftcr raseing thrcneh all this.
back of the lines on German ground
formerly held by Germans. we would
pass throurh q beautiful strip of
land. that would be under cultivation
Large earders. well kept, and acres
and acres Of vineyards It seemed
almost unbelievable that in such q
shn-t' distance. there could be such
we'll kent grounds. nv this and many
. other thinps. II looks as though tho
Germans had not suffered for " t
of food.
"On reaching Metz. we gro in what
used to he car-ran tor-''.nrv. held
bv them fc~ ~ Inct fn-t-.- f~'lr vca~s
INT. now ~ corrse. re.akep nv the
French. Metz IS q citv IF ahort so. =
900 or roe i~habitants. II is the
capitol OF the little provircn of Al
SAGE. At thu heading of this paner
you will find the nic'ure Of the hotel
in which we STAYED nearly weei,.
waiting for our baggage The hotel
was the headquarters Of the Kaiser.
when he visited the city from time tn
time. during the. war After the city
:, WIS retaxen nv the French the kais-
erhrf. irnmeG'ate1y changed its rare
to The Rnval The penp'e ere Cor
ran but trnatcdtus prnat Alth~noh
they ara Gerr,or and French. r>ixed
most Of the inhsbitants' svmnr'hv is
with tbs French. To prove this: A
revolution took placa there in the
lsftc- port Of November or first part
Of December end severnl statues Of
the kaiser and Frederick the third
were torn down. and the French flag
hoated frnelv over. the city.
after finding out that we were not
able to locate our baggage. we left
there TO rnnort at Treves Gerrnanv
for dirty This Is crite a larre Mace
ON the Moea'le River in Wnrterr
carrnanv Went throush nv night co
did not get to see much of the coun-
try.
After spending the night there at
an Evacuation hospital. were ordered
to report for duty at CobIenz. Were
mighty glad to 20 on as the looks of
that piece was enough. Left at
noon and camp IN on a German ex-
press a mighty fine train. You should
: see the uniforms of the German rail
road officials, all trimmed with brass
buttons and red braid.
There seems to be plenty to eat
as the shoD windows have The best
looking pastries and everything i'm
aginable. They do say there is a
shortage of meat. however. Almost
imnossible to gel. soap of any kind.
"After a two hours ride through
AL
seen. since coming over on this side
of The rond. We arrived at Coblenz.
our destination. We were assigned to
Evacuation hospital No. g. The hos
pital occupies what used to be
German : military school, and
is an immense building or rather
number of buildings. We We're placed
in ward with four other girls. Sleep
on hav mattresses. This ward is on
the third floor of one of the main
hospital buildings. Have running wa
ter but no bath. stoves for heating.
The weather feels much like it does
in early fall at home. and not as much
rain as in France. Went to work this
morning in a ward of twenty mine
patients, only two of whom seem very
i'll.
lne ulTu dTIpy UT the Arm vi W
cupaticn is located here Rumors
: say thew will be here for year at
least, but rumors are not always
true. 1t does look as though we may
be here for some time.
YESTERDAY afternoon / had intendi
ed to write letters but one of the girls
came up and said ''Y' man was to
conduct party of fourteen nurses
with transportation to royal castle
about three miles distant. OF course.
we were glad of the opportunity and
went It's a beautiful drive along the
Rhine finally taking a turn and going
up the steep mountain side. then at
last coming to the base of the castle
where Kaiser Bill spent his DAYS as
crown prince. To saw it lis beauti-
full spot Is niItting it mildly. / can
not describe it: The scene overlook
ing the Rhine is wonderful. This
castle was supposedly built fifty three
wears E. G. II was storned bv tho
French and left in ruins for several
hundred wears. Finally Kaiser VIII
helm the First. rebuilt 1t in the six
teenth cnnturv. Thew have some Of
the p'nst marvellous nil paintings. A
chanel is in one part of the castle