The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-04-01
NEWBURY
Historical Sketch of Trier, Germany,
Where Local Boys are Stationed.

In a private letter from Lieut. Harold
Melendy, a Newbury boy, he gives an
interesting historical sketch Of the city
Of Trer, Germany where he and Corp.
Edgar Henderson and Lieut.. Juten Long.
wowcr, (Newbury high school boys are
located
"The city of frier (now called Treves)
is the oldest city in Germany, and there
is some interesting history connected
with it, from the time when Julius
Caesar conquered it in So B. G., to the
time when the holy coat the seamless
coat of Christ, was last borne in a pro
cession through the streets in 1851 and
exhibited to the vast crowds of devoted
pilgrims who came to worship there, IT
was the city of Treveria, and so named
Trer. II grew through the centuries
from a town to a colony and from Il
colony to a capital, and finally in the
fourth century was frequently the resi-
dence of the Roman emperors.
Constantine held splendid cele-
bration here in 306 by having several
thousand Francs torn to pieces by wild
beasts in the amphitheatre. The am
phitheatre, which can still be seen on
the hillside among the vineyards, was
frequently the scene of similar amuse
ments provided for the people,
"The Porta Nigra and its towers Of
defiance was once the fortified gate OF
the Roman city, its huge blocks of sand
stones, blackened with age, and fasten
ed with iron braces, still make mag
nificant ruin; other Roman structures
are the Bacillian, built entirely of brick
by Emperor Constantine, which served
for the administration of justice, and as
commercial exchange, the Roman
palace, with high towers and steep spiral
staircase and subterranean passage and
the Roman bath, an imposing structure
Of the fourth century, and the provincial
museum, a handsome modern building
containing many highly interesting Ro
man antiquities, There is also Roman
cemetery south of the city. The Porta
Nigra was built by Caesar in SO b. G,
with Constantine came Christianity,
and from 800 for nearly fifteen cen
turies until 1855 Trier was the resi-
dence of the bishops, arehbishops, and
electors. The cathedral was begun by
Emperor Valentian about 375, was des
troyed by the French, restored in $50,
devastated by the Romans, rebuilt about
1925, added to in ITO, and in the thir
teenth and seventeenth centuries it con-
tanned splendid monument of Elector
Richard III, who so successfully opposed
Professionalism, and in the treasury are
several secret relics the head of the
apostle Matthew, the cross and above all
the seamless coat of Christ.
"The Liebfrauen kirche, built after
1850 in the form of a circle, is one of
the most interesting Gothic churches in
Germany The town library and the
gymnasium contain some real and beau
tifully illuminated scripture Of the early
centuries. In st. Psuin, north of the
city. is a spot marked by a cross where
early Christians were martyred by the
Romans and thrown to the lions, and in
the crypt Of the nearby churches are the
tombs
"Treves is the modern city OF nearly
10000 inhabitants and is the center of
the wine trade for the Mosele Valley.
The French blew up the bridge in 1889
and restored it thirty years later. They
captured the town in 1904, but in 1915
it was ceded to Prussia, and now at the
end of 1918 troops of the American army
of occupation are marching down its
dim old streets, and so its history
grows"
The death Of Miss Janet johnson oc-