New Britain herald., 1926-07-12
WAR TIME SCENES
 IN RUINED AREAS
Refugees, Creeping Back, Find
 Nothing But DeSOlati0n
MANY SCENES OF PATHOS
Exploding Shells Leave Deep Holes In Ground and Rage Building After BuildiDg-Rcd Cross Caring For 1000 Who Are Destitute
ny tlle Associated Press.

For 1000 Who Are Destitute By the Associated Press.
 Rockaway, N, j.. July 12-Refu- gees from the shell-rocked area sur rounding the burning navy am- intuition depot at Lake Denmark returned today to find their homes a war-torn no-man's land. The ex- plosion which destroyed the arsenal and rained death on nearby towns, in two days of fiery bombardment, has wiped out an entire town and made of a peaceful mining valley a devastated area as desolate as that of the Argonne.
 Refugees Creeping Back
 The square miles about the arsen- al is an evacuated area, it's road guarded with sentries, their bayon. cts fled, rifles loaded. Refugees creeping back to their ruined homes to search for their treasures, to find pet animals, to reclaim what ever their possessions have been saved, are lowed 10 pass, ambu- lances of the Red Cross. on another search, and moving kitchens of the army are other traffic allowed in the grim confines.
 Rockaway and Dover, larger towns at the foot of the valley at whose head the arsenal burns, have suf- fereG their desolation. Shattered windows along the streets, some now boarded up by the inhabitants. wrecked walls, and crowded hospi- tals and relief stations make of these towns the outposts O. the war section.
 SCenCS Cf Destruction i As one advances up the valley. he sees that the destruction grows st ally worse, Dover, about two miles south, over the brow of the hill from in burning arsenal, is a dramatic Yerdun. None of the homes Of it's meagre mining popu- lation hc escape :. Floors caved in and dropped to the cellar, win dow after window shattered. walls wrecked and little dwellings mark th" ath of exploding shells. Brigadier General Drum after an Inspection last night ordered the town vacated. All through the night land this morning 12 and II inch shells continued to burst in the ruined streets.
 Many Pathetic Sights
 This morning the inhabitants Of the town, mining folk. owners of little houses, small gardens and sometimes an animal or two, began to creep back to look through their ruins, An old woman came back on d search for her COW. Many sought dogs or cats or chickens. Wartime heroism in the animal kingdom recorded itself in such little incidents as the finding of a shep- herd dog, within the shell-studded reservation, standing watch over his dead mate.
 Throughout the upper part of the valley exploding shells have left holes a yard in diameter. One fall ling in the center of the army post golf links drove a deep well into a we'll kept green.
 Restoring Lost Children
 While Red Cross workers in Mor- i ristown and Dover labored at the work of sorting the children of fam flies scattered by many miles, some times separated in the frenzIed flight from the erupting arsenal. vic tims Of shell-shock presented one of the saddest spoctacles of the hos pitals and relief stations. Persons otherwise unhurt were dazed into mental incoherence and wandered Iabout lost until rescuers took them lin hand.
 ! The Red Cross estimated today .that from goo to 1000 refugees were being cared for. Most of the scat
 tered families were reunited by this morning, they said but in two case, frantic husbands have HIS yet beer unable to find their wives. parted
 from them in the struggle to es.
 cape.