The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1947-12-09

800 HA~ AAS" 49, s~tAtS4AAAN NAs~A
the new runwdYs-the whole
still uncompleted but well on
its way toward restoration.
The customs was efficient and
reasonably rapid, and as usual
our luggage was transferred to a
bus for the trip into the city. But
the bus was converted army
covered truck - the luggage
chucked in the middle between
the rough board seats which
lined the sides.
The almost complete dwelling
of the city during the war grew
upon us as we bumped into the
city. First the ruins of few
large estates. the outer walls bat
tered down in places, the houses
in what once had been parks now
nothing but standing walls, the
debris all about them; then the
city itself from the outskirts to
the bus terminal in the center Of
the city--not just an occasional
hole, where a building had stood
in city block. but. building after
building standing in ruins, every
structure in the city damaged to
some degree and the vast major
ity reduced to CHASTITY skeletons
of stone, brick, concrete and
steel, the debris tossed back in
side from the streets so that cars
and people could get through,
We parted at the bus terminal
and went our separate ways as an
attendant got a cab to take me to
the Hotel Bristol. Like all War
saw taxis, this one was small
sedan, not much larger than an
Austin, so battered, shaky and
wheeling so badly that it seemed
unlikely to 60 more than q mile
But it got me to the Bristol, once
one of Warsaw's best hotels, To-
Gated in what had been the GEN.
ter of the city. Badly wrecked
during the original attack and
more during the insurrection
against the Germans, it has been
almost entirely restored-with nc
tools such as we know building
equipment in America--and with.
in the space of about six months
The. scaffolding for the painters
was still standing in a hall las
came ms go i i K a ySk.e ~ Il 4
Two glass-encfosed elevators
were in operation, both of then
quite large, but limited to 81,
persons, though there is room fol
at least IL. Power is short. M,
rom had recently been decorat
ed and was simply but comfort
ably furnished-but the floo
was unvarnished and the Ike.
would not fit in the door. Fol
lack of hardware, the builder
had made their own = again
without proper tools. In the batl
there were no towels, no soal
and no toilet paper-none is sup
piled. There was no hot water.
The view from the three larg'
French door-type windows in tn
bedroom was a vast expanse Q
ruins as far as the eye could see
1t leaves you rather dazed
which is putting 1t mildly.
came down from my room
to 60 out to the American Embas
sy and met Mr.. and Mrs. Sible,
getting out of a battered droosk
(horse-drawn open carriage) il
front of the hotel. None OF U
could speak. Finally, Mrs, Sible,
asked, in a quiet voice I can
quite forget: did you think
would be like THIS?"
1t is impossible adequately t
describe the picture either In
words or photographs, for Meth
err can depict an entire city, whic
once housed 100000 people (nos
$4,000 by the latest government
COUNT completely in ruins, niue
of it leveled to the ground, tn
rest a maze of jagged walls. Nc
the rotten, burned stencil fror
the debris.
Nor the countless shrines-
crude. affairs set, up, .throughOl
the city, in every place wher