VISIT TO ARRAS.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15170, 7 January 1915, Page 10

VISIT TO ARRAS.

A SHATTERED TOWN.

FATE OF CLOCK-TOWER

The Germans are filling up the cup I with a vengeance, writes a correspondent of ••The Times." One after another the cities and viJlages of | Northern 'France are being ground beneath the Pru«isian boot. Peasants of the rich fawning and industrial Pas de | Calais tell you with tears in their eyes of burning farms, of pillaged homes, i of tho miles of blazing villages which ; from a coign of vantage you may sco at j night. i Thanks to the courtesy of General . j commanding the — Corps d'Armee, we j wero ontibled to visit Arras tho day j after the famous clock-tower of the : Hotel do Villo was destroyed by tho j Prussian fire. Never have I seen such ' a desolation as is tho centre of tho ' town. It is true that the historic: Hotel de Villo was destroyed by lire after the bombardment during th© first days of October, but hitherto the "beffroi" liad remained standing. It was the pride of' Arras. Every town and village in France has a "clochor," round which and to which the thoughts of its inhabitants, whether at homo or abroad, inevitably turn. No ono at heart- has a deeper lovo of country, and more especially of his "ches. soi," than thc Frenchman. On Wednesday, October 21st, at 9.45 a.m., the German guns begari to bombard the "betfroi" of Arras—actually 33 shells fei"k.near or on it—and by 10.50, when tho lximbardment ceased, was a heap of smoking ruins. They had a pretext—the Germans. Tho day before tho French had found out that tho invaders were making use of the church tower of the neighbouring village of Tilloy-les-Mofflaines as an observation post, and that they had mounted machine-guns there. Tho French artilj lery made short work of the tower. The j next day the Germans retaliated by ; , destroying the "beffroi." which had presided over the fate of the people of Arras for close on four centuries. THE TRIAL OF REFUGEES. The actual bombardment of Arras has gone on in moro or less desultory fashion since October sth. One would have thought that in that time, and in the quiet intervals, there would have been plenty of time for the people of a. town, even of 25,000 inhabitants, to escape. Many, however, seem to have clung on, loath,to depart. The latest ruthless cannonade convinced thorn that the town was to be blown to pieces about their ears; _ general bombard-, ment was feared; several fires, not very serious, it must be admitted, had broken out at various points, and the exodus began again. 7 As soon as one arrived inside the town the destruction wrought by the German shells began to show. Apart from the French cruns, which were busily pulsing away quite close there was a thick column of smoke rising from the burning candle factory at St. Nicholas. Down the street leading from the gate a house or two destroyed by fire and shell. It was rare to see a whole pane of glass. In the hospital !of St. Jean, where many wounded and 1 sick had been sheltered, an effort had i been made to stuff un the gaping winI dows with paper. Ono had to pick I one's way delicately over fallen ma- > sonry. j Kverywhere there was that curious ! acrid smell distinctive of burning j houses. The smoll of powder which - floated over the town with every dis--1 charge of the French guns was almost !invigorating after.the other fffliell. A few people slunk about the streets. | The Town Hall and the Pe.tite Placo j are a heap of ruins., There is not one I stone left upon another. Earlier in ] the month, and while yet the clock ! tower was standing, a narrow-gause ; line had been laid to cart away tho i fallen masonry. The lines were all j twisted with the newlv-fnllen blocks of j tho clock tower. Men with staves ' patrolled the place, warning passers-by : not to- linger lest more of the tottering ; biiiUliri'T-. should fall on their heads. i "LE BEFFROI." [ The clock tower was begun in the ■ year 1463 and completed in or about 1554. It was 7_*n. (244 ft) in height, ard was surmounted by a ducal crown which in its turn was surmounted by an enormous lion bearing a pennon which .-•-■ ted as a wind-vane. In the clock tower was a famous old clock of 1776 with a chime of ancient bells. They were known respectively as "'A l'Effroy.*' or "'due Sang: -"Le Couvrefeu." *"Le Guct,"' and "'La Banclocque"' or '•Joyeuse." which on account of its great weight. 0000 kilos, was struck by ,a hammer. ; Apart from the neighbourhood of the i Hotel de Ville. the station quarter had j suffered the most severely. Here hotels ■ and houses were burned and shelled jto mere skeletons. The German obi ject had evidently been, to hinder as i far as possible the work of revictualling •the troops- Every large jjrocery store j or corn warehouse had been picked out jas if by--some gigantic hand and crushed. A general grocer's stores were lyI ing in the street, preserves and jam ' orcr ___ p_-r_*-_-___7__ -