DESTRUCTION OF REIMS CATHEDRAL

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2262, 23 September 1914, Page 5

DESTRUCTION OF REIMS CATHEDRAL

DELIBERATELY SHELLED (Reo. September 23, 0.5 a.m.) London, September 21. The "Daily Mail's" correspondent at Reims states the fire started on Saturday afternoon. At least five hundred shells fell between early morning and sunset. Part of the city, several hundred yards square, ignited, and Btreet after street was made lurid by the blazing houses and shops. Meanwhile the battery on the hill at Noagenti-L'Abbesse made the Cathedral its deliberate mark, and shell after shell smashed its way into the old masonry, and an p avalanche of stonework thundered down into the streets. Subsequently the scaffolding at the east end of the Cathedral ignited, and burning splinters fell on the roof, and the whole of the old oak timbers caught fire, and soon the nave and, transepts were a roaring furnace. The flames leapt the towers at the western end, and blazing pieces of carved woodwork crashed to the floor, where the Germanß had previously accumulated great piles of straw, intending to use the Cathedral as a hospital, and these ignited devouring the panelling of all the altars and the confessional. The German wounded would have been incinerated but for the French doctors. As the Germans were carried out the crowd howled with uncontrollable passion, amid shouts of "Amort 1" Some soldiorß among the crowd levelled their rifles, but the Abbe Andrieux sprang forward between the muzzles and the wounded, and said: "Don't firol You will make yourselves as guilty as they." •- When day dawned the. famous monument was only an empty shell.- ' THE CITY MUOH DAMAGED. - v New York, September 21. Advices from Bordeaux state that Reims is, a mass of ruins. The college and public buildings, in addition to the cathedral, have been destroyed. (Rec. September 22, 6.40 p.m.) London, September 21. The "Times," in a leading article on the destruction of Reims Cathedral, says: "The Kaiser has outdone the imperious crime -of Louvain."—("Times" , and Sydney "Sun" Services.) Amsterdam, September 21. A German official communique states: "The French at Reims compelled Us to reply to their fire. We. regret the city was damaged. Orders were issued to spare the cathedral as much as possible." (Rec. September-22, 9.55 p.m.) Rome, September 21. The bombardment and destruction of Reims Cathedral sent a thrill throughout Italy. The "Giornale d'ltalia" describes it as a useless act of barbarism, a lunatio outburst of wounded vanity and cursed pride. ,;,,;..■, MANY.HISTORIC BUILDINOS .DESTEOTEp. (Reo. September 23, 1.40 a.m.) - , Paris, Sentember 21.' The bombardment of Reims was continued on Monday. Only a few of the. walls of the cathedral are standing. The Hotel de Ville, the Museum, and other official buildings aro almost completely destroyed. The Germans intentionally, directed their artillery on tiro principal biuldings. Soveral of the inhabitants were killed. , _ During the bombardment of the Cathedral the Germans killed a number of their own wounded, who were boing | tended with the French wounded in the hope that by. flying the Rod Cross it would be possible to save the Cathedral. Reims has a population of about 110,000, and is one of the most historically interesting cities in France. It is situated on the right bank of tho Vesle, in a plain bounded by vine-clad hills. Besides its magnificent cathedral, it has a large and handsome Archiepiscopal Palace dating from the 15th and 17th centuries. The Hotel de Ville is a notable building in the Renaissance stylo, begun in 1627, under LouissXlll, and finished in 1888. It is surmounted by a lofty oampanile, and' contains a library of 120,000 volumes, and nearly 2000 manuscripts. _ The chief Roman monument is the Porte de Mars, a ■triple gateway or triumphal arch, dating from the fourth century of our era. The most ancient ecclesiastical building in the city is the Abbey Church of St. Remi, dating from the 11th century, the facade of which was restored in the 19th century. The vast champagne cellars are one of the sights of Reims. The washing and combing of the fine wools used in the manufacture of merinos, cashmeres, _ and the fine flannel for which Reims is celebrated, are almost_ exclusively carried on in establishments owned by English firms, and there is a colony of some hundreds of English in the city.