SPIES IN REIMS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2357, 13 January 1915, Page 6

SPIES IN REIMS

'ADVENTURES OF A MOTOR-OAR, Paris, December 1,

Reports from Reims state that during the last ten days the bombardment of the town, which is being carried out by the 305 mm. Austrian guns, has increased in intensity, and a considerable part of the civilian population has left. The "Temps" publishes the following interview' With a leading citizen of the town: —"At present there is not a single part, of the town left which has not been subjeoted to bombardment. The other evening on. the threshold of my house I narrowly escaped injury from steel splinters, which were flying from a house four hundred yards away that had been struck by a shell. Another shell fell into a garden and threw up an enormous quantity,of earth, which oame down again at some distance away in a street entirely covering its cobbles. But that is a mere trifle. The population has grown quickly accustomed, to the new projectiles. What is lamentable-is the consequences of the systematic destruction carried out by our enemies. Our factories are ruined. -The whole of our textile industry will have to be re-established entirely anew. Our stock of wool has been burnt and woollen materials to the value of £120,000 have been destroyed. The damage is estimated at £14,000,000 as the lowest possible figure. The admirable tapestries ; of Pepersack, the Flemish artist, one of the glories, of the Archbishop's Palace, have been burnt. , The Archaeological Museum, which contained a unique; collection of Gallo-Ro-., man and Gallio remains, has been deBtroyod. , ■ ■■ ' , "One of the plagues from which Reims has suffered most is German espionage. It-has already been noticed how rapidly any official persons, even journalists, are discovered and bombarded as soon as they enter the town. People have begun to wonder whether thero does not exist a telephone wire which has not yet been discovered connecting the spies in the town with the first row of German trenches, 1800 yards away from the entry to the suburbs. In any case, I can quote this foot. The day before the German occupation I succeeded in hiding my motorcar. A day or two before they left the Germans discovered and seized it. What was my astonishment three days after the arrival of our troop 6 to see my car with three French soldiers m it driving through Reims. I made inquiries, which convinced me that the Soldiers wore Germans, disguised in French uniform. Neither they nor my car wore seen again. This instance of German audacity is not an isolated one."