Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 44, Number 293, 26 September 1919 — Page 16

PAGE SIXTEEN

THE RICHMOND PALLADIUM AlTO SUN-TELEGRAM, FRIDAY, SEPT. 26, 191".

DESOLATION REIGNS OVER VERDUN, WHERE FOR FOUR LONG YEARS GANNON ROARED

I NEW, YORK, Sept 26. Edward I 1 uones, writing from Verdun trader retent date to The Times Bays: More than a year ago the wet blackness of midnight was broken by a thousand and one spurts of flame, as many cannon swelled Into a mighty roar along a line from the Argonne forest over east to the Meuse river. It was the first American army introducing Itself to the Germans. On that rainy cold morning a hundred thousand fighting men from across the seamany of them strangers to battle waited in the mud of deep-cut trenches for the word to go forward against the Hindenburg line, called by its makers impregnable, and having proved that reputation against more than one bitter assault of the troops of France and Britain. In the sickly light of the dawn of an ugly day they went ahead. In the five weeks that followed they fought out that heartrending battle, until on November 1 they broke through the last of the German defenses. And soon after the war ended. More than a year ago it was. Now those men except those who sleep on the sloping hill southeast of the Romagne have gone back home. I was with them on that morning they started, and I came back today to the scene of the greatest battle in which troops of America were ever engaged. Over the hills northwest of Verdun silence reigns. It is not the silence of peace; it is the silence of death. I have seen tlhe western battle front from the coast to Switzerland. I have seen the war-torn mud of the fields of Flanders, the stretches of nothing in the valley of the Somme, the tortured terrain where was Cbemin-des-Dames,

the ruins of Ypres, the remnants of

Solssons, the tragic shell of Rheims, but there is no scene so desolate, so

stricken, so dead, as the hills north

west of Verdun, over which the Yankees fought to victory a year ago. Have Filled In the Trenches. They have filled up the trenches on many of the fronts of France, and nature and the plowman have blotted out many of the scars. The people have come back to many of the wrecked villages of other parts of France, and children play amid the wreck and ruin while their parents patch up shelled houses. But not bo in the Meuse-Argonne. No one has been so hardy and so brave as to try to restore that barren stretch. The trenches are there yet, and the wire entanglements, and the old dugouts, and the spots of ground stained yellow by hateful mustard gas. It is there as war left it No trees to grow and no flowers to bloom. Stand atop Dead Man's hill and look as far as eye can see and there is nothing living. No human being moves in sight. The countryside has died and its resurrection is not yet There is no scene so dismal. Picture If yon can the view- Hill after ro'ling hill stretch away in all directions from this highest of them all. Innumerable brown traces of trenches wriggle across them in a thousand twists. Rows of tree 6tumps tell where a road once wound its way. Rusty wire in symmetrical lines runs in all directions. The onetime fields are potted a if by smallpox tho face of a man who ba? diwl from the disease. Million on millions of shells Aid. that. Down thrrr ir. a valley is a sort of white smudge. It was once the village cf M-lancourt Its stones now make the road I just came up. Here and there sticks tho head of a German pillbox, more than one of them torn by a big shell which left the iron skeleton sticking up in rusty ugliness. The debris of war lies about Here

an abandoned wagon; there an old ovprtnrnpd water car. There lies a

broken rifle; here a dented helmet whose wearer paid the price.

Over atop another hill rise the ruins

of Montfaucon, from which the crown

prince watched his costly and vain effort to take Verdun. It cost many good American lives to drive the Germans from that stronghold. Every foot of the land is historic. Every foot is filled with tragic stories. Here a dugout has caved in and from the ground sticks the thigh bone, the arm bone and three crazy skeleton fingers of a disinterred soldier man. In spots weeds grow but not many. Mostly the terrain unfolds brown and barren and dead. Everything is dead. The impression is the impression of death. It wasn't the same feeling when one saw that land filled with life, with soldiers going ahead and coming back, with convoys on all the miserable roads, with the air filled with screaming shells and airplanes. It seemed a fitting arena for the mighty struggle. But now they are all gone. Everything that lived has gone. Everything is left dead. Over to the west one sees the wooded side of the Argonne and involuntarily one listens for the rat-tat-tat of the machine guns heard so often in the dreary weeks it took the Americans to clean out the Germans. One wonders how goes it in the elaborate and fanciful German dugouts built, on the northern slopes of those wooded hills. What ghosts play in the old motion picturp theater over there north of the Four de Paris. Is the yellow old sheet hanging crazily from the stage wire as it was twelve months p.go? Is the stream still bubbling where the members of the "Lost Battalion" braved death to quench their thirst? Is it still muddy over there? Thinking about that an almost starting that way, one sees in the distance the Stars and Stripes at the top of a white pole and remembers that is the great American cemetery

at Romange and one decides to go I

that way. American Road Abandoned. Up the road the Yankee engineers built from ruined villages across what for almost four years had been no man's land. It is bump and full of holes. No one has paid any attention to it since the Americana finished using it. The chalky stone makes it lie white and crooked in the sunshine. Up toward Montfaucon, past the old ammunition dump Just this side of the hill, where one time American wounded lay for fifty hours in trucks, while many died, I shoot up on the hill where lies the bones of the town. There on tho north side Is the house which Fhielded the entrance to the crown prince's dugout and where the 8rd division once placed its "headanarterg, T had to spend three hours once there because so many shells were falling stop the hill it would have been madness to try to get away. One remembers how the walls of that dugout rang

when German heavies lit nearby.

Down the north side of tho hill

scarcely a trace Is left of the road down which so many American supply trucks rolled In view of the enemy, and one sees pieces of them still lying there. In Nantillois there was one old Frenchman pottering about In a manner which seemed to say that he

found bis Job scarcely worth while. Up

another hill to Cunel and one finds a few French soldiers.

A kilometer westward and there

stretches over twenty acres, what looks like a white Blanket Closer one sees the whiteness Is the whitenss of thousands and thousands of white crosses. Line after Une they stretch away to

the erest of the hill. In neat rows.

with greensward atop the graves, 1 tome 25,000 American fighting men, while the furls of Old Glory wave in

protecting care over them. Theirs a

fitting resting place on the German side of the Hindenburg line.

Eldorado, 0. Jacob H. Sherer assisted E. E. Mckee last week in corn cutting. Thomas Burroughs was an Eldorado shopper last Tuesday. Chas. Beck is rebuilding one of Ms large barns. Fletcher Jeans has bought a fine new 5-passenger Alien auto. Mrs. Ed Trick and family have moved to their new home in town. Mr. and Mrs. L. L. Stay ton were in Eaton Monday. Peter Mull and Thomas Burroughs

were Sunday visitors with W Henry Pence. Samuel Pence and Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Stamback were Eaton shoppers last Tuesday. Mrs. Mary Shock has put a new roof on her residence, also new flues, windows and porches. Last Tuesday evening Peter Mull gave a fine Ice cream party to a number of his neighbors and friends. W. J. Stamback, Joe Maden and Fletcher Jeans have each bought new corn binders. Mrs. C. H. Stayton returned from Eaton, Monday, after a week's visit there with relatives. The Rev. Thomas Murray, pastor of the Unlversalist church, spent Friday and Saturday in Columbus. Miss Samantha Wikle called on Mrs. Jane Swartzel and daughter, Mary, Sunday afternoon. Mrs. Alizina Kimmel. was entertained Sunday by Mr. and Mrs. Clem McKee and family. Mr. and Mrs. Bert Spltler and daughter took dinner with Ed Raut Baw and family, Sunday. Miss Gertrude Harter of Savona, spent last week with Walter Howell and wife. Samuel Ullom and wife called on Charles Mull and family, Friday afternoon. Joe Toohey of New Madison. Mr. and Mrs. H. R. Kimmel took dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Frank Petry, south of town. Mr. Ik L. Blackford, of ML Carmet Ind., visited his sister. Mrs. George Beard from Friday evening until Saturday evening. Mr. and Mrs. Lester Hapner and eon and Miss Marie Bunch were entertained by W. L. Bunch and family of near Gettsburg, Sunday. Quite a number from this place saw "The Hoodlum," which was played at the Washington theatre at Richmond. Sunday night. Meaara. Frank Wynkoop and Kenneth Harsh man arrived home last Tuesday from New York where they were attending a circuit of fairs. Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Barton and sons and Miss Lela Turner of near

New Madison were Sunday guests of Harrison Wellbaam and family. Word has been received that A. J. Hamilton, who la at Petoskey, Mich, is considerably Improved and is able to be about some of the time. Miss Helen Miller, who is attending school in Greenville, spent Saturday and Sunday with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Miller. Mr. and Mrs. James Pence and family of near Eaton called on Frank Blackford and family Sunday afternoon. Mr. and Mrs. Harry Campbell of De GrafTe, Ohio, spent Saturday and Sunday with Harvey Seewmon and family. Mr. and Mrs. Estey Rimmel and sons, Robert and Raymond, took supper Sunday evening with Mr. and Mrs. Charles Murray and family of Eaton. Harve Emrick and family spent Sunday with Mrs. Ed Trick. After noon callers were Robert Sauers and family and Mrs. Miriam Copp of West Alexandria. Mr. and Mrs. Russel Banhill of Richmond, spent from Friday until Sunday with Mr. and Mrs. Walter Howell and Mr. Howell's mother, Miss Flora Banfill, on Friday evening. They al called on Mr. and Mrs.

Miss Edith Minnich, Mr. Edgar Guenther and Mr. Fred Schlientz took ' dinner and supper with Mrs. Gertrude ! Moore Sunday. Lowell and Willard j

Moore entertained Leonard Minnie n, Harold Hamilton and Evin Kimmel to supper Sunday evening. Alva Horine and family spent Saturday night and Sunday with Ernest Deem and family of West Alexandria Herbert Richard and family of Chicago, and Russell Richard and family of Dayton, are visiting their parents, Lewis Richard and wife, for a few days. Irvin Kimmel called on Elmer Kimmel and Roy Hensel Sunday. Mr. and Mrs. H. A. Spitler were evening callers at the Bamhart home, Walter Howell and wife called on Mrs. Ezra Harter of New Madison, on Sunday evening. Mr. and Mrs. Estley Billman called on his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Billman, Saturday evening. Miss Mildred Huffman of Greenville, spent a few days the paBt week with Dr. and Mrs. Ruth Blackford. Sam Pence and wife, Flora McKee and Anna Jones attended the funeral of Edward Dye Tuesday afternoon. Mrs. Roy Hensel spent Wednesday evening with Mrs. Russel House. Samuel Hinsel and wife left Thursday for a visit with relatives in Pennsylvania, Tuesday. Jack Bright and wife and Russel Rlcker and family were Greenville visitors Friday. Angela Kimmel entertained Sunday

evening, M3sa Ada Petry, Mrs. Enos )

B. Larsh and Bay Denlmger. Mrs. Francta Pence and Aram Jones spent Wednesday afternoon with Mrs. William Pence. O. BL Mas tin and wife and H. C. Mas tin and wife called on George Harter and wife of New Madison, on Sunday afternoon. Mrs. Frank Beard. Mrs. Lizzie Schlosser, Mrs. Carl Miller and Miss Helen Miller spent Saturday evening with Mr. and Mrs. Warren Eby. Bert Eddins and family entertained at dinner Sunday, William Oswalt and family. Mrs. Samuel Rice and John Eddins and family of Savona Mr. and Mrs. B. Bamhart, H. Barnhart and Mr. and Mrs. Miller of Dayton, were entertained Sunday by the Rev. Bamhart and family. Miss Samantha Wikle took supper with Samuel Ullom, Thursday evening. Mrs. Samuel Miller and Mrs. Samuel Ullom called on Alva White and wife, Saturday evening. Mr. and Mrs. Ben Pence and family, of Eaton, Mrs. Lulu Weir of Idaho, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Rautsaw and family and Tebe Beard were entertained by Mr. and Mrs. J. Q. Beard,

Go to the

Eaton Fair

via

Airplane Our planes will go to the fair at Eaton, Ohio, each morning and will return In the evening. Make reservations now for these trips. Chenoweth Aviation Co. Phone 1925 or 3790

at a six oelock dinner Wednesday eve

ning. L. C, Ashman, and family entertained at their home In New Paris Sunday, the following guests: James King and wife, Mr. and Mrs. John King and family, Ed Cloyd and wife, Carrie King. A. E. Wagner and family, all Greenville, John King and family

of Leroy, Henry Wehrley and family, of Germ ant own, Mrs. Alva Kimmel and daughter, Angela, and Arthur and Rodney King.

By etension of the area of Korean cotton cultivation Japan epects to become Independent

Get Fresh OYSTERS dally at

Bender's Ice Cream Factory I

TRY A PALLADIUM WANT AD.

Queen Anne Period Suite Two Unusually Fine Pieces

oo

$198

Living Room any Home would take Pride i

Those preferring the more comfortable

overstuffed living room furniture will find this a suite of real merit. Over-stuffed furniture is increasing in popularity right along, and this number is one of the choicest you could find.

Meet Us at the STLYE

SHOW Oct. 1-2

tn

The frames are excellently finished in mahogany, with your choice of tapestry up

holstering. Loose cushion seats. The extra fine construction of this suite insures its giving many years of real service.

Meet Us at the STYTE SHOW Oct. 1-2

If Expert Radiator 1 Repairing 4 We clean out doped'1 g 5 radiators. Drive In j g anlck eer-vlee. Brlncor g ship radiators to us. JESS We pay express en out-K 3 of-town orders. gJ

Phone 1363 Richmond Battery and Radiator Co.

mmm mmm wm mm mm mmmm i mmm wm mm mmmm mmmmm2

'm

RUBBER BOOTS VULCANIZED!

With our big Rubber Footwear machine, it is easy for us to vulcanize holes and cuts in Rubber Boots, Arctics and Overshoes in any condition from top to bottom and from heel to toe. No Job too big and no place too difficult Prices reasonable. All work guaranteed and money back it not satisfied. Also new gum soles and heels vulcanized on. Why buy new ones? This work requires three days' process. No rush Jobs accepted. If you live a distance, mail them in.

WM. F. LEE, "Richmond's Tire Man" No. 8 South 7th St, Richmond. First Door South from Irvin Reed's Hardware Store.

JUST

RECEIVED

4k(D)(D)

COLUMBIA RECORDS

Embodying all the numbers of the catalogue

Opp. Postofflce

Phone 1653

At Feltman's

Where the Latest Fall Footwear Is Shown

A Word About Brown Shades Browns have figured prominently many other seasons in Women's smart Footwear, but never in the attractive shades of this Fall. There is gratifying pleasure in choosing from our full range of fashionable brown shades.

FOR LADIES Glazed Kid Boot Black Kid Dress Boot, long vamp and covered Louis Heels

$7.50

Brown Calf All Leather Boot Military Heels, stitched tip. An ideal walking boot. $7.00

FOR MEN Brown Calf English A strictly dress shoe, with rubber heels $6.00 Mahogany or

Brown English

An extreme last. Price

Dark Brown Calf English Or medium toe, with rubber heels

$9.00 J

it-

$7.00

Dark JMp':jh "- A f

FOR LADIES Brown Kid Boot All leather, long vamp, with leather Loui3 heels. $9.00

i Feltman's Shoe Store INDIANA'S LARGEST SHOE DEALERS 14 STORES 724 MAIN STREET