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Show CAPITAL TSKEN BY j TEUTONS Ploechti, an Important j! Railway Junction, 36 Miles Northwest of . Bucharest, Also in the Hands of Invaders; Line of Retreat Said to Be Cut Off. DEFENDERS MAY HAVE ESCAPED Recent Maneuvers, However, How-ever, Placed Them in Great Danger; Conquest Con-quest of the Southern Section of Rumanian Kingdom Now Complete. Com-plete. BERLIN, Bee. 6. by wireless to Say-vine. Say-vine. Bucharest, capital of Rumania, has been captured, it was officially announced today. Ploechti, the Important railway Junction Junc-tion town, thirty-six miles northeast of Bucharest, also has been taken. The capture of Ploechti, on the main line running north from Bucharest, cuts the main railway line of retreat for the Rumanian armies operating- in th Bu- : charest region. j The official statement does not indicate j whether the entry of the Teutonic forces into Bucharest and Ploechti was slmul- j taneous. The capture of Ploechti before that of the capital would be far more j serious for the Rumanians. Many military mili-tary observers looked for the Rumanians not to attempt a defense of the capital at the last, expecting an evacuation in time to save the forces defending it by a withdrawal with-drawal of the railway route remaining to them. ! The taking of Bucharest virtually com- pletes the conquest by the Teutonic forces of the southern section of the Rumanian j kingdom, embracing territory of more- j than 50,000 square miles. i Apart from its importance as the capi- tal of Rumania, Bucharest is classed In a military sense as a fortress of the first I rank. In recent years the city has been surrounded sur-rounded by a line of fortifications forty J miles in circumference, designed on a i tremendous scale. Among the novel fea-i fea-i tures introduced into these works were forts with revolving turrets. Designed by Belgian. A Belgian engineer. General Brlalmont, designed the defenses, which included thlrty-slx armored forts and batteries, arranged in a polygonal line about the city, protected by an outer circle of forts. The city also contained before the war barracks for more than 30,000 cavalry and infantry, an arsenal, a military hos- ; pltal and three military academies. . t Bucharest is sometimes called "the j Paris of the eaet," because of Its gayety ; and Its open boulevards and avenues. ' Sometimes, too, It Is called "the city of joy." This name arises from a legend of a victory over the Turks won by prince Mircea of Wallarhia, about the end of the fourteenth century. There Is an Albanian Albani-an word, "buckur," meaning Joy. and from this the name Bucharest la said to have been derived. Half Oriental City. The Uttering picturesqueness of the Rumanian capital has laid a spell on manv visitors and spurred them to feats of word paintlns. tr. William Bayard Hale, In a dispatch from Bucharest to this paper recently, called it: "A half oriental city of wonderful fascination, fas-cination, staring stucco walls relieved by gardens of sycamore, acacia and otlve, with swarming peddlers wuh antrachan turbans, crying their wares or asleep amonsi the melons and plums. Every corner is ablaze bv day with gaudy asters as-ters and Iris, and throbbing at night with gypsy music." Another recent visitor commented on the evidences of wealth in Bucharest as differentiating It from other cities of the Balkans. lis general postoffice, he said, was five times as larffe as those of Belgrade Bel-grade and Sofia put together. "All the public establishments in Bucharest," he continued, "rank with those of Budapest rather than with those of the Trans-Danubjan states: barrack?, bar-rack?, hospitals, savings banks, all are on a respectable scale." The restaurant gardens outside the town remind one of the similar gardens In Petrograd; and. as in Russia. the gypsy music of thosR pleasure resorts does not cease till morning, and champagne flows freely. Capital's Industries. ; Among the capital's industries are petroleum pe-troleum refining, extraction of vegetable oils, tannine, brandy distilling, furnituro 1 making, manufacture of machinery, metsl : ware, nails, wire, cement, paper, starch, cardboard, textiles, soap, canrlles, pearl (Continued on Page Four.4 Rlil Cf ill JMiBlMCi (Continued from Page One.) j buttons, ropes, glucose, leather goods a,nd ! armv eupnlif-H. The population was 2S2.071 in lOCu. These included 40,274 Jews and dG,Uj al:'n: j A multitude of churches flash their pilded cupolas upon tiie eyes of the ap-prua'h!iui ap-prua'h!iui traveler and strike the first dominant noto of the pie Hires. ue with , which Hucharest invariably announces it-; self. Dominating the capital from an pml- , nenee rise the three lowers of the caihe- 1 dral, presided over by tlie Metropolitan primate of Rumania. It dates from 1 60 U and is built in tiie shape of a Greek cross ; surrounded by a wide cloist er. I There is also a Roman Catholic rathe- 1 dral, that of St. Joseph, at which an archbishop officiates; but the majority of the churriie.s in the city are of the eastern east-ern bi nn'h, the ( 'at holies ha vim; only , three. Of synagogues there Is no lack, and the IJrote.sta nta, Armenians and other . sectarians , have their own places of j worship. j Blooms With Gardens. j The city blooms with gardens. Poplars . and acacias rear themselves between the , low roofs of ancient, rambling houses. 1 The streets are -kaleidoscopic with gay j native costumes and the liveries of Rus- 1 man coachmen and sleigh drivers. j The Rumanian capital is uncommonly 1 rich in schools. There is a university that extends free tuition, while the national na-tional library is famed among scholars for Its rare collection of Oriental documents. docu-ments. Tlie Turk, the Russian and tho Austrian Aus-trian fought many fierce battles for gay Bucharest during the eighteenth century. In 1S2S the Russians captured it and a vear later presented it to the prince of "Wallachia. Again in 1So3-1S54 Bucharest was occupied oc-cupied by Russian troops. This was a sequel to a Rumanian rebellion against Prince Biheseu. After that the Anstrians look control of It and kept it for three years. Bucharest was chosen as the meeting place of the international congress by j which, in ISoS, a rearrangement was ef- t'eoted of the Balkan states. Three years : later, when the union of Wallachia and j .Moldavia was effected, it became the j capital of Rumania. I |