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Show U.S. CITIZENS MUST HE PBOTEGTIOil ! WASHINGTON ACTS W HEN AMER- ICAN CITIZENS AT.E PLACED IN DANGER Damage Done Up To Date Is Not Officially Known; Ambassador Herrick Demands Action Ey French Washington. Ambassador Herrick, i in Paris, has made representations to , the French government for protection ! of American life and property in Damascus. Instructions for the ambassador to make the move were forwarded when word of the disorders in Syria was received. The Washington government govern-ment also has sent two American destroyers de-stroyers from Gibralter to Alexandria, Alexan-dria, Egypt, where they are ready to proceed to Berisut should the situation situa-tion require further steps to safeguard safe-guard Americans and their property. It was estimated by officials here that about 150 Americans probably were in Damacus or its immediate vicinity when the revolt against French authority occurred in that city last week. Reports as to damage done by the bombardment of certain quarters of Damascus, by French artillery and airplane have not disclosed the extent ex-tent of any injury to American property. prop-erty. So far as known, no Americans' were hurt and the representations made in Paris were of a general and precautionary nature, as was the action ac-tion of the American consul in Damacus Dam-acus in advising Americans to take refuge at Bereiut until order had been restored. London Old Damascus is like a city of the dead, according to refugees from Syria quoted by the Daily Mail's Cairo correspondent. Fleeing from the French bombarded bombard-ed city, the refugees brought reports that shells were believed to have killed kill-ed 1200 prisoners in the city prison, while they reported several million dollars damage to property. They charged that the French troops, after their bombardment of the city, came into the town and started an orgy, shooting into stores on the principal streets from armored cars and looting as they went. Cessation of the bombardment was said to be due to the protests of European Eu-ropean consuls at Damascus. |