OCR Text |
Show DRAMATIC SCENES AS RUSS LEAVE Extraordinarily Heavy Explosions Explo-sions as Forts at Warsaw Are Blown Up. THE SKY FLAMES RED Military Buildings and Railway Rail-way Shops Burn Bridges Jammed With Retiring Retir-ing Troops. X.odz, Russian Poland, Aug. 12, via London. 3 p. m. The city of Warsaw, the center of the recent colossal campaign cam-paign for the Vistula line, suffered comparatively little from the battles which raged around it and from the process of its evacuation by tho Russians. Rus-sians. In lenvlntr thn rltv mini - peat the century-old precedent at Moscow and set the town on fire, they did not do so. The water, gas and electric plants were left ln working order and only In Praga the, water mains were damaged in several places pla-ces by explosions. The Russians retired in such a hurry, hur-ry, at the last moment, that they omitted to carry out many measures they had planned, A whole park of automobiles and carriages which had been collected for removal was left behind. An order to carry off the cu- I rious bolls was only partly executed and many bells were left hanging. . Polish Residents Rema'n. Most of the Polish residents of the city declined to follow the order to leave with the Russians, escaping deportation de-portation by keeping out of sight. The scenes on the night of the evacuation evac-uation were dramatic. At 10 o'clock In the evening a aeries of extraordinarily extraordi-narily heavy explosions was heard 1 signalizing the destruction of the forts. The sky over the city flamed 1 red from burning military buildings U and railway shops. The bridges I were jammed with retiring troops o- J flooded with columns of artillery. Three Bridges Destroyed. At 5 o'clock the next morning the three Vistula bridges were destroyed. An hour later two German officers rode coolly through the city In an automobile au-tomobile to the town hall where they met the chief of the citizens' committee. commit-tee. A few minutes afterwards, patrols pa-trols of cavalry appeared, their lances lan-ces decked with flowers and the men singing "Die Wacht am RhPln From the scenes In the streets It might have been thought the event was a city festival. Crowds in gav summer attire thronged the'1 thoroughfares, thorough-fares, cheering tho entering soldiers, while many offered them flowers. Fighting Outside City. Meanwhile from the river front and even from overhead came the noise of exploding shrapnel shells and the whiz of speeding bullets. Many casualties cas-ualties occurred in the city and am- .ww . .. ,,a uuaj, mo entire uav transporting the wounded to their homes or to hospitals. Municipal affairs are in the hands or a citizens' committee under the control of which a volunteer citizens-police citizens-police force has been formed to preserve pre-serve order. The destruction of the railway bridge was poorly executed, ine middle spans were wrecked and dropped Into the river, but the piers were left standing so that it will take but a comparatively short time to rebuild re-build the structure and reopen railroad rail-road communication for Prince Leopold Leo-pold s armies. rvi |