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Show GERMANS SEND ' HOME TOMES i Pillage St. Quentin, Burn Fa-'ous Fa-'ous Cathedral and Forward Many Things to Germany. MOTIVE A. MYSTERY High Towers of Church Unique Vantage Point for German Observation. FRENCH FRONT IN FRANCE, Aug. 16. The fire in the St. Ouentin cathedral cathe-dral was first observed about 6 o'clock Wednesday night by sentinels in a French trench outside of SL Quentin. They wero startled to see flames breaking from the famous cathedral, and soon the entire structure was ablaze. The fire continued to light up the town and surrounding country until un-til 2 o'clock in the morning. As it died down it was seen that the steep roof had fallen in.- Everything but the walls must be destroyed. Tho cause is unknown. Certainly it was not duo to the French fire. There was little bombardment last night and when the correspondent watched columns of smoke float away on a light wind the landscape was singularly peaceful. Prisoners say the town has lately been pillaged by officers and men who are sending many stolen valuables to Germany. Motive Is Mystery "At nightfall Wednesday," telegraphs tele-graphs a Haas correspondent on the French front, "we saw from our lines, which at places are less than halt a mile from the suburbs of St. Quentin, that the cathedral was surrounded by smoke. Soon fire was visible, increasing increas-ing each moment, until at midnight the imposing monument was a mass of flames, visible for twenty miles around. ... "It is impossible at the time to determine de-termine the origin of the fire. The high towers of the cathedral gave the Germans an observation point unique in the region. We cannot understand what powerful motives induced thorn to destroy it. Through field glasses it could be seen the next afternoon that tho entire supers tructure was gone." oo |