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Show RHEIMS PILE OF SMOKING RUINS Flames From Burning Buildings Build-ings Seen 60 to 70 Miles Away. PARIS, April 19 Rheims, which has been under bombardment for' a week, is now nothing but a great pile Of smoking ruins. During the past week the Germans have fired more than 100,000 shells into the heart of the city, according to the correspondent correspond-ent of Le Matin, and flames from the burning buildings can be seen by avia tors 60 and i0 miles awav There are no traces of Btreets and fhoroughtares. which have disappeared from view under the accumulation of debris, indent buildings in the Place Royale and the market place I and the Musicians' House which dates I trom the sixteenth century have been reduced to dust and ashes. The vaulting vault-ing of the famous Rhelms cathedral Is j falling .-lone by stone. Notwithstanding l&e terrible bombardment bom-bardment 40 parish firemen are still, at work in Jie citv. Some of them) have lost their lives With them are j ' some le al firemen, one of whom, Ser- geant Eloi. has been on duty in Rhelms since the outbreak of the war and has been wounded fourteen times. I Victim of German Hate Rheims before the war w as a city of more than 100,000 souls, and has slowly, slow-ly, but none the less surely, be n tall-I tall-I ing a victim to German hate and spite -' fulness In their first advance in 1914 the I Germans held Rheims several days 'but the battle of tho Maine stopped I their advance and they fell back a few miles north and northeast of ihe City. Since then the big German guns I have been bombarding the ciiy and its 1 famous cathedral. The population of the city until a 1 few months ago was less than 18,000 but these persons lived in dugouts or I in cellars and the city was virtually j dead Magnificent Cathedral Ruined. The cathedral was one of the most j magnificent examples of early Gothic architecture and was begun in 1213. The west facade had three portals j which contained about 530 statues. Above the portals was the gorgeous I rose window. 40 feet In diameter and one of the finest specimens of the art of stained glass construction. Up to November I, 1916, the Germans Ger-mans had fired thousands of shells into ! lne city. 1000 of which had struck the ! cathedral. Since then, whenever the i German troops met with reverses the enemy guns took up the bomburdmeni anew Until the latest bombardment the cathedral had suffered greatly and l the rose window had almost been de-I de-I st roved. In January 1917. Emperor William, j in response to a request from Pope (Benedict, said he would permit repairs to be made to theeathedral iu his endeavor en-deavor "to preserve from the terrors ! of war venerable places of religious worship and monuments of art which I consider as the common property of hu inanity.' The German military authorities have attempted to excuse the bombardment bom-bardment of the cathedral on the ground that it was being used for military mil-itary purposes by the French. This claim has been denied repeatedly. |