himself in a house, (Fig. 9:)

[Illustration: Figure 9.]

We arrested three civilians, and a bright idea struck me. We
furnished them with chairs and made them seat themselves in
the middle of the street. There were supplications on one
part, and some blows with the stocks of our guns on the other.
One, little by little, gets terribly hardened. Finally, there
they were sitting in the street. How many anguished prayers
they may have muttered, I cannot say, but during the whole
time their hands were joined in nervous contraction. I am
sorry for them, but the stratagem was of immediate effect. The
enfilading directed from the houses diminished at once; we
were able then to take possession of the house opposite, and
thus became masters of the principal street. From that moment
every one that showed his face in the street was shot. And the
artillery meanwhile kept up vigorous work, so that at about 7
o'clock in the evening, when the brigade advanced to rescue
us, I could report "Saint-Dié has been emptied of all
enemies."

As I learned later, the ---- Regiment of Reserves, which came
into Saint-Dié further north, had experiences entirely similar
to our own. The four civilians whom they had placed on chairs
in the middle of the street were killed by French bullets. I
saw them myself stretched out in the street near the hospital.


V.