1UTCII FRONTIER
iARDED BY 150
MILES OF FENCE
Charged With Electricity, Wire
Barrier Is Studded With
Dead Animals.
NEW PATROL BOAT ON SPEED, TRIAL
SENTINELS ON BOTH SIDES
Holland Can Flood Great Area at
Flrtt Signs of Invasion Difficult
to Cron the Border Writer
Describee Some Scenes
of the War.
Maastricht, Holland. They tell you
In this town tliut tlicy have almost for.
gotten that there Is a war Perhaps
thejr have, for it lias awept past them
and nobody expects It to come back.
The potteries and breweries, which
are the principal factors in the
town's prosperity, are running full
time and making money; business la
good enough to all appearances, and
the walla are plastered with the ad
vertisements of innumerable moving
picture houses where Fionch war
movies are listed side by side with
detective dramas (timed In Los Anr
fules.
But Maastricht saw aud beard
enough of the war In those first few
days. Mttle more than a mile to the
west Is the Belgian frontier; 20 miles
on the other side la the German fron
tier; 20 miles to the southwest Is
Liege. The town lies almost at the
extremity of South Llmburg the bottle-shaped
southward projection of
Holland that runs down for some 30
miles before Joining to the rest of
the country by a neck that at one
point la hardly two miles wide. And
while lta peoplo may have forgotten
that there is a warr now. It will be a
long time before they forget those first
daya of August, 1914.
The Germans were coming west
through Belgium everybody knew
that Nobody felt sure that they
might not find It more convenient to
overrun South Llmburg on the way;
and the Dutch army, hastily mobilized
the last day of July, was digging In
along the frontier, while a few miles
up tbe Meuse, on that range of hills
which borders the liver at Liege as it
does at Maastricht, General Leman and
his Belgians were sitting behind forts
that everybody (nought were Impreg
nable and waiting tor the Germans.
During those days while tbe people
In Maastricht, as In Liege, were watt
ing to see whether the war was com
ing their way, there passed through
tbe town 5,000 German civilians ex
pelled from their homes In Belgium at
the beginning of tbe war, and already
Belgians who thought that Dutch ter
ritory would be safer than their own
were beginning to move Into the town
and district of Maastricht.
Rumors Thst Germans Crossed.
Llmburg, of course, was not Invaded.
A legend persists that some German
troops did cross the narrow neck of
the bottle, but nobody has ever found
any proofs. From Aachen, where the
advance troops had been hurriedly
gathered together, General von Ec
Ditch's army started west toward thai
Liege forts. At Vervlers and else
where they skirmished with the Bel
gian outposts. Then they came to
Vise, a village leas than four miles
from the Dutch frontier and little
more than ten from Maastricht.
Tbe people of this town, who tell
you that they hardly know now that
there Is a war, could see the smoke
when Vise was burned burned so
thoroughly that the people whd live
along the border will tell yon there Is
not a bouse left standing. That day
there poured across the border a
swarm of refugees of a different sort,
tbe precursors of many others In the
day that followed what was left of
women and children of Vise, who had
seen 200 of their men shot down In
the streets, and scores of others made
prisoner and started on their way to
Germany.
Maastricht heard the roar of the
battle at Liege, when the Germans,
trying to rush the hills without ade
quate artillery support, were driven
back wtlh the loss of 10,000 or 12,000
men, according to local estimates, and
when for two or three days an excited
world thought that the terrible Ger
man army had been stopped Just over
the threshold. And then one morn
ing every window in the Dutch border
city rattled with the deep roar of a
new kind of gun, firing at Liege from
Just south of the frontier line. The
new howltiere had arrived, and the
Liege forts were blown to pieces one
by one.
10,000 Refugees In City.
Ten thousand refugees were in
Maastricht before Liege fell 10.000
strangers in a town of less than 40.
000. Most of them had money, and,
as hotels and pensions were over
flowed, the natives drore a thriving
h...mess for a while taking ji board
ers But eventually most of the Bel
gians moved on to Rotterdam, or Am
sterdam, or The Hague, or England.
. . - Biin ramunM runninv
Ana inuoo " " -- - ,
out or money. wuk w - -
tortes that were Just coming back to
life and were absorbed in the routine
of the town. They left behind them
stories of German atrocities that have
affected sentiment In Maastricht to ft
lucre that ma b indicated by th
- f
nsiiitiiWifA"''
Patrol boat No. I on her speed trluls In Lynn bay, making an average of
24 miles an hour. The trials were pronounced satisfactory under the direction
of Stewart Davla, who is commander of the Volunteer Patrol squadron. The
No. 2 Is the first of tbe fleet of four now under way. These new type patrol
boats are 40 feet over all, 8 feet 8 inches beam, and 3 feet draft, fitted wltb
136-horse-power engines. 1
..u.iin r rusl American vis
itor who. In all Innocence, asked for
German fried potatoes, and very near
ly had to defend himself from person
al violence at tbe hands of a squad
of infuriated waiters, who Insisted that
UnitBni imtBina, ware the only kind
that could, would, or should be eaten,
and that there was something outlin
ing about the desire to have anything
German.
For months after the capture of
Liege passage acroaa the frontier was
a fairly easy matter. Then the Dutch
Government, which has prohibited the
export of many articles and Is much
exercised to preveut smuggling, began
to tighten lta frontier guard, and tbe
Germans began a series of measures
riciiano,! in irAnn the Relsiana In Bel-
glum, and everybody else out Today
farmers and tradecmen living near tne
frontier can get passes across it, if
favorably known to the authoritlea.
But without definite and approved busi
ness no man, no matter who he may
be. Is allowed to paas the barriers.
Take a taxlcab with a trilingual
driver armed with a DISS permitting
you to approach the frontier and drive
out along tbe road norm west, oi
Maastricht Through the misU of the
wet, gray afternoon you can see off
to the left the hills along the Meuse,
and presently, little more than a mile
out of the city, you come to a long,
straight stretch of road bordered by
tall trees which is blocked in the dis
tance bv a bank of earth straight
acroaa tbe thoroughfare. Your cab
halts at the barrier, and from a anaooy
brick house at one side of the road
emerge a customs Inspector in muddy
tweeds and half a dozen Dtue-ciao. sol
diers. Another soldier In an Im
provised sentry box of straw thatch
on a frame of saplings. Is on guard
across the road, and before you are
two embankmenta, one starting at
either aide of the roadway and both
stretching more than halt way acrosa,
with only room for a single vehiale to
pass between them.
Must Go No Farther.
Here you muat halt; unless you are
a peasant with a basket of eggs or
an official of the Belgian relief com
mission you can go no farther. Fifty
yards down the road is another double
embankment, and beyond that a
wooden sentry box painted black,
white, and red.
Here la the German empire, or, rath
er, Its Belgian possessions. Tbe squat,
ugly village cf Smeermaes lies Just be
yond the frontier line low, one-story
brick houses, about which not a soul
can be seen except a solitary German
sentry clad In a muddy uniform of no
particular color, his spiked helmet cov
ered In burlap. Here you see none of
the bright uniforms worn by the men
on leave or home duty In Germany;
WOMEN LEARN WAR GAME
v5
k?L& i
When women take a hand and start
a preparedness wave all their own,
then shall it become universal. On
the free rifle range at Wuathrop, Md.,
women flocked In great numbers re
cently, all enthused over the oppor
tunity to learn how to defend their
country. An unusual sight it was to
see a small wisp of a woman handling
a rill almost as big as herself with
determination enough to want to
learn how to handle it. The woman
In the picture is Mrs. B. M. Botto, and
she was as steady a shot as titer was
la th eatagv,;, -.t
there are not many soldiers loft In
this part of Belgium, but those who
are left are aa businesslike as the
men In tbe trenches.
Only two or three of them are In
sight here at Smeermaes the senti
nel, and one or two otbera a little dis
tance away, pacing along a high
barbed wire feiue. This fence Is the
Belgian frontier the first fence built
slong the border when the Germans
began their policy of keeping the Bel
gians at home. When they found that
despite constant patrolling this bar
rier waa insufficient they built a sec
ong barbed wire fence all along the
160 miles of frontier, 600 yards be
hind the first one closely woven wire
this time, high enough to make it diffi
cult even to throw letters over, and
charged with electricity. That fence
Is studded from Maastricht to the sea
:1th carcasses of dogs, rabbits, chick
ens and cows.
And latterly the Germans have be
gun the construction of still another
fence exactly like thia one, but 600
yards farther back. The fences are
constantly patrolled, and at night
there are searchlights. It Is getting
pretty hard to get Into or out of Bel
glum. Tbe taxi turns back through tbe
town and out again toward the south.
After paaeing another double barrier
of earthen embankments and an in
quisitive sentry Just outside the city
limits you run along a road that fol
lows the river perhaps 200 yards on
the right, down through the cleft be
tween the double veld, a little village
where the Dutch troops acting as the
frontier guards against smuggling on
the much-traveled route are quartered,
and then on down tbe road toward
Vise.
Ruins of Vise In Distance.
Tbe ruins of Vise are down yonder,
beyond the mist-clad woods; snd It
Is hardly more than a quarter of an
hour's run to Liege. But It Is the
frontier; the driver shrugs. his shoul
ders; "Welter kann man nlcht." And
as you turn back you pass a line of
high covered carts filled with loaves
of bread bread made from American
flour, sent across tbe frontier by the
Belgian Relief commission. '
Until quite recently It was slmost
as hard to get to Maastricht aa to get
into Belgium. The Dutch garrison
was a strong one, and the traveler in
South Llmburg had to undergo hourly
Inspection of passports and special
permits. But repeated pretests by
Dutch business men had Its effect, and
the reduction of the garrison removed
much of the military need for restric
tions; so that today travel In the
southern rtp of the Netherlands Is as
easy as It la In Westchester.
Only a single regiment is left in
Maastricht. The old bridge across the
Meuse is guarded day and night, and
beside its parapets lie chevaui-de-frlse,
tangled with barbed wire, and
heaps of ateel rails, ready to be
thrown into place and jlock the bridge
on five minutes notice. But the plant
of the Dutch general staff do net con
template any attempt to defend South
Llmburg in the event which Is every
day regarded as less likely of an at
tack from Germany. The Zuyder Zee
dikes would be blowfe up and a great
stretch flooded clear across the country-
Behind the area to be flooded, al
most to the center of Holland, Is Ut
recht, fortified almost as strongly as
the cities of the Vcsges. Here the
Dutch would make their first stand.
Behind that still another area can be
flooded, and then a third, extending
the submerged district up to the forti
fications of, Amsterdam, which would
be the last refuge of tbe Dutch army,
lis Antwerp was of the Belgian. Any
thing east of Utrecht would be only
outpost fighting; but the barbed wire
entanglements that are almost a con
stant feature of the landscape, and the
marching soldiers that can be seen at
almost any glance from tbe car win
dow, Indicate how sharp that fighting
might be.
One of these outposts Is Roormond,
the city Just above the neck of the
bottle that Is South Llmburg. To th
north of Roermond the railroad
crosses th Meuse on a bridge which
Is strongly guarded and mined, so that
It can be blown up without an In
stant's delay whenever the word Is
given. But th extent to which th
Germans art prepared for even unlike
ly possibilities is Indicated by the fact
that In Aachen, a tow miles over th
border, there la an exact duplicate of
that bridge, part by part, ready to be
assembled and set up as soon aa th
rvlnaar cleared away, r '
RETAINS LEAD
PRODUCED AS MUCH GOLD IN
1911 AS ALL OTHtPi EASTERN
STATES COMBINED.
DISPATCHES FROM RALEIGH
Doings and Happening That Mark
the Progress of North Carolina Peo
ple Gathered Around the SUM
CapitoL
Raleigh.
Special from Washington. "North
Carolina easily retained first rank In
gold output among the Eastern Appa
lachlan Statos In 1915," said a bul
letln Just Issued by the United States
Geological Survey.
"The total production of gold In 1916
amounted to 8,320.66 fine ouuees
against 6,343 94 ounces In 1914. In
1916 the value of the North Carolina
gold ylold was slightly more than
half of the Eastern States' total.
"The gold was obtained from 22
placers and seven deep mines, but sev
eral of the mines made a very small
productions The largest producing
placer was the Blggerstaff, In Ruther
ford County. The Uwarra Mine, In
Montgomery county, had the largest
yield of gold from mining. Other
mlnea that controlled an appreciable
part of the gold output were the Rich
Oog, Iola, and SaHle Coggln, In Mont
gomery County; the Gold Hill, In Row
an County; the Gardner Hill, In Gull
ford County; and the Howie, In Union
County.
"The silver output of the state, re
covered aa a by-product from gold
milling, was 1,466 fine ounces, valued
at $741 against 1.624 fine ounces, val
ued at $843 In 1914. The copper pro
duction In 1915 waa 17,170 pounds, val
ued at $3,006.
"The total value of the gold, silver,
and copper produced In North Caro
lina In 1916 waa 1176,747, against
8134.702 in 1914.
"From the seven producing deep
mines In 1916 there was treated 25.
910 short tons of ore, of which 20,901
tons was siliceous gold ore, wltb an
average recovery of $6.66 a ton In
gold and silver.
"The placers of North Carolina
yielded 4010.61 fine ounces of gold and
51 ounces of silver in 1916, and the
siliceous ores 7.910.04 ounces of gold
and 1,414 ouncea of silver."
The following table was prepared by
James M. Hill, of the United States
Geological Survey:
Gold, silver and copper produced at
mines in North Carolina In 1916:
County. Gold.
Burke, Caldwell and Catawba. $ 1,003
Cabarrus 281
Gaston and Mecklenburg 925
Granville and Guilford 16.781
Montgomery 90,324
Rowan 45.861
Rutherford 6.694
Stanly and Union..... 12,129
Totals ...8172,001
A. eV M. Exercises May 28-30.
The commencement exercises of the
North Carolina College of Agriculture
and Mechanic Arts will begin on Sun
day, May 28, with the commencement
sermon by the Right Rev. Edward
Bondthaler. This will be at 8:15 at
night
On Monday night following at 8:15
the commencement address will be de
livered by Senator William E. Borah
of Idaho.
On Tuesday will ' be the orations
These will be as follows:
Karl Sloan, Valedictorian The Pre
servatlon of our Forests.
K. L. Greenfield Pan-American
Peace.
8. O. Crater Financing the Ameri
can Farmer.
R. V. Davis Vocational Education
Browne to Buncombe and Haywood.
' Mr. T. E. Browne, head of the boys'
club work In the state, went to Bun
combe and Haywood counties, where
ho spent two dayB visiting with the
agents and boys in tbe counties. Bun
combe is leading the counties in tbe
state in this work.
Results Secured In Soil Survey.
During the year soli survey work In
the state has progressed aggressively
During the past summer surveys of
Wayne and Columbus counties were
completed, and work In Anson, Alle
ghany and Davidson was begun dur
ing the fall. Work In these latter
Counties was completed during thej
winter, ana tne inree parties woriuiii
in the state took up work in Halifax,
Harnett and Hartford counties. At
present the field work Is being done
b three men each from the Federal
and state departments of agriculture.
Tw State Aid 8hl n Lin.
North Carolina's Stat Suparlnten
dent of Public Instructing sat In Vlr
glnla a few days ago and watched the
dosing exercises of Grassy Creek
School snd Virginia's superintendent
sat In North Carolina and observed
the same ceremonies by the same chil
dren and th same teachers.
Dr. Jamos T, Joyner of North Caro
lina and the county superintendent of
Orayson county, Virginia, occupied
the portion of the handsome $6,000
school building that Is bullded on the
cornerstone that sticks In Virginia's
soil and Prof. R. C. Starnes. Virginia's
superintendent, and the rounty super
intendent of Ashe sat on that part of
the stage that rests over North Caro
lina earth. The state line splits the
school house and both states and both
counties support the school with their
money while school children from
both counties and both states attend
the Institution.
It Is a beautiful new building that
is now celebrating the close of Its sec
ond year. It Is 13 miles from any
railroad and on the line that separates
Grayson county in Virginia aud Ashe
county In North Carolina. Both states
are loyal to the school house, which
Is a handsome one for such a dis
tinctly rural and mountainous com
munlty. So far as the state superin
tendent of public Instruction knows
It Is the only school house In the
American Union which Is divided by
a state line and supported by two
states. Several counties in North
Carolina combine with other counties
on schools but none can claim such
geographical distinction as Grassy
Creek.
Betwen the exercises the big crowd
stood before a big table and ale din
ner. This came from both states and
both counties. Grassy Creek recently
built a cheese factory and cheese from
new milk was served at this dinner
Doctor Joyner declares it unbeatable
Ashe county people believe that
their citizenship, which has so often
been called a Virginia people and
their county a Virginia Province, say
that no part of North Carolina is more
Intensely Tar Heel than Ashe and that
the state line divides people who are
very different in democratic spirit. The
Ashe farmers' undoubtedly impress
the stranger more than Grayson's do.
BAPTISTS RE-ELECT
REV. DR. BURROWS
TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL CON
VENTION MEETING AT ASHE'
VILUE ELECTS OFFICERS.
General Hoke's Portrait Presented.
The latest addition to the collection
of potralts In the eastern Hall of His
ory In the atate administration build
lng Is one in oil of Major-General
Robert F. Hoke, the artist being Har
m Mni-nnnalil of Washington, D. C
The picture is finely executed and life
like In extreme. It is loaned oy Mrs
aict whh a riiuchter of the late
General Hoke. The striking resem
blance between General n. E. Lee ana
General Hoke Is extremely marked In
the portrait. A singular coincidence
In this resemblance is that Genera'
Hoke was chosen by General Lee to
be his successor in command of the
Confederate forces If for any reasor
General Lee was Incapacitated.
Many Primary Tlcketa Sent Out
The State Board of Elections It
sending out a vast number of tickets
to be used In the primary June 3.
It will require about 1,000.000, al
lowing four tickets to each vote ac
tually cast and in the generosity ol
tne board thia margin is being given
The Democrats are being figured upon
a basis of about 150,000 and the Re
publicans at 100,000.
In the Sixth District flv congres
slonal candidates are running and
one-fifth of these tickets will be led
off by aome candidates whose name If
not alphabetically placed. For the
state office of Attorney General tout
men are running and three each tot
Secretary of tSate and Commissioner
of Agriculture.
The Republicans have no state con
tests, but their presidential vote must
be recorded,
PLAN TO AID WAR PRISONERS
Would Send Missionaries to German
and Austrian Prison Camps Grat
ifying Reports Received.
Ashevllle. ltev. Dr. Lansing Bur
ruws of Amerlcus, Ga., was re-elected
president of the Southern lluptlsl Con
vention at the opening of the sixty
first annual session of that body hore.
The opening session was taken up
with election of officers and presenta
tlon of reports of the various boards
controlled by the convention. The
Foreign Mission Hoard recommended
In Its report that the South rn Baptist
Convention decline to enter Into a
union with other denominations In
foreign mission work.
Vice presidents, B. C. Henlng of
Elizabeth City, N. C. J. D. Mell of
Athens, Ga., i. B. Lawrence of Colum
bus, Miss., and J. C. Stalcup of Okla
! homa City, Okla. Mr. Honing was th
1 only vice president reelected.
Secretaries O. F. Gregory of Bait!
, more and H. C. Moore of Raleigh. N.
! C. Both wero re-elected. '
Treasurer, George W. Norton of
Louisville, Ky ; auditor, W. P. Har
vey of Harrodshurg, Ky.
The 8undny School Board In Its re
port showed total receipts of $452,
729, with a balance on hand of more
than $30,000. It was said a larger
balance than usual had been laid
aside because of the Increased coat
St' white paper used In printing work
done by the board. The Foreign Mis
sion Board announced completion of
the Judson Centennial fund of $1,250,
000 for aiding foreign missions. This
fund was virtually completed last
year.
Plana to send missionaries Into Ger
man and Austrian prison camps to at
tempt to convert to tbe Baptist faith
the "2.000.000 Russian prisoners of
war" held therein were outlined.
Approval of the stand of the For
eign Mission Board of the Southern
Baptist Convention against Joining
other denominations In foreign mis
sionary activities, and recommenda-.
tlon of several plana to lower the ex
penses of the hoard, were made by the
committee to which the annual report
of the Foreign Mission Board was re
ferred after Its presentation at th
opening session.
Discontinuance of tbe two Held
secretaries employed by the Foreign
Board to travel through the South
and seek to arouse interest in the '
cause of forlegn missions was asked
and the recommendation was made
that the publications of the Horn
Mission Board and the Foreign Mis
sion Board be united and that the
Woman's Missolnary Union be Invited)
to unite Its publication with the Joint
magazine which thus would be formed.
The field secretaries of the Foreign
Mission Board are the Rev. C. J.
Thompson of Raleigh, and the Rev. .
C. D. Graves of Nashville, Tenn.
While paying tribute to their work
the committee thought their services
might be dispensed with.
Among other means suggested for
lowering the debt of tbe Foreign
Board was one which would provide
that the current expenses of th
board during the coming year should
not exceed those of the past year, and
that the cburcheo try to enlarge their
contributions to foreign missions. -
Brumbaugh to Address Teaohers.
: Governor Martin G. Brumbaugh, of
Pennsylvania, has accepted the lnvlta
tlon of the North Carolina Teachers'
Assembly to deliver an address In
Raleigh, on the occasion of the meet
ing of the assembly her. ' Dr. Brum
baugh, according to officials of the
Teachers' Assembly will be ' on on
th big guns on the program. As a
governor oi Pennsylvania he has
shown intlmata knowledge of the
needs et education la th Stat and
aattoa. .
- '
New Charters Granted.
Another charter granted was one to
tbe Kenllworth Home Co., of Kenll
worth. Buncombe County, to deal In
real estate. The total authorized cap
ital stock Is $26,000, with $10,000 paid
In by E. G. Hester, J. M. Clines and
E. A. Fonda, all of Kenllworth.
The Secretary of State granted a
charter to the McLaurin Drug Co., ol
Rockingham. The total authorized
capital stock Is $126,000 with $3,000
paid In. The incorporators are E. R
McLaurin of Rockingham and H. M
Wade and T. L. Brisedine of Charlotte
The Newport Manufacturing Com
pany of Greensboro, a corporation that
will deal In realty and timber, was
chartered with $12,500 of Its authorlz
ed $25,000 capital paid In. Tbe stock
holders are the three Caldwells, A. V.,
H. B. and S. M. Caldwell and P. S
Gingrich of Greensboro, and W. E
Anderson of Pleasant Garden.
The Everlasting Window Shadt
Company of Dunn, one of whose busl
ness spirits Is named "Dawn," Is al
lowed to change its charter by which
the authorized capital stock Is in
creased from $10,000 to $50,000,
Railroads File Log Rate Brief.
Special from Washington. R. Wal
ton Moore and Edward H. Hart at
counsel, has filed with the Interstate
Commerce Commission a reply brlel
on behalf of the Atlantic Coast Lin
Seaboard Air Line and other Interest
ed carriers In the Whltevllle Lumber
case. Several lumber mills located
near Norfolk, who object to the North
Carolina mills having rates that will
permit them to compete 1b th north
era lumber markets, also filed a brie'
as Intervener.
Mill Site Contslns 35 Acres.
Oastonla. The Groves Mills, Inc.
one of the four new cotton mil! cor
porations recently formed In Gsstonia.
has purchased a site of 35' acres Just
across the P. ft N. Railway Line from
the Flint Mill, east of the city. Work
has herun nn the Hldetr&ek And thm .
r.nnntrnctinn nf the hntlHlnn w(ll ha
commenced at one. It Is expected to
have the plant ready for operation
about the first of September. V
rr-i .!.... . u i - 1 1 1 t '
uroves, presiaeni; u. u. Jenkins, vie ..
presineui; n. n. uroves, secreary.-
.. Ladv Meets Traaio Death.' .
Lumberton. A distressing accident
uixuieu iu E.ttoi tuiuuerbuu, recently
fotiAn Mitts Mnrtia Hanitnn 11 mbm
old, was shot a pistol ball entering
her head Just above the left eye. She '
thought the wound will prove fatal -No
blame attaches to anyone. A
party of young folks were engaged in
wa.uip nuun, ,m L II , .JO , wis SUUJaClS-
belng "Western Scenes," In which,
pistols were used, none of which was,
supposed to be loaded. Th weapon
was fired by Frank Bryant .
Tar Heel Aviator In Paris.
raris uorporai j. at. mcuonneu ot
Carthaa-e. N. C.i took nrt In th flrat
aerial expedition which th American "
.TiaujrB in me nmce 01 ue rTouca ,
Andy have mad over the German
lines since the Franco-American corps
waa organised as a ' separate unit.:
Though Corporal McConnell was fly
ing at a height of 11,000 feet th
German shells , wer bursting all
around him, showing that the rang
of th German anti-aircraft guns haa
beta lengthening. '