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On September 19th a shell set fire to the outer roof of the cathedral, which is of lead and oak. The fire spread to the scaffolding and from the scaffolding to the wooden beams of the portals, hundred of years old. The abbé Chinot, young/alert, and daring, ran out upon the scaffolding and tried to cut the cords that bound it.
After entering Rheims the French, to protect the innocent citizens against bombs dropped by German air-ships, for two nights placed a search-light on the towers, but, fearing this might be considered a breach of agreement as to the mitrailleuses, the abbé Chinot ordered the search-light withdrawn.
The other excuse given by the Germans for the destruction of the cathedral was that the towers had been used by the French for military purposes. On arriving at Rheims the question I first asked was whether this was true. The abbé Chinot, curé of the chapel of the cathedral, assured me most solemnly and earnestly it was not.
When, with the abbé Chinot, I spent the day in what is left of the cathedral, the Germans still were shelling it. Two shells fell within twenty-five yards of us. It was at that time that the photographs that illustrate this chapter were taken. The fire started in this way. For some months the northeast tower of the cathedral had been under repair and surrounded by scaffolding.
Archbishop Landreaux and Abbé Chinot placed themselves in front of the wounded. "Before you kill them," they cried, "you must first kill us." This is not highly colored fiction, but fact. It is more than fact.
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