TERRIBLE REVENGE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 260, 13 April 1915, Page 6

TERRIBLE REVENGE.

WHAT A FRENCH MOTHER DID. Writing from the war zone in France to Sau Francisco, Visa Mary Tloylc O'Reilly gives a curious sidelight on a Frenchwoman's attempt to obtain revenge for the murder of her two daughters by German soldiers. All the, horror of the war is epitomised in the tragedy of the "Mad Woman of Soissons," Si\ s Mis 3 O'Reilly. "Helpless and unoffending, she is only one among millions of the unknown victims of the war. List July Monsieur and Madame Mnsral were contented proprietors of the Hotel of the. Silver Cross at Soissons, in Northern France. With them lived their two daughters, young, pretty, docile girls, for whom the thrifty parents were accumulating their proper dowries. Pride and long patience had raised ti.e little family to a position of acknowledged respectability. "Germany declared war upon France. Ti>a fortnight Prussian troops entered the city shortly. Monsieur Mecral's two daughters were missing. At once their terror-stricken mother started in search of them. A day's march beyond Soissons she found both her pretty daughters—dead. That discovery unhinged her mind. T was the happiest i woman in the world,' she moaned. 'I swill never go home until—until ' Then she disappeared. Gradually out of the hum of rumor grew a terrible, consistent report of a mad woman near Soissons. At dusk, after every fight, she was said to wander across the battlefield searching out German womided. These she quietly stabbed to death, crooning, 'Don't cry, my little ones; I will send down to you many others like this one.' The' tale, whether true or false, adds poignancy to terror. Commanders made efforts to trace the maniac. All failed. Calmer judgment relegated the story.to the limbo of dreadful legend. But one night a French officer was brought into Monsieur Mesrals hotel. Said he: 'I was lying helpl.'ss, with a severe wound, between our trenches and those of the enemy, when I heard a stealthy footstep. Out of the shadows came a woman, who went about searching among the slain. Presently I heard a hoarse whisper, more like a moan 'Don't cry. little ones,' (he strange woman was saying, 1 shall send down to you many, many more like these.' Cold sweat stood on my brow, realising her mental state. Then she stood over me, staring down. 'You ;ire one of us,' she whispered. T will carry you to safety.' And she did. On the way her mind apparently became cl::tv. 'What did we do to deserve such ,-inguish?' she demanded. 'Wliat'can I, their mother, do to repay? Look where the Huns have made a fortress of th■• quarries. How shall they be driven out"

" "Weakened by wounds, and pain, I fainted. When I came to the maa woman, was gone. A week later a terrific explosion shook the quarries of Soissons. The galleries were packed with enemy troops. We shall nwr know how many of them perished. Since that day the fighting has been incessant, but no one has again seen the mad woman of Soissons.' "