eventually capitulated, with the honours of war, after thirteen days of trench warfare and three assaults. In October of the following year the royal troops besieged the town in their turn and forced the garrison to surrender. This siege of 1653 was the last to which the town was subjected. In 1712, St. Menehould had to pay a war-levy to the Dutch robber-chief Growenstein. On the night of August 7, 1719, the town was almost entirely destroyed by fire. It was at St. Menehould in 1791 that Louis XVI., while attempting to escape from France, was recognised by Drouet, son of the postmaster of Varennes. On September 3, 1792, the body of Beaurepaire, Military Commander of Verdun, who committed suicide rather than surrender to the Prussians, was buried in the town cemetery. It was before St. Menehould that Dumouriez established himself while awaiting the arrival of Kellermann, who defeated the Prussians at Valmy in September 20, 1792. In 1914, the town was for a long time occupied by the enemy. Early in August of that year, the first refugees from the neighbourhood of Longwy, Longuyon, Audun-le-Roman, and the region of the Meuse reached St. Menehould. On Monday, August 24, the guns in the north-east of the Argonne were heard in the town. On the 31st the sound of the cannonade drew nearer, and refugees from the Ardennes flocked in, terrifying the inhabitants with stories of German pillage and atrocities. On September 1, the horizon towards Monthois was lit up by the incendiary fires, and the next day the people were advised to leave the town. The banks closed, and many of the inhabitants left the city, the trains in the evening being literally taken by storm. The last train left at about ten o’clock on the morning of the 3rd. Early in the morning of the 4th, the last French troops marched through the town on their way to Verrières. At 8.30 companies of a Prussian Reserve Corps, preceded by Uhlans, entered St. Menehould by the Moiremont road and destroyed the telegraphic and telephonic apparatus at the post-office and the station. The Germans, exasperated by the evacuation of the inhabitants, hastened to pillage the deserted houses and shops. The tobacco warehouse, the Caïffa stores, and the cellars of Quesnel the wine-merchant were emptied and the contents sent away on army waggons.