During the day of September 2, 1914, about fifty shells struck the old church and caused rather serious damage, as shown in the following photographs. The vicar of the cathedral, the Abbé Dourlent, went about the streets of Senlis during the bombardment and had 125 inhabitants, who had been unable to find shelter in the cellars, escorted out of the town by one of his curates. On his return to the vicarage, which stands at the foot of the tower (_the house visible in the photograph on p. 54, on the right, behind the two trees_), shortly after the Germans had entered the town, the vicar heard violent and repeated blows in the cathedral. Coming out into the square he saw cyclists, holding a large fragment of a statue (which had been flung to the ground by a shell) with which they had battered in the small door of the cathedral (_that on the right in the view on p. 54_). Others, axes in their hands, were attacking the door of the steeple on the south side of the tower. The Germans, revolver in hand, rushed at the vicar, and their leader commanded him to take them to the top of the steeple, accusing him of having allowed machine guns to be placed there which had fired on them. As they climbed the first step they heard the first shots fired in the lower part of the town. [Illustration: TRACES OF SHELLS ON THE CATHEDRAL] The soldiers sprang up and declared the vicar their prisoner. The visit to the steeple confirmed the Abbé Dourlent's declaration that no one had been up and that no military preparations had ever been made there. The men drew off, but a few moments later the porter of the town-hall brought the vicar the order to render himself immediately as hostage at the Grand Cerf Hotel. When he arrived the Headquarters Staff had left, taking with them the mayor, who was shot that evening. The incendiarism had already started; the vicar saw incendiary bombs thrown into the houses facing the hotel, which are shown in the photograph _on page 41_. He entered the vicarage, then returned to the Grand Cerf to learn what fate awaited him. It was there that a German superior officer, who spoke French, said these few words which throw light on the events at Senlis: _Poor Curé, poor Senlis, your civilians have fired on us and we have been shot at from the top of your church tower, therefore Senlis is doomed. You see that street in flames_ (the Rue de la République), _well! this night the whole town will be completely burned down._ [Illustration: TRACES OF SHELLS ON THE CATHEDRAL] =We have orders to make of Senlis another Louvain. A terrible example is needed for Paris and for the whole of France.=