Dear Sir:—
I have read with the greatest interest the interview which you gave upon your landing in America to the American newspapers.
I feel very much impressed by your own remembrance and I myself feel honored, as a French citizen, by your sympathy for my country.
The poor city of Nancy has suffered since your visit. We buried yesterday, the victims of the Friday bombardment. Big shells have been thrown on the city. One fell right in the center, in this vicinity, in a populous street, many women and children have been killed, a mother and her two little girls—what a dreary sight is war, the way of the war inaugurated by the Germans, for it is the shame of all humanity. We have inhumed our poor victims, washed the blood that reddened pavements, put in order the rubbish of the houses and have come back again to our daily work.
Yours very truly,
MIRMAN, Prefect.
To J. G. Butler, Jr.
Lyon, Le 28 November 1916.
Consulat Imperial de Russie a Lyon