He was at the Palace Hotel, where a number of
American and English correspondents were quartered.
Things moved quickly. On the 19th Irvin Cobb, Will Irwin,
Arno Dosch, and I were caught between the Belgian and German
lines in Louvain; our retreat to Brussels was cut, and for
three days, while the vast German army moved through the city,
we were detained. Then, the army having passed, we were
allowed to go back to the capital.
In the meantime Davis was in Brussels. The Germans reached
the outskirts of the city on the morning of the 20th, and the
correspondents who had remained in Brussels were feverishly
writing despatches describing the imminent fall of the city.
One of them, Harry Hansen, of the Chicago Daily News, tells
the following story, which I give in his words: "While we
were writing," says Hansen, "Richard Harding Davis walked into
the writing-room of the Palace Hotel with a bunch of
manuscript in his hand. With an amused expression he surveyed
the three correspondents filling white paper.
"`I say, men,' said Davis, `do you know when the next train
leaves?'
"`There is one at three o'clock,' said a correspondent,
looking up.
"`That looks like our only chance to get a story out,' said
Davis. `Well, we'll trust to that.
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