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Show LIS BF LILLE ! JMf NUNS 'dulany Are Seized at Night ?Mi and Forced to Be Slaves "Id, eves in Fields, tioii eome German Officers Rebel Re-bel at Brutality of Commandant's Com-mandant's Orders. By PHILIP GIBBS. iew York Times-Chicago Tribune Cable, Copyright.) WAR CORRESPONDENTS' HEAD-UARTERS, HEAD-UARTERS, Oct. 22. Many German solera sol-era have hidden themselves in the liber-:ed liber-:ed towns in Belgium, preferring to sur-pderrather sur-pderrather than to go on fighting. I saw LHt those captured like this In Bruges id In Ostend there is a German proclamation proc-lamation asking Belgian civilians to de-'"i01i de-'"i01i junce deserters to the allied troops, and ley say that In order to make things isy with President Wilson it was decided de-cided to avoid the bombardment of towns 1 i ,1th large populations, though this does enti ()t apply to villages which are now be-prr"Vg be-prr"Vg shelled by the enemy, so that some uXvillans have been killed during the last f i. vo days. 1 no' TJfe in Roubalx and Tourcolng was as idlnjrd as in Lille. There are many rich iJil lanufacturers in these towns and among penetem a number of Yorkshire and Lanca-1 Lanca-1 v. .lire business men with great Industries, nti ' ich as Mr. Richardson, who had cotton illls employing nearly 2000 work people, efore it was stripped of all Its machin- T)nry by the enemy. ' Food could be had by those with money Ci nough to pay for It. Butler cost $10.60 i-,. pound and everything in the same ,,. iae, but many poor people, I am told, ' ; . led of starvation and there was general faK '.-llsery. ' At Lille I was told by distinguished itlzens that seven out of every ten men ' : ad been In prison at some time or other "ltlM for refusing to pay fines or for other -rimes," against German oppression. In n ': 'ourcoing it was as bad and a manufac-'n manufac-'n v urer was actually taken as a hostage and ': 1 -uprlsoned six weeks in Germany because f all fantastic reasons, the French had 1fr helled Alexandretta. For that reason 00 francs. App&irls Seized. -Appu, The same tragic scenes as in Lille s ,,(,.appened when the Germans made a conception con-ception of women in Tourcolng and ; ' toubaix: with machine guns posted in : '-:he streets and German officers making emWrbitrary choice of young women and ssioiirjujg for forced labor In the fields far 1, a rom their homes. This seizing of girls Novapaa done at night without previous warn-t warn-t ng, and the dark horror of it made the to Iris go mad and their shrieks ran down for Uhe streets and even those who had most e - ourage wept bitterly, and a great wailing rose from mothers and fathers and sis- cajnd children, who feared the worst prthoae who were taken. t Even some of the German officers re- olted from this ordeal and said: 1 "We will not do this filthy work, "and me of them then and more later, when espair took hold of them, committed su- I fj is no wonder there is no pardon in 1 hTVhearts of French woman for other lUyiorrfr! of their own towns, who, in weak-iess weak-iess of character and looseness of heart vere beguiled into relationship with Ger-.nans. Ger-.nans. Q OT A trainload of these women left some if the towns I have named because they jiuMad been intimate with German officers .nd men, and yesterday at the entrance f Bruges I saw the portrait of a woman lalled up and was told that it was to illory the name for her unfaithfulness o pride and race. That is one of the vo:. vorst tragedies of the war, inevitable ;j,h imong wars' horrors, and pitiful. i Let us forget these things in the gen-j gen-j yiral Joy, though they will be remembered remem-bered while history lasts, but do not let '." in forget that, while many cities are be-n be-n ng liberated, are full of gladness, our elilloldiers to whom this Is large due are still jl ncing German gun-fire and machine-gun gullets. letreat Goes On. (r (jl Under pressure of the allied armies he enemy's retreat continues with severe . ear guard fighting on the British front 0 -ast of Roubaix, Doual and Lo Cateau, j'D nit every hour Is giving back to Belgium ,v. irid France precious soil and cities, and s liberating thousands of their people j rom German bondage. These are won- ' lerful days when the agonv of war la K nrslng from stricken souls, so that out tal f misery they are Hfted to joy, which foH ii Itself is a kind of pain because it Is Jurtfo sudden and so strong. Men cheer . vith tears streaming down their cheeks, '; i8 I sow many do in Bruges, and the r ' aughter of the women breaks suddenly 111 nto pobs. We who are witnesses of nsWiose days having soon so much of war's jjs; leath and tragedy, are not untouched by aci his emotion; our eyes are dull when wo go into the light of these peoples' gladness. glad-ness. There are moments when It is not easy to hide behind the mask which men try to wear when these things touch them. They are good days to live. I have told how we went. into Lille yesterday yes-terday morning a few, hours after the Germans had left. In Bruges they were in the outskirts of the city until half-past one. I went into that old town and saw the glory of its liberation. It was a strange, exciting journev. We crossed the Flanders Flan-ders battlefields up the road to Menln, which for us was the worst road in the world, reeking with a thousand memories memor-ies of horror, and then through Roulers we went up to Thourout and from that place, taken by Belgian cavalry, we drove on up the long, straight road to Bruges. We did not know whether we could get into Bruges. The Belgian cavalry were all around, but tne Germans still had machine gun rears, and all bridges had been blown up high up the road. After circling around enormous mine craters, we asked some Belgian officers, and they said; "Bruges is ours today. Bruges in Sight. So we went on mile after mile, until Bruges was close and we saw its belfry and its spires. It seemed too good to be true that we could go so easily into Bruges without running a gauntlet of gun fire. There was only the distant sound of guns, and the way into the city was peaceful. Down a long straight avenue of trees in autumn foliage, richly colored like gold and crimson banners, for this day of triumph, we went into Bruges, the most beautiful old town In Belgium. This fairy tale city, with its great belfry towering tow-ering high above the little old world houses with stepped gables and with the spires of Its throe tall churches reflected in the canals which go between the streets, crossed by hundreds of small stone bridges. In this vicinity of the north wo were the first Englishmen to co mo Into Bruges, and we had come across our frightful battlefields with their wreckage of modern war, and we drove into the city which was built In medieval days bj' noble Flemish craftsmen, crafts-men, and war had not changed its aspect as-pect nor damaged the beauty of its ancient architecture. It was as though we had stepped out of the horror of this four years of war Into Flanders of the sixteenth century of pagean t when the city was celebrating some festival of joy after the raising of a siege. From every house, with its old world gables, floated the Belgian and English flags. Balconies carved flVo hundred hun-dred years ago were draped with the Union Jack and Belgian colors. All the people were in the streets in massed crowds outside the Hotel de Ville, with Its lace-work front of stone, and before the Grutbaus and around the gates of Bruges, with their fat old towers like giant's castles In Grimm's fnlry tales. Scene of Gayety. Every child in these crowds and many women carried banners so that all the city was tilled with color, and the Belgian soldiers marching through had garlands on their hemlets and flags and flowers on their guns. The crowd swayed and surged In the streets and squares, and gusts of cheers rose up to one, and then, because we were the first English to come Into Bruges, amazing things happened hap-pened to us. - The words "English" and "England" were ''cried by thousands of people and followed us everywhere through those quaint old streets and were called down to us from high windows, where women and children waved colored handkerchiefs and rose up from all that vast crowd In the Grande Place by the Hotel do Vllle. When we walked, the people of Brusns came around us nnd we were embraced by all who could get close. Old men and young women clasped our hands, and as , they spoke of their gratitude tears streamed in their eyes and their voices broke and they could not say all they wanted to say. Old women kissed us and hugged us and said : "The English are our saviors." Though the Belgian soldiers were the first In Bruges. They praised God because their misery had passed. As m Lille, so in Bruges. English women came out of the crowd, and said: "I am English ; welcome; thank God" ; and wept because their hearts had overbrimmed. over-brimmed. As at Lille and Roubalx and Tourcolng. so In Bruges, everybody spoke a little English, even the children, because be-cause they had been learning It for four years .until this day should come, and they gathered around all tocether, all telling the things they had suffered ; all passionate against the enemy who had been hard on them, who had robbed them. Imprisoned them, outraged their liberties and their homes. Stole Girls. "They tore the paper off our walls to light their fires," said Count von den Steen, "They forced our young girls to work In the fields." said a Flemish lady. "They stole everything." said hundred of people. They made four separate demands for every) hing made of copper, and paid nothing for it, we were told. They dc- stroyed all the machinery m the great works of La Bourgeoisie where 2500 workmen work-men were employed. They put upon the town fantastic expenses, as when they furnished a rest house for Herman officers of-ficers at a cost to Bruges of nearly $6000, and made a winter garden with marble baths like those at Pompeii at a cost of $10,000. the only result being that one Herman bishop had one bath there, and no one else. Before leaving, they assembled all the boy 8 and men between 1 7 and 50 years old and sent them off to Ghent. They respected the houses occupied by their owners, but stripped the unoccupied houses of all their furniture and pictures and valuables. Count von ' den Steen told me that the enemy began the evacuation evacu-ation of Brucs a fortnight ago. removing all the material of war. and were In a state of extreme depression with the consciousness of defeat. "There is hardly a man In Bruges who has not been In prison." said the old burgomaster. "They are pigs," said a young nun. and she s;oko with the passion pas-sion of a girl who has seen foul things of human beasts. But above all this flame of Indignation ther1 was gladness because the evil spell had been broken that very morning and the enemy had .gone. We drove around Bruges with a 'swarm of boys like flies on our car. and as we drove they sanjr patriotic songs, and the crowds cheered again and again. |