Show r LOUVAIN PEOPLE BURNED BORNEO ALIVE I SLAUGHTERED LINED THE STREETS I Chicago Chicago Tho The Tribune prints the following special cable cabie from Rotterdam Rotterdam dam II W Rutgers manager of the tho Louvain Louvain Louvain Lou Lou- vain water works who escaped from the tho elt city with his wife wire and nd two children children chil chil- dren tells of old and young oung being burned alive aUve by tho the Germans of ot streets lined with slaughtered people and of cellars of houses Oiled filled with trembling in innocent people who were awakened Tuesday night by wholesale murder and destruction Tile The Dutch press is filled OIled with awful details del of the great crime and an overwhelming overwhelming overwhelming over over- whelming wave of reaction against Germany has been created The Tele- Tele graf says Neutral or not a protest must be made to the civilized civilised people against the destruction of high culture by the tho German soldiers Even if it is true that shots fired at the tho German troops by Inhabitants of the town tho the devastation of the oldest and noblest university town is a n. revelation of bar barbarity barRy for through this destruction not only were the inhabitants and the defending de de- defending de- de fending tending Del Belgians glans punished but injury was vas inflicted on tho whole of civilized humanity It t is a n. wound that can never be bo healed Sees Germanys Germany's Name Shamed Does Docs the tho German empire realize that by Its deeds it is bringing eternal shame on the tho great name of Germany It Is to b bo be hoped that the rubbish heaps of ruined cathedrals houses universities and museums will be restored re- re restored re- re stored but the history of this unhappy town ton shall not be forgotten The stain which now defaces the escutcheon of glorious Germania shall never be wiped out Story of Another Eyewitness A Dutch resident of Louvain who was a salesman in a bicycle store says At midday on Tuesday there was a fearful tearful uproar in the streets while wo we were at dinner The Tho crackle of musketry was soon toll followed owed by the roar of ot artillery Hearing shrieks In tho streets I rushed to the window and sa saw Law several houses in flames Soldiers were cere were smashing shop windows and lootIng looting loot loot- ing lug in all directions One had an armful arm armS ful tul of r groceries and others stocked up with boxes of cigars As the people rushed Into the streets from their burning houses they were shot down like rabbits The Dutchman told how he had hidden hidden hid hid- den with his employers In the tho cellar The shooting became more brisk after atter nightfall Presently they found their own house blazing and had bad to choose between making a dash for tor their lives or roasting Bodies Thick In the Streets i J They had escaped by representing themselves as Germans and a knowledge knowledge knowledge knowl knowl- edge of ot the German language enabled them to carry out the impersonation They were conducted to to- the railway station by German soldiers The salesman salesman sales sales- man continues Our walk talk alk through the streets to the railway station was like a walk through hell The beautiful town was wasa a sea of flames Bodies of ot the dead lay thick in the streets Dreadful cries came from many houses We reached reached the railway station at o'clock in the morning The soldiers were still going about the streets with lighted brands and aDd explosives in their hands setting alight any buildings that remained intact In n the parks they had already begun to bury the dead In many cases In the shallow graves In the large park each body was vis vis- ible Citizens Lined Up and Shot At the railway station were 50 citizens citizens citi citi- zens men and women who had been brought from houses from which soldiers soldiers sol aol diers swore shots had been fired The They were lined up in the streets protestIng protesting protesting protest protest- ing with tears in their eyes eres that they the were innocent Then Thea came a a. firing squad and volley followed volle volley and the 50 fell dead where they stood This incident was confirmed by a Dutch journalist who says that citizens were ranged at the tho station and a tenth part were shot Sacked by Germans London The The Morning Posts Post's correspondent correspondent correspondent corre corre- at Holland tells of the burning of ot Louvain and charges that many residents of that historic Belgian city were killed LOu Louvain vain he says saya was sacked Wednesday night by Germans The greater part of the population was massacred including women children and clergy Their nationality did not save one English and one ono American clergyman All the noble public buIldIngs build buIld- ings logs Including the town hall hail library and university were destroyed That Is the talo tale of horror disclosed discloser at Malines by fleeing refugees and confirmed confirmed confirmed con con- firmed by the tho correspondent and by J. J notables from the destroyed city The atrocity seems Incredible but It is believed here Germans Fire on Germans What seems to have o happened is that the German army defeated at Malines on tho the previous day tell fell back upon pon Louvain Lou in some disorder R Reaching tho the town in the tho evening German fugitives were ere fired upon in error by their own troops Rage Rago at this misfortune and chagrin at their defeat seem to have inflamed the tho invaders who set systematically to work to massacre tho the population and destroy the city whose monuments monuments ments belonged as much to civilization as to Belgium It t Is not possible to put upon paper raper tho the accounts of the tho fugitives They were given in gestures and broken exclamations rather than in sentences The Tho purport was always tho the same That the civil population had done nothing but that at night when the retreating German soldiers began to arrive suddenly the invaders became angry and began to slaughter pillage and destroy City Is In Ruins Nothing remains of Louvain but ruins nor of its population but fugi fugi- tives It is possible when the tho full tull story comes to be told it will be found that the horror was not quite so BO great For all the accounts are from people fleeing for their lives Among these people however were four civic dignitaries dignitaries dignitaries dig dig- who were in the city during tho the night and who were actually Inthe in inthe the tho hands of Germans but esc escaped ped Their relation of facts is what is followed tel fol lowed In this dispatch for it Is Iscore J core ore likel likely to bo be accurate and nod soberOn soberOn soberOn sober On the road from Crom Louvain to Ant Ant- crowds of pitiful refugees could be seen nuns fleeing from their cloisters priests from their churches sick carried on their beds aged totterIng totterIng tottering totter totter- ing along with the help of ot their children chil dren and all who could carrying some poor article of household furniture In one cart were collected 17 children evIdently evidently evidently ev ev- ev- ev several families One handcart held an old palsied woman being pushed by her grand grand- nd- nd child All were fleeing to Antwerp as the city of refuge the city which shudders shudders ders in darkness throughout nights l at fear of midnight bombs Among the train of ot fugitives were ambulances of the Belgian army in which are aro carried solicitously German wounded to hospi hos hos- pi War Bureaus Bureau's Account The Tho British war information bureau announces the following The Belgian minister of foreign affairs affairs af af- af- af fairs reports that on Tuesday a German German German Ger Ger- man arm army corps after atter receiving a check withdrew in disorder to the city of ot Louvain The Germans on guard at the entrance entrance entrance en en- trance of the tho city mistaking the nature nature nature na na- na- na ture of this incursion fired upon their countrymen whom they mistook for Belgians In spite of all the denials from the authorities the Germans in order to cover their mistake pretended that it was the inhabitants who had fired on them whereas the inhabitants IncludIng Including ing log the police all had been disarmed d dmore more nore than a week before Orders City's Destruction Without Inquiry and without listenIng listen listen- Ing to an any protests the German commander commander com corn mander announced that the town would be destroyed immediately The inhabitants were ordered to leave their dwellings and some were made prisoners The rhe women and children were placed on trains the destinations of which are not known and soldiers furnished with bombs set fire to all parts of the city The splendid church of St. St Pierre the university buildings the library and scientific establishments establish ments were delivered ered to the flames Several notable citizens were shot The city which had a population of at and was the intellectual metro o oils of the low countries is now noth auth ing more than a heap of ashes Orgy Precedes Sack Chicago The The Tribune prints the tho following dispatch from E. E Alexander AleJander Powell dated at Antwerp I am sorry to say that the stories of the tho sack of Louvain slowly coming in ameliorate the original tale of horror horror horror hor hor- in no way The few refugees who have arrived here are incoherent from their frightful experiences It was a night of almost indescribable horrors borrors Germans broke Into the wine shops early in the evening and a drunken orgy ensued participated In by both officers and menI menI mEmo men I am informed by a high gov government government govern govern- rn ment official that in the city where 50 persons resided only ten houses remain remain re re- re- re I main standing The Hotel De Ville I one of the finest examples o o ot Gothic architecture in Europe the noble church of St. St Pierre built In 1426 the university founded b by Pope Martin V and its world famous library are today heaps of smoking ruins The Germans seem to have vented their greatest fury on priests of whom there was a large number attending the university The government go understands understands un un- un that most of them were butchered under the most revolting circumstances |