Show SEES NO ATROCITIES IN BELGIUM I SAYS NEWSPAPER CORRESPONDENT I uy By JACQUES I Correspondent nt or the Chicago London ondon OCt lally V vigilance NevI and exactions press d on correspondents and It Is Impossible by ordinary means to get anything out of Antwerp except by messenger since the Invading force has fastened Its Us settled rule upon The tho town One Ono exception I might make News sub sub- edited by the tho German military governor gov gov- would stand a good show of seeing the tho light in foreign countries I do not wish to imply that Teutonic military supervision of dispatches always al nl- al- al ways surpasses In severity that of the other warring nations I have lit tie tle doubt that generally speaking the British censor is is' the tho most liberal in Europe Therefore I have ha come to London partly to get off this cable dis patch and partly because London is a convenient con halfway point on my way back to the Belgian front Briefly I wish to discuss the alleged atrocities whether hether supposedly committed against Germans or by Germans On the Road to Holland Getting out of at Antwerp under the rule of the kaiser Is much easier than getting in as the tho barriers erected outside outside out out- side the city gates and the sentries turn ono one back For a n special exit a a. pass from the tho military government Is necessary and the tho obtaining of ot this p pass ss makes necessary the tho fatiguing search examination cross and suspense sus sus- Pease pense with which all who attempt to move about In the war zone are aro painfully pain fully familiar I ran the gauntlet allright all allright allright right and eventually e found myself on tho the road to Holland that road which has been reddened by the bleeding feet of ot disinherited men men and women striving to save their children and some som pathetic remnant of at their household household house house- hold necessities Dismount the Belgian Guns When I left Antwerp the outer forts were scenes of great activity German German Ger Get Getman man soldiers were dismounting the Belgian guns and lining them up on the roadside preparatory to sending them awa away possibly to the western front As I passed along I was astonished astonished astonished as as- to find how the Germans were making friends ft with the natives Apparently they are doing everything they can to win the confidence of the Belgians assisting them at their labors la Ia bors bars and mingling In a simple way In their home life lire Parti Particularly was this true of the marines who wilD as I learned were men who had been recruited along niong the Dutch frontier In Germany and hence used a dialect like that spoken in the north of ot Belgium Here the people naturally are reticent and distrustful but these Germans with a speech like their own have done wonders in a afew afew afew few days in winning their confidence At the frontier Dutch and German sentries are facing each other Each lach is Jealously on guard against the other and together they present a stiff but dramatic picture The Dutchman obviously obviously obviously ob ob- ob- ob sympathize with the Belgians One of ot their officers told me that the sight of or the Belgians thronging over the border and surrendering their arms was enough to move the hardest hardest hard hard- est eat heart Most of them were haggard hag hag- gard some were wounded and all were disconsolate Immediate measures were taken to feed the hungry and provide comfortable quarters for tor allIn all allIn allin In a neighboring training field Tells of Looting by Germans Now for for my my knowledge and opinion respecting the atrocity stories I have knowledge knowledge knowl knowl- will say at once that I no edge edgo of such acts unless s looting and the tho placing bf bt civilians civilian before attackIng attackIng attacking attack- attack Ing cc be considered atrocious atrociouS' So tar far faras as I know such acts may bemore bemore be bemore more or less Justifiable In war and certainly the Germans committed them I myself as I cabled the tile other day was forced with half halt a l dozen ether r civilians to march b before rore German German Ger Ger- man infantry In n ii the streets of Malines and as I so marched ed I saw shops ShOP broken into by soldiers and thoroughly thorough thorough- ly 11 sacked I It may be remembered OY of ot News that I was was tile the first correspondent to discover ver and describe de do- the destruction of scribe In detail The looting there there I I dd did witnesses told told- but credible not see what I believe to be an incontrovertible ible story Moreover Moreover they showed I unmistakable results of wholesale pil lage Atrocities may have ha occurred in but I found nobody who them Cases of claimed to have seen alleged wanton and horrible cruelty over and over mentioned been have most zealous but hut my again such reports Mind failed to verify that the reports you I cannot say quite qUlie as trust trust- false Persons were as myself m may may- i say aY tha that they are true Proof of Atrocities Finds no flO to find I was that I only say although I atrocities of the proof for tor it I will say sayI earnestly sought tho the opinion further that In my ties 1 If there were such were more likely to havo have been committed by Belgians Del Bel glans gians than by Germans This is so because the tho Belgian hold that the tho German struck below the tho belt beIt by violating their solemn treaty to respect re- re and defend the neutrality of Bel Del glum gium Besides the Belgians with a n nation small and weak felt that anything any any- thing would be pardonable against the powerful and merciless Invader The stories of wanton cutting oft of noses hands arms and legs strike me ne as ns probably Im and mating only In delirious half brains Some one may turn up tomorrow with evidence to confound mo me but my ex experiences ex- ex and Investigations force upon me this opinion Says the Belgians Sniped That Belgians sniped German soldiers undoubtedly Is true This Thia happened at Louvain and elsewhere as I have ascertained from both Germans Germans Ger Ger- mans and Belgians of veracity The ThEDe De Belgians glans their action They assert that the Germans Illegally and infamously Invaded them and a reeked wrecked their civilization giving them the right to punish unish the enemy in whatever way their feeble powers would permit I do not find that the German soldiers sol sol sol- diers are savages On the contrary I have seen them searching the tho fields fielde before Antwerp for D Belgian wounded who Mho had lain out all day and all night I have hare seen them gathering up these victims of war 2nd nd transporting them to hospitals with all nIl tenderness and sympathy It seemed to me that they dealt more tenderly with wounded Belgians than with their own wounded Girl Who Fires on Troops Slain I found only one ons German who had done an act that he deeply deplored He was a young follow who had been employed In a Berlin drapery shop At Vise immediately after he had entered entered en en- Belgium and before he had hadan hadan had hadan an opportunity to kill any anyone one In battie battle battle bat bat- tle tie a n beautiful girl rushed into the street and began to fire Into the the German ranks from tram an automatic pistol An n officer detached a squad to deal thal eal with the girl ordering that she be killed The Tho Berlin man followed b by his comrades chased tho the girl into a ahouse ahouse ahouse house thrust his bayonet through her body and pinned her against a 0 wall God How I shivered when I did it he said But I am a soldier and I could do nothing but obey I think it more likely that some women and girla have been assaulted than that any other form of atrocity has been committed |