Show OF GEHMA atrocities ATHO CITIES NOT VV H ITER the ChI chicago caffo tribune printa prints a long copyrighted ditel dt satch satch from jane james odonnell Den dennett nott staff aft correspondent dated at alx aix la chapelle gerny Gerza any which in specific detail disputes and denies tho the charges of 0 cruelties and atrocities lodged against the german germans in Bel belgium glunA mr air dennett bennett in company with john T mccutcheon of tho the chlea go tribune irvin S 8 cobb of tho the saturday Er evening pot post kogor lewis of tho the associated press and harry llan ilan son of thy the chicago dally daily news traveled miles through 20 00 towns and their observations lead him to the firm conviction that the reports of barbarities bari barit ties les alleged to nave have been perpetrated ly german troops aro are falsehoods the following dispatch to the associated press evidently forwarded by iloner levels louis in 1 in substantial agreement with mr air Benne bennetts tVs etory story in ia thu chicago tribune by the associated press new york an associated press staff correspondent of 0 american birth and antecedents who was as sent from the now york office and vaa mas caught in brussels Dr at tho time of the tte german invasion held as a prisoner for several days ard who ho finally escaped to holland has sent by mall mail the following story of othis his experiences tho the night before the germans entered brussels ailion the belgian civil guards and refugees began pouring into tho the city from tho the direction of louvain they brought stories of unspeakable german atrocities maltreatment of old men and children and the violation of women tho the belgian capital reeled with apprehension within an hour tho the gay ety tho the vivacity and brilliancy of tho the aty went out liko like a broken arc are light the radiance of the cafes was exchanged for darkness whispering mill spering groups of residents broke up hurriedly and locked themselves into this homes where they put up the shutters and drew in tu their tri colored belgian flags fears of brussels quieted the hi historic belgian city went through a state of morbid consternation remarkably like that from which it buffered suffered on june 18 1815 when it trembled with the fear of a french victory at waterloo in tn less than 24 hours the belgian ci citizen tilene were chatting comfortably with the german invaders and the allegations of ot german brutality and demoniacal moni acal torture dissolved into one of the myths which have accompanied all wars ars neither in brussels nor in its environs was a single offen offensive sivo act so tar far as I 1 know committed by r a german soldier Bol dier in vi city of over halt half a million people invaded by a hostile army of perhaps a quarter of a million soldiers no act sufficiently flagrant to demand punishment or to awaken protest came to my attention none know knows of outrages the frightful reports that had preceded the german army into Dr brussels included the disembowel disemboweling ag of old men and the impaling of children on lances just outside louvain investigation not only faill falica A to substantiate these rumors but could not even discover any ofte ON la in the immediate vicinity who credited credit pd them an eye witness of unimpeachable impeachable tin veracity told me that the worst behavior he bad had observed during the first german entry into louvain august 19 was that of a german who leaned from his boree and und kissed a pretty flemish girl who brought him a glass of beer 1 I marched for days with the german columns often only one WI day ay behind the fighting with the houss that had been burned still smoldering the ground freshly broken by shell and trampled by horses and men and the memory of the german advance vivid in the minds of the inhabitants no proofs proof of murder 1 I interviewed an average of twenty persons in each of a dozen towns and found only one instance of a noncombatant who had been killed without a justifiable provocation in this case the evidence did not clearly prove that the man bad had been wantonly murdered he ile lived lit 1 one of the typical small belgian countryside houses which combine the comforts of home with the lure luco of a small public bar this house was mas at the north of le chateau a town through which a large part of the german army passed on the road i to maubeuge Mau beuge A son of the man maw whose name N was as arthar nicodem showed me blood clots on the floor marking the place hern nicodem fell his throat cut by a caw aw edged german saber enn fired from house it was bald by some inhabitant inhabitants that the murdered TOur dered man showed a pair 0 of f binoculars but a more probable explanation Is i that english outposts out poeta bad kid concealed themselves in the house from which they poured r rain rala of are upon tho first Clor german nian ln leaders aders tho the inference that the shooting vaa as done by belshin civilians may hoe hae ln in fumed the germane germans to reprisals in that neighborhood four houses had been burned and one was man still ablaze as I 1 passed on wednesday aug 26 this town ton of lo chateau which had been the econe scene of an unimportant I 1 between tho the germane and english on the previous sunday was riddled with mith rifle 1 shots the email small number ct of windows intact showed that the cormo o 0 had reade a IL deliberate assault upon tho the residents of tho the town ton but the inhabitants themselves thema elvea admitted that all of tho the shooting bad had been done by a comparatively ively small number of at germane germans und that the firing aring had not been bo be gun until english soldiers aho had cOnen aled themselves tn in tho the houses had fired first upon the germane germans news of incident goes far 1 I have emphasized the one fatality of the noncombatant because the news nos of it traveled up and don the cambre and across to and soiro sur sambro multiplying as it went and developing ghastly and inhuman details until it seemed an unanswerable atis erable rep reproach to the whole german empire with this thle ono one possible exception I 1 did not encounter in Nh Nis elles ellea in bancho buissiere BulBs lere or sur sam bro bre or nay any of the other towns I 1 vir cited a single incident of mistreat ment or any sort by german officers or rold lers ID ru iss lere particularly pard the lower p art of the city had been virtually destroyed by a cross fire from french and german artillery topa of brew 61 allce lea had beon been hurled bodily to the vie ground ana walls had bad either disappeared or become grotesquely dislodged burgomaster denies Rc 11 coorts into this town french killed and more than a st hundred wounded were m ore brought in a single day august burgomaster said that he knew of no cases of german cruel ties except distant rumors which bo he had learned to discredit it ought to be said to the credit of the belgians Del glans that they have not allowed their bitterness toward the germans to carry them into unfair recrimination robert J thompson american consul at aachen visited liege during and after the capture of the forts it Is the opinion of mr thompson that no outrage was committed by germane germans during the several days fighting there there are of course reported outrages beyond investigation either on account of their vagueness or because it Is impossible to weigh the pw provocation ovoca it Is known for 11 a ae that natives were killed in ret lu champ not far from ardennes ardennis Ar dennes german soldiers say that they were killed because they fired upon them from the roon and windows of the houses differ on an louvain incident the history of the absolute destruction st of the historic city of louvain with its cathedral and its university Is by this time well vell known the german version of this Is that the inhabitants under the direction of the burgomaster established themselves in tho we church where they also in stalled a machine gun gua they proceeded to greet the germans with a deadly fire the tho belgians say on the other hand that part of the german army mistaking one of their own retiring divisions for the enemy opened fire upon them whereupon deluded into thinking this an assault by belgian civilians the germans razed the city 1 I hive not been able to acquire any direct evidence in regard to these last two instances but the explanation generally credited by disinterested persons Is that the belgians who had laid down doan their arms according to the bur go masters proclamation on the entrance of the enemy took them up acain when hen it looked as il it the ger mans were retreating from the town and opened fire from their window windows upon a retiring german train Jarotz sky tells outrage outrages the most authoritative german denial of german offense comes cames from maj haj gen thaddeus on Jarotz sky military governor of ot brussels who informed me that in numerous cases ho he had been received with a pretense of friendliness by belgian civilians who later fired kupco upco the Cl german ermar soldiers from windows and from betheen the root roof tiles this was done he said after a declaration of sur surrender by the burgomaster and a proclamation warning am 4 12 against any show of resistance resle tance in such violations violat forts of the rules of ot war the general eid sold he punished the offender by burning the houses bouses from which the shot shots were fired 1 I can only say that in every case of reported outrage or reprisal which was vas susceptible of u I 1 havo have found cither that tho the outrage was a it figment of tho the 1101 holgiun glan mind or nr that it us as more than thin half halt excused by cir cume tho erco erce of 0 the belgian practice of stil ping from tho the houses was perhaps indicated by tho the naming of the german officer who he acted its guard for five american correspondents including myself cho were being taken as prisoners from deaumont Deu to aachen in an army train wo we were advised to lie down on ico the floor of the car oa as tho the belgian snipers would shoot at us from train the bouses houses dui but there wn was no tiring firing this of course Is not ft a brief tor for the german army tt it Is to ai an ac account aunt of german conduct as it appealed to an impartial observer obi erver who had tho the rather extraordinary opportunity of traveling for days wita with tho the german column over a dista distance ice of more than a hundred miles through a coien important cities and towns sometime I 1 was mas near enough to tho the front to BOO neo the white artillery smoke spurt into cloud clouds along the horizon and hear bear tho the double detona eions one which came from artillery at short range at other times I 1 trailed behind through tho the desolate dee waste which a victorious army loaves leaves behind it pay all and tip well wall on the contrary I 1 witnessed nu berous cases of the most careful co courtesy jr on tho the tart of german soldiers in brussels Brus Brusti bels els they not only paid their cafe bill bills but tipped generously alone along the road when a german officer or soldier entered a belgian bouse house for food or bolter shelter it wa was not with a demand but a request in spite of the confusion and errora errors which arose from a strange tongue there was almost no friction ot 0 any eort sort the dorman soldiers wore were ll it bously considerate and polite to women wornon and children apologizing for tha th discomfort they were causing upon leaving a house where they have been given shelter eh eltor I 2 have seen them shako shake bands hands with the concierge peasant woman oman or in some cases with tho the gent gentlewoman leoman of A it belgian villa as pleasantly as it they wore were bidding adieu to their hoppess at a weekend house party so many of this sort are at hand that I 1 reual rc Ual of them would mould be teodus teo ous natu naturally ully inclined to be gruff with their soldie Bold iea s the german off officers leers always gave the french prisoners a pleasant word and treated them with every consideration not a single exception to this civility toward prisoners hae bas come to my attention A french lieutenant and two eng lish traveled with us in the prison pr ison train from fj om beaumont to aachen a halting journey which took over thirty six hours the train was crowded with german wounded and french and prisoners and there was nothing to eat or drink except a few fragments of rye bread hard bard as a stone and a little liquid compound of chicory which la in bel del glum gium masquerades under the name of coffee there was not enough even of this disheartening fare to go around german officers went without food so that the prisoners might be fed aid owners of cafe in a little cafe in beaumont con clerge and madame had fled before the ampro b of the soldiers and abandoned their business two officers found foulad them in hiding biding brought them bacat and in a day they had taken in more money than in any previous neek seek in their career these incidents inc identa could be indefinitely prolonged but they would only offer additional support to a point that I 1 think I 1 have already established the universal kindliness of german soldiers as I 1 hae observed them 1 I have seen perhaps half a dozen cases of drunkenness in ob observing nearly soldiers and abeto few were only good natu maudlin in beaumont while I 1 was vas detained for 24 hours in the small cafe previously mentioned meLtion ed with an armed guard at the door although specifically told that I 1 wan was not an ordinary prisoner a fl swaggering petty vetty officer of some sort lunged toward me and showed me the sharp convincing edge of his sword insisting that out I 1 run my band hand across it il warned to avoid drinking german discipline and german training seem to have put into the german soldier an exemplary behavior r which is nothing less than remarkable 13 before fore I 1 fell asleep on i floor of the beaumont cafe with two G german grman soldiers guns slanting almost over me I 1 heard the petty who was wa in 14 charge of ua us giving instructions to the guards which include the statement that any one of us who stirred outside the door should bo bri shot then he counseled counie led them is a fatherly way to drink only moderately stat lut jit that if they became drunk ho he would woud recommend a sentence ot of 16 years m c the penitentiary if it the conduct of the german soldier erre errs at all it la in on oa the aldei of a too complete subordination it is to impossible lor for auy ont abo who has seen much of the german system tobe to be ibe lieve ia in the tales of deliberate depredation and conduct |