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Show TRAIL OF MISERY IRKS PROGRESS OF GERMAN ARMY Derlln, Sept. 21. "A cry of Indignation Indig-nation has been called forth throughout through-out tho wond," writes W. Scheur-maim, Scheur-maim, a correspondent of several German newspapers who nccompan-lea nccompan-lea the Gorniuu general staff, "by tho bo called cruelty with which tho Germans aro carrying on this war. In all countries that got their nows through huglisu nnd Trench oources stories of German barbarism are repealed. re-pealed. It is thercforo doubly the duty for a war correspondent who can speak of what his' own eyes have seen to report what ho saw and wha ho can answer for beforo tho forum of hlstoilcal truth. "I havo spent days In tho worst franc tireur regions ot Belgium -and Franco. My first impressions of tho horrors of war wcro obtained nt But-tlce, But-tlce, on tho road from Aachen to Liege, whero there was fighting between be-tween franc- tlrcurs and our soldiers. Instead of a nourishing village, will-, clean houses and neat villas, ono sees there today charred ruins stretchlnij along the highway for a mllo. Wltnecsed Pitiful Scenes "I saw things there that I shall remembo as long as I llvo. I passed pass-ed through a vlllago that was quite burnt out, where only a few German Ger-man soldiers wero standing guard-no guard-no other living beings vlslblo any. whore. But when I came to tho doorway door-way of a Iioiibo that had fallen In I saw in what had probably been tho living room, a whlto haired woman with a kitchen knife raking in tho debris. I called to her. Sho did not hear mo. Hor faco was llko n gray stone, and her eyes fixed as In death Sho dug as If she was expecting tr find something under tho fallen bricks "In a front garden, which had been scorched by tho flames, a Toman Tom-an In a black dress was crouching and wooping. I havo stood nt many an open gravo In tho churchyard, hut I havo never heard anybody weep ilko that woman. Tho sound of It will ring In my ears forever as ono ot tho most terrlblo experiences of ray life. "Even tho botty losses of property aro painful to seo. In tho upper story of ono house, everything had been destroyed by fire, but nt ono place, smoko begrimed, thcro hunp( the discolored photograph of a woman wom-an probably long dead. At ono place a bluo enameled child's bedstead pecs out ot tho smoking dobrls still filled with Its scorched mattrc33 and plllown. Whoever has a child at homo in its snowwhito bed "But a curso and thrlco a :urso on thoso who caused all this nluory. Tor them there Is no punlshmont in this world suulclent to atono for tholr evil deeds. And when tlioy now do-nounco do-nounco our bravo wnrrlors as tho causo of this desolation this lnttor slandor, shnmoful as It is, does not weigh much In comparison with that thoy acutully did. Reprisals Taken for Treachery "Our German soldiers and land-wobr land-wobr men marched into tho country of tho enemy with tho same order nnd, disclpllno that they maintain on Hi drill ground nnd in many maneuver Wherever wo camo wo gunrantccd to tho Inhabitants security for lifo nnd property; wo aro waging war with tho armies of tho enemy, not with civilians. In llattlco, tho German proclamation promising tho Bolglans peaco and tho integrity of tholr tor ritory was still seen on tho walls of tlm burnt houses. "Now, what happened In Battico, Clermont, Ilervo, Heron nnd othor Bolglan places was, with singular similarity, as follows: "Tho Inhabitants let tho Germans march In, received them with' cringing cring-ing friendliness, offered them wine in superfluous quantities, nnd thci fell on them nt night. It goc3 without with-out saying for mcro self preservation preserva-tion demanded it that evory murdered mur-dered Gorman was nvenged. Whero tho murdorers could bo caught thoy wcro brought beforo a court martial; and If tholr guilt was evident, they wcro shot or hanged. "All this was dono In perfect order. or-der. How far tho self control ot our troops extended was proved t,o mo by an example only day boforo yesterday. At tho entranco to tho French fortress for-tress of Longwy ,Just completed, I saw German soldiers bring in a Iroop ot franc-tireurs, quite old fellows nnd among them a fow common thieves scarcely beyond schoolboy age, all of them with crimlnnl faces of tho hardest hard-est typo, l'lty that wo did not photograph pho-tograph them so that tho world might see what hideous scamps aro kilting our men. Mutilated Wounded "What did theso men do? demanded demand-ed nn olllcer. Thoy put on Bed Cross scarfs, then went on the battlefield and multlatcd our wounded. Wo caught them In tho net, was the reply. re-ply. Why didn't you beat tho scouu Uiels to death at once? Wo dare not do that. They must bo brought before be-fore a court martial. "Tho reader should know what was tho character ot this mutilation. The oyes of our wounded men llng helpless help-less in. their pain on tho battlefield wo-o cut out with knives. But this was not by far tho most cruel thins these beasts iuventcd. Old and young men nnd women wero caught n3 hyenas' hye-nas' ot tho battlefield nnd they ro-coived ro-coived thuir reward. "At VIzo a 1G year old girl had to bo shot because she w-ao caught In tho act of mutilating our wounded. "There is no mercy for ouch deeds niul thcro can bo nono. I should like to know what other people in the orId possesses the self restraint in tho presence of such shameful crimen to wu't and bring tho criminals crim-inals before a regular court. "Boyond all doubt this franc tireur T.arfaro against us was organized Otherwise it would bo ltnposslblo tq oxplaln tho uniform character of tho mutilations, attacks on field hospitals, hospit-als, whero physicians, tho wounded and oven tho nurses fell victims of theso predatory rasacls; in the 'attacks 'at-tacks In villages and cities, tho same tactics wcro repeated over and ovesy ngaln. Suddenly tho entire village Is in possession of arms and in two cases even of machine guns. Arms Distributed by Priest "In Etallo, between Arlou and Sedan, Se-dan, the priest was caught In the act of distributing arms and ammunition to his parishioners. In Clermont, on tho other baud, tho priest tried in vain to dlssuado tho citizens from Us toning to tho mayor, who was giving tuem arms and instigating them to fall on tho Germans from ambush. But oven where tho people fired from tho rear on our columns as thoy marched through wo did not make the wholo village responsible, but only stormed and burned tho houses from which shots wero fired. "In Ilervc, Heron and other villages vil-lages thero aro houses standing bo tween others that woro burnt down. On their doors uro written In chalk, uuch words as theso: "Houso searched, everything Is In good order, good peoplo, sparo them; Inmates absent, sparo house; husband hus-band is soldier In tlw field, sparo houso. "Such chivalry is practiced towards an absent enemy. Inhabitants ot houses, which did not rlso ngalnst us uro enjoying security. Our landwehr men, billeted upon the Inhabitants, sit beforo their doors an,d chat with them, or play with their chliurcu, and think doubtless, ot thoso they left at homo. I saw one of our soldiers feeding feed-ing the stock ot tho lonely woman with whom ho lodged. Another heiu tho baby In orde'r that Its mother might do tho cooking. "Such nro tho Germans hero in a hostile country, good uaturcd and ready to help. What villainies must havo been committed to convert tho good fellows into raging avengers of tholr fallen and mutilated comrades. Certainly It was not tho will of our soldiers that death and II ro should hold carnival in tlio houses ot civilians. civil-ians. What they did thoy can answer for, and so can tho German nation answer for its sons bearing themselves them-selves with honor lu this war." Explains Louvaln Affair An olllcial German statement on tho destruction of l.ouvulu says: "It Is claimed that German troops, having been repulsed by rjelei I making a Bortie from Antwerp !' : fired upon by mistake by tho Germ garrison of Louvaln; and that in thi H way fighting occurred there n J events prove Incontestibly that th' I Germans repulsed tho Belgian sortie I "During this battle beforo Antwerp I an undoubtedly organized attack a mado upon tho German troopa .! I many places in Louvaln after npDai. ently friendly relations between tho I Germans nnd tho citizens of t0n I had seemed for twenty four hours ta I bo beginning. Tho attack was at I first against a landwehr baitallon I composed of older men or qiet d;','. K position and themselves most j- falh. 4B era of families; also agtilnst c ctlons m of tho general staff that had -cai.iia I ed In tho city nnd upon mo. col- I "iiins of troops. Tho Gormaoo"' b d I many wounded tand killed, ti . n I tho upper hand, however ow ., I tho arrival of fresh troops l ran, I who wero fired upon at tho j. l0a ' I Tho truth of tho foregoing uUu rmts Is established beyond ivli. iim , hall was saved, but further at ns I to extinguish the flro wcro uusuc- I ccssful." H |
