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Show BELGIANS TELL OF WAR HORRORS Washington, Sept. 16. A resume of the findings of the Belgian commission commis-sion of inquiry appointed by the king of the Belgians to Investigate the alleged al-leged atrocities committed by German Ger-man tioops by the Belgian legation here was made public today after the report had been presented to President Presi-dent Wilson. The findings were grouped under the headings of "The Atrocities at Llnsmeau and Orsraael," ' The Massacre Massa-cre of Aerschot" and The Destruction Destruc-tion of Louvain " The summary follows: fol-lows: German cavalry occupying the village vil-lage f Llnsmeau were attacked by some Belgian troops and two gendarmes. gen-darmes. A German officer was killed by the Belgian soldiers during the fight and subsequently burled at the request of the Belgian officer In command com-mand None of the civilians had taken part in the fight. Nevertheless, the village was invaded at dusk on August 10 by a strong force of German Ger-man cavalry, artillery and machine guns In Bplte of the formal assurances assur-ances given by the burgomaster that none of the civilians had taken part In the fight, two farms and six outlying out-lying houses were destroyed by gunfire gun-fire and reduced to ashes All tho male population was then compelled to come forward and hand over whatever what-ever arms they possessed. No recently recent-ly discharged firearms were found Nevertheless the Invaders dlvldeJ these peasants into three groups; those in one group were bound and eleven of them placed In a dltcn, where they afterwards were found dead, their skulls fractured by the butts of rifles Murder and Arson. During the night of August 10 German Ger-man cavalry entered Velm in great numbers. The Inhabitants were asleep Without provocation the Germans Ger-mans fired on Mr. DeGlimme's houso and broke Into it. They destroyed furniture and looted valuables. They burned his barn, hay, corn stacks, implements, im-plements, cattle and his farmyard They carried off Mme. DeGUmme, half nude, to a place two miles away. She was then released, and as she fled, was fired upon, without being hit, however. Her husband was carried to a point In another direction and fired upon. He Is dying The same troops sacked and burned the house of a railway watchman. Farmer Jef Dkerck of Neerhespen ! )s an epwltness to the following atro-I atro-I cities committed by German cavalry i at Orsmnel and Neerhespen on August 10, 11 and 12. An old man had his arm cut in three longitudinal slices, be was then hanged head downward and burned ' alive Voung girls were attacked and little children outraged at Orsmael, and mutilations, too horrible to describe, de-scribe, were Inflicted on other lnhabl tants Prisoners were hangod, while others were tied to telegraph poles and shot Wounded Man Killed. After an engageent at Haclen, Commandant Com-mandant Van Damme was so severely wounded that he was lying prone on his back. He was murdered by German Ger-man Infantry firing their revolvers into his mouth. Numerous wounded and unarmed soldiers were 111-treatod or killed by German troops, and In different places doctors and nurses and ambulances am-bulances were fired upon. At times the Germans went into battle with a Belgian flag. While digging trenches and with the white flag hoisted, Belgian soldiers sol-diers were set upon by Germans and shot Another time, near a fort at Loncin, a group of German Infantry hoisted the white flag( and when the Belgian soldiers approached them to take them prisoners they were fired upon at close range. Aerschot Tragedy. Aerschot. a town of 8000 Inhabitants, Inhabit-ants, was Invested by the Germans ;n the morning of August 19. No Belgian troops remained behind. No sooner had the Germans entered the city when they began shooting several sev-eral Inoffensive civilians In the evening, claiming that a superior Gorman Gor-man officer had been shot by the son of tho burgomaster or, according accord-ing to another version of their story, that a conspiracy had been hatched against the German commandant by the burgomaster and his family, the Germans took hold of every' man in the city , carrying them, fifty at a time, some distance from tho town. There they grouped them in lines of four men, made them run ahead of them and fired upon them, killing them afterward with their bayonets More than foruy men were found thus massacred. I 'frjQjMNI They pillaged the whole town, tak ing from private residences all they rould lay their hands on. The following fol-lowing morning they took one man out of every three whom they had arrested tho previous evening and, leading them outside the city, shot them Among these were the burgomaster burgo-master of the town, Mr Tlelemans, his 15-year-old son. and his brother Three Days of Pillage. Then they compelled the remaining villagers to dig holes to bury their victims. For three whole days they continued contin-ued to pillage and set fire to everything every-thing In their way About 150 Inhabitants of Aerschot are supposed to have thus perished The largest part of the city is destroyed de-stroyed Five times the Germans tried to set fire to the big church, having sacked the interior of its contents con-tents The town records were destroyed de-stroyed or carried away It must be borne In mind that the civil population of Aerschot had been repeatedl warned by their burgomaster burgo-master not to offer any resistance or to commit any hostile act toward the invaders. They, the Germans, shot upon the fleeing citizens, set fire to private homes and sacked them. They wanted to make tho victimized citizens declare that they, themselves, had set fire to their homes. Everywhere Every-where along the road of the German march the same horrors were visible The witness mentions the names of eighteen persons who. to his knowledge, knowl-edge, were massacred at Aerschot. The German army penetrated Into Ixmvaln after having set fire to tho surrounding towns and villages From the moment of their entrance into the City they requisitioned lodg Ing and food for their troops They entered every priate bank and looted loot-ed its reserve. They entered private residences and sacked and pUlaged them, and indulged In orgies of all kinds. They took hostages All of the prominent men of the city were detained. de-tained. Women were attacked and 111 treated by the soldiers. Previous to the German inaslon tho whole, city had been warned repeatedly re-peatedly not to offer any resistance to the German troops, or to oppose hostile acts. More than that, all arms belonging to civilians, down to fencing foils, had been ordered deposited de-posited Beveral days previously in tho city hall, and there was not a weapon found on any civilian. On August 25 an engagement took place In the neighborhood of Louvain Lou-vain between German and Belgian troops. The Germans, repulsed and pursued by tho Belgian troops retreated re-treated toward Louvain in full panic. pan-ic. Many witnesses testify that at that moment the German garrison in Louvain was erroneously informed that Belgians were entering the city Immediately the German garrison stationed sta-tioned at Louvain withdrew toward the station, where they clashed with their own troops, which were being pursued by the Belgians Everything Every-thing scorns to point to the fact that a contact took place. From that moment, pretending that the Belgian civilians had fired upon German troops, the Germans began bombardment until 10 o clock that night. At the place where the affray af-fray started not a slnglo body was found of a civilian, proving that the population had not participated In the shooting. The houses which had not taken fire were set ablaze by rockets with which the Qerman soldiers were supplied sup-plied The largest part of the city of Louvain, especially the "Haute VUle;" that is to say. the part comprising com-prising the modern houses, the cathedral ca-thedral of St. Peter, the university halls with the old and famous library of the university, its manuscripts, its -ollectlons and scientific institutions, the theatre and many more buildings, were at that time consumed by flames. The fire continued for several days. Numerous corpses of civilians covered cov-ered the streets and squares. An eyewitness testified that in one placs he counted more than fifty charred bodies; many persons who had taken refuge In their cellars trying to cb-cape cb-cape and falling Into the furnace or the blazing city. The fire started a little above the American college; the city is entirely entire-ly destroyed, with the exception of the city hall and the station. Tho fire continued for days and, far from trying to stop It, the Germans seemed on the contrary trying to feed it by throwing straw into it. The cathedral cathe-dral and the theatre were consumed by the flames and fell into ruins. .The library of the university also Is destroyed. de-stroyed. Tho town resembles an old city in ruins, In the midst of which drunken soldiers were carousing, carrying car-rying around bottles of wines and liquors li-quors the officers themselves were installed in arm chairs drinking like their ow n men Tho procedure of the Germans seems to be the same everywhere first of all they requisition food and drink of which they partake to the point of drunkenness Then they begin to shoot wildly from the windows win-dows of abandoned houses, declaring that the inhabitants liave fired upon them Then the tiring and shooting scenes begin and murder, and especially espe-cially pillage and acts of cold cruelty cruel-ty aro witnessed, neither ago nor sex is respected When they claim to know the perpetrator of the deed they allege, the Germans do not content themselves with executing summarily summari-ly the culprit they wreak their vengeance ven-geance on the whole town. After a first massacre, somewhat at ran dom, they shut the men In the churches and order the women to go back to their homes and leave the door open. In several Instances the civilians were sent to Germany, to be compelled com-pelled there. It seems, to labor In the fields as was done in the days of slavery. |