A woman refugee from Framerie, near Mons, told the following story to
the relief committee in Paris:
“My husband is with the Belgian army and I was left with my three babies
in our cottage. All was quiet until Monday, when the Germans came. They
sacked and destroyed everything in the house. There remains of our poor
village nothing but ruins. I saw one of the soldiers strike one of my
neighbors in the breast with his sword. Then he flourished the bloody
blade as though proud of the feat. Some women who had hidden in their
cellars were shot.
“A woman from Peronne le Bincher started out with one of her neighbors
who carried a young baby at her breast. Suddenly the mother perceived
that the little one was dead. She could not bear this new shock and lost
her reason. When she was helped out of the train on reaching Paris she
still held and was crooning over the body of her child.”