A Jesuit priest who escaped from Louvain before the destruction of that
city has written to his father, Philip Cooley, as follows:
“All our people escaped except eleven scholastics. One of these was shot
at once, as he had a war diary on his person. The others were taken to
Brussels where they were to have been shot, but the American Minister
stepped in and stopped it.
“He told the Germans that his Government would declare war if any of
those persons were shot.”