The Maiden Tribute.
Another story M. Cruls related was told to him by the mother herself. At
a village called Leau a squadron of about five hundred Uhlans was
marching through the town when they declared that someone had fired at
them. On going round to all the houses, searching for firearms, they
came to one where the family circle consisted of a grandfather, the
father, mother, and a girl of seventeen or eighteen, and a young boy,
who, upon seeing the approach of the German soldiers, fled and hid
himself. The soldiers came in, and without any questioning fired at and
killed the father. They were going to shoot the grandfather when the
mother and daughter fell on their knees and begged the soldiers to spare
the life of the old man. The officer, or under-officer, of the party
then said, “Yes, we won’t trouble about the old people,” and touching
the cheek of the young girl with his fingers, he added, with a
significant laugh, “Pretty youth is better.” The sequel need not be
written here, although the mother of the girl has told it.
A Governess Hanged.
A well-known family in Brussels were staying at their villa at Genck,
about six kilometres from the capital. On arrival of the Germans there
they entered the villa, smashed everything they could, and stole
whatever was of value, “even taking away the wedding-ring that the
husband wore on his finger.” They took away the men first, and nobody
knows what has become of them. A member of the family and two servants
fled from the house in terror, but returned when they saw the German
soldiers going.
This is what they saw: “The body of an old lady of seventy years of age
lying on the floor with her throat cut. A governess, about thirty years
of age--I cannot tell you her nationality--was found hanging from a
tree, stark naked and mutilated.”
Although this happened within six kilometres of Brussels, yet no
atrocities were known to have been committed in the capital, the
Kaiser’s unrestrained savages being there under the eyes of the
representatives of the Powers.
A Dutch gentleman named Couzy, of Amsterdam, was staying at Mont, a
village in the hills above Comblain au Pont, when war broke out. Having
missed the last train which the Belgians ran to Dinant, he was obliged
to return to Mont, where he witnessed the arrival of thousands of Uhlans
and many batteries of German artillery. Mr. Couzy declared that the
treatment of the Belgians by the enemy was merciless. He was witness of
many horrible scenes. He was present when, after the discovery of the
bodies of two German officers in a horse-dealer’s yard at Comblain au
Pont, seventy villagers were brought before the commanding officer.
Without question, the officer selected thirty, who were shot without
any form of trial whatever. Several of these men were known to Mr. Couzy
as honest and trustworthy citizens.
On another occasion a number of villagers were searched for weapons. A
young Dutchman, also known to Mr. Couzy, had upon him a razor which he
used daily. Immediately he was placed against a wall and shot.
A refugee arriving at Maastricht from Bassenge stated that ten thousand
Germans came from the direction of Louvain, and began to burn everything
that had been left standing and shoot everyone opposed to them. Two
hundred of the villagers were driven out by the Germans and ordered to
hold their hands above their heads. Anyone who dropped his hands for an
instant was shot, and anyone who looked at or showed sympathy with the
victims shared the same fate. They were marched for two hours, and
during that time many shots whistled over their heads. The Germans then
stopped and threatened that the first who looked back would be shot.
A Senator’s Story.
“M. Leon Hiard, senator of Hainaut, one of the largest manufacturers in
Belgium, lived at Haine Saint Pierre, where before the battle of Mons
the Germans requisitioned everything. He states that, revolver in hand,
threatening death for unpunctuality or disobedience, the German officers
spread terror into the hearts of the inhabitants. At Peronne the mayor,
M. Gravis, had very imprudently caused all the arms of the inhabitants
to be deposited at his house instead of the town-hall. He also carried
a revolver, and some of his carts had been used to bar a road.” The
_Daily Express_ correspondent continues--
“He was taken before the German general at the town-hall with his
secretary. The séance was short. ‘Vous fusillé,’ said the general, and
the unfortunate man was led out blindfolded and shot. As the secretary
was following him a more kindly officer said in his ear, ‘Mais
filez-donc, imbécile,’ and pushed him on one side.
“The body of M. Gravis was propped up against a wall for forty-eight
hours as an example to the town. Men were billeted in all the houses,
and although in the better houses the officers behaved with some
restraint, in the peasants’ cottages unbridled licence was the rule.
“Women were treated infamously, indescribable scenes of debauchery
taking place, while all the possessions of the unfortunates were
wilfully wasted and destroyed. The fiery-tempered people were being
driven to reprisals, so that an excuse for further cruelty might be
found.”
What General von Boehn said.
I take the following extract from a long dispatch in the _Daily
Chronicle_, from Mr. E. Alexander Powell, the Special Correspondent of
the _New York World_:--
“Three weeks ago the Government of Belgium requested me to place before
the American people, through the medium of the _New York World_, a list
of specific and authenticated atrocities committed by German armies
upon Belgian non-combatants.
“To-day General von Boehn, commanding the Ninth Imperial Field Army, and
acting as mouthpiece of the German General Staff, has asked me to place
before the American people the German version of the incidents in
question....
“General von Boehn began by asserting that the accounts of the
atrocities perpetrated on Belgian non-combatants were a tissue of lies.
“‘Look at these officers about you,’ he said; ‘they are gentlemen like
yourselves. Look at the soldiers marching past in the road out there.
They are most of them the fathers of families. Surely you do not believe
that they would do the things they have been accused of.’
“‘Three days ago, General,’ I said, ‘I was in Aerschot. The whole town
is now but a ghastly, blackened, bloodstained ruin!’
“‘When we entered Aerschot,’ he replied, ‘the son of the Burgomaster
came into the room, drew a revolver, and assassinated my Chief of Staff.
What followed was only retribution. The townspeople only got what they
deserved!’
“‘But why wreak your vengeance on women and children?’
“‘None have been killed,’ the General asserted positively.
“‘I’m sorry to contradict you, General,’ I asserted, with equal
positiveness, ‘but I have myself seen their mutilated bodies. So has Mr.
Gibson, Secretary of the American Legation at Brussels, who was present
during the destruction of Louvain.’
“It is War!”
“‘Of course, there is always danger of women and children being killed
during street fighting,’ said the General, ‘if they insist on coming
into the street. It is unfortunate, but it is war.’
“‘But how about the woman whose body I saw with the hands and feet cut
off? How about the white-haired man and his son whom I helped to bury
outside of Sempst, and who had been killed merely because the retreating
Belgians had shot a German soldier outside their house? There were 22
bayonet wounds in the old man’s face. I counted them. How about the
little girl, two years old, shot while in her mother’s arms by a Uhlan,
and whose funeral I attended at Heyst-op-den-Berg? How about the old man
that was hung from the rafters of his house by the hands and roasted to
death by a bonfire being built under him?’
“The General seemed somewhat taken aback by the amount and exactness of
my data. ‘Such things are horrible if they are true,’ he said. ‘Of
course, our soldiers, like soldiers in all armies, sometimes get out of
hand, and do things which we would never tolerate if we knew it. At
Louvain, for example, I sentenced two soldiers to 12 years’ penal
servitude apiece for assaulting a woman.’
“‘Apropos of Louvain,’ I remarked, ‘why did you destroy the library? It
was one of the literary store-houses of the world.’
“‘We regretted that as much as anyone else,’ answered the General. ‘It
caught fire from the burning houses, and we could not save it.’
“‘But why did you burn Louvain at all?’ I asked.
“‘Because the townspeople fired on our troops. We actually found
machine-guns in some of the houses; and,’ smashing his fist down upon
the table, ‘whenever civilians fire upon our troops we will teach them a
lasting lesson. If the women and children insist on getting in the way
of bullets, so much the worse for women and children.’
“‘How do you explain the bombardment of Antwerp by Zeppelins?’ I
queried.
“‘The Zeppelins have orders to drop their bombs only on fortifications
and soldiers,’ he answered.
“‘As a matter of fact,’ I remarked, ‘they destroyed only private houses
and innocent civilians, several of them women. If one of those bombs had
dropped 200 yards nearer my hotel I wouldn’t be smoking one of your
excellent cigars to-day.’
“‘That is a calamity which, thank God, didn’t happen,’ he replied.
“‘If you feel for my safety as deeply as that, General,’ I said
earnestly, ‘you can make quite sure of my coming to no harm by sending
no more Zeppelins.’
“‘Well, Herr Powell,’ said he, laughing, ‘we will think about it, and,’
he continued gravely, ‘I trust that you will tell the American people
through your great paper what I have told you to-day. Let them hear our
side of this atrocity business. It is only justice that they should be
made familiar with both sides of the question.’
“I have quoted my conversation with General von Boehn as nearly verbatim
as I can remember it. I have no comments to make.
“I will leave it to the readers of the _World_ to decide for themselves
just how convincing are the answers of the German General to the Belgian
accusations.”
“=We cannot doubt their (the Belgian Commission) competency for the
task entrusted to them; nor can we mistrust their good faith. And
of what nature is the story which their report, item by item,
unrolls? They recount a series of acts committed by the German
soldiery which, if even a half or a quarter be true, are enough to
condemn them to everlasting shame as barbarians grosser and more
criminal than Huns or Visigoths, or the hordes led by Yenghis Khan
or Tamerlane the Great.=”
--From the _Daily Telegraph_.